I recently bought a new laptop, HP dv7-2180us, Core2Quad, with 6GB RAM and an ATI Radeon with a GB dedicated. It had Windows Vista preinstalled on it and before I bought it, I ensured that I had a Windows 7 upgrade available (postponed my purchase for 3 days). I have used other operating systems, including OSX, Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and CentOS. The moment I came home and unpacked my new beast, I took out the DVD with the Windows 7 RC and upgraded my laptop.
I knew that I will have to do a fresh install when Windows 7 will finally be available, as upgrade from Windows 7 RC to Windows 7 Release is not allowed (yet). I knew that my license allowed me an upgrade to Windows 7 Home, which meant that I will have to do away with my installation that I was about to perform on the system as RC was available only in Windows 7 Ultimate. I knew that the Windows 7 RC will stop working after sometime, the bi-hourly shutdown to begin on March 1, 2010.
Even after all this, I chose to install Windows 7 RC on my laptop.
Windows means a ‘life without walls’. After using all the operating systems that I could put my hands on, I can say that I love Windows. I have used Windows Mobile on my HTC Touch Diamond, and when I changed it to Nokia E71, I missed the convenience of doing things the way they were meant to be done. Cut, Copy and Paste were so much easier on Windows Mobile, am glad IPhone users are also able to experience it now!!
Windows 7 seems to have been designed for the latest machines. Adding my Canon Printer or the E71 or HTC Phone was not even a task. I connected them and the Device Manager automatically installed the required Drivers, else told me what was required. Before installing the Windows 7 RC, I forgot to make a driver-disk, which would have all the drivers of this new laptop. I was amazed to see that everything installed perfectly and there were no conflicts whatsoever!
Windows 7 makes the online life easier. With Windows Live Essentials and the Internet Explorer 8, there is not much that I would require for working on the Internet. I have an instant messenger, blog writing application, email client, movie editor, networking utility, safety and security software, Fax and Scanner software and everything that I will require in a Home PC!
I didn’t have to do anything except give a couple of details and press next. It was smooth and it works perfect. I am not in a habit of shutting down the laptop anymore because the wake-up time from Sleep is about 2 seconds, and it doesn’t consume any battery on Sleep. I can move between my work and home wireless without worrying about establishing connections and the networking with a wired connection is also painless. The Action Center keeps on telling me about the problems ‘and’ the solutions, which taught me to create a Backup of my important files.
I don’t know if I have any reasons to move to any other Operating System. I have Windows 7 and I am very happy!
