Still using Vista ? - Windows 7 will be much better even using the same hardware.

If you’re one of many people who purchased a PC with Windows Vista a couple of years ago and you’re thinking it’s time for a new PC then you might want consider, if you haven’t already, keeping you existing computer hardware and just purchasing a copy of Windows 7 to perform a clean install – giving you a ‘new’ PC for less than $100.

The performance of Windows 7 is superior to Vista in almost every way (there may be exceptions – but I can’t think of any) – Windows 7 is what Vista should have been – but wasn’t. Even the RTM (the earliest ‘finished’ release of Windows 7) was in a much better state than Vista when it was released –and by that time Vista was up to service pack 2.

Windows 7 will run at least satisfactorily on some very low tech. kit - I’ve tested it on an 8 year old Pentium 4 with 1Gb Ram – it worked fine. Of course, if you’re a serious multi-tasker, hardcore gamer, or video editor then you’ll probably want something more current in terms of the hardware. However, for basic home use (playing music, surfing the web, doing homework, or straight forward office tasks etc.) what is now considered an ‘entry level PC’ would be more than adequate – and that may well include the PC you currently have running Vista (or even XP).

The bottom line is this - if your machine ran at least ‘OK’ when you first had it with Vista on it then it will almost certainly work a lot better with a fresh installation of Windows 7.

I appreciate it can be a pain to transfer all your applications and documents to a new computer but you would need to do this having bought a brand new PC anyway – at least this way you’ve saved yourself the price of the hardware.

A couple of points:

• You may wish to download and run Microsoft’s Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor tool before you get started – but if you’re already running Vista then I wouldn’t expect any serious issues.
• Do a ‘clean’ install if at all possible – ‘upgrading’ your existing Vista installation never gives as good a result as a completely new installation.
• Make sure you have all the installation disks for your applications (Office etc.) ready before your start.
• Make sure you have everything backed up before you start – and check the backup is OK.