So it’s been about 4 days since I originally downloaded and installed Windows 7 on a Dell Vostro 1400 with an Intel Celeron Processor, 2 GB of RAM and a 150 GB HDD.
First a few thoughts on the system itself. We got this system back in the early days of Vista as a machine for us to test various applications out on, to confirm or deny Vista compatibility. We really haven’t used it since the IT department made the move to upgrade all our systems to Vista (basically since SP1 was released.) So really it’s been a little laptop that’s sat on a shelf completely unused.
I downloaded Windows 7 Ultimate RC on the 30th, the first day it was available to TechNet and MSDN subscribers. After battling though the multiple problems with Microsoft’s Website due to massive amounts of traffic I was able to get my hands and get it burned onto a DVD…next step, stick the DVD in and get this thing installed.
I had used the Beta when it was released back in January so there was really nothing surprising about the start-up and installation. I will say, after doing about 100 Vista installs at this point, Windows 7 does install way faster than Vista ever has (even on the crappy little laptop I’m using as a tester.)
After going though the OS install (probably about a 15-20 minute process total) it came time to start making the process work. To my pleasant surprise 99% of the drivers on this old little laptop were already recognized and installed. After a single reboot I had the video card drivers installed, and after a quick trip to the Dell website I also managed to get the Wireless card drivers installed (just used the Vista x86 drivers and they worked no problem.)
Now I was ready to start installing app’s. I started simple, Office 2007, of course no problems. Next came Google Chrome, again no problems. After that, I decided to go a bit off the beaten path and installed Rocket Dock, again I had no problem getting it installed and running. Ok, time for the big test, I decided to install Daemon Tools Lite. This really is a unique app that, while still very popular amount the IT crowd, it doesn’t exactly have a wide user base. Again to my surprise it worked with no problem, I was amazed. After installing a few other App’s, including Windows Live Writer, FeedDemon 3.0 Beta, and Twhirl, I was ready to go with this laptop.
After using the laptop for about 30 seconds I quickly closed and uninstalled Rocket Dock. The first and so far coolest feature I’ve found with Win 7 is the ability to pin things to your taskbar. I know this is one of those very touted features that M$ has been talking about forever, but when I finally got the play with it, it’s pretty nice. They claimed it would give more of an OSX feel, I really don’t agree with that, since I find Rocket Dock does a WAY better job of that. It is a nice feature though, and cuts down on what has become one of my biggest complaints of Windows, that being the clutter on the bottom task bar. It also helps you to keep your desktop nice and icon free (something I’ve become a HUGE fan of since starting to use Rocket Dock.)
Yet another nice feature of Windows 7 is the constant changing background. I know this will become a fan favorite feature amount most users, and I do think it’s pretty cool. Basically whatever theme you choose (even custom made themes) you can choose to have various backgrounds move in a slide show form. You can change how often the backgrounds change (anything from 1 minute, to once a day.) It’s pretty nice.
The best part of Win 7 that I’ve seen so far, is the biggest thing M$ has been talking about. We all know Vista is a hog, both in HDD and RAM usage. Win 7 is the opposite. It also seems (at least in my tests so far) that it’s got a smaller overall footprint than XP…simply amazing!
One more upside to Win 7 is the UAC. As promised it has been GREATLY toned down (THANK GOD!) I’ve installed a number of app’s at this point and while I am prompted one extra time when making Windows Wide changes, I really haven’t had to make any custom adjustments to the UAC because it got so annoying. I can get into the control panel, see the device manager, and I’m not even prompted by UAC, it’s a very nice change…for once.
Now this hasn’t been a total Windows 7 love-fest. There have been a few things I’ve run into that I find less than wonderful. First off is the icon for network connections. In Vista the little network connection icon in the task bar has two different pictures, a little picture of two monitors when you’re not connected the net and a picture of the two monitors plus a little picture of a globe when connected the net…this does not exist in Win 7. There’s only one picture. A single monitor with what I guess is a little antenna and it doesn’t matter if you have local access only or connection to the net, it all looks the same. I know this isn’t a huge deal for most users, but as an IT guy it’s nice to be able to look down real quick and see if the system is connected or not.
The other annoying feature is the notification center. That thing gets SUPER annoying quick. If your mouse it’ll let you know something’s going on. I did find a way to turn off the annoying pop-up’s that tell you everything is wrong, so the flag just sits there taunting you, daring you to click on the icon so you can feel bad that according to Windows 7, you’re computer is all jacked up. I’m still holding out hope that maybe, just maybe these two things will be fixed in the final release, but from what M$ has been saying, I really don’t think it’s going to happen.
Well, I know this has been a really long post and I’m sorry about that, but I wanted to get as much detail out as I could about the system. There’s also a current rumor that Win 7 is set to release on October 23rd. Microsoft is keeping mum on the news and is still holding to it’s official story that it won’t be released until early 2010. We’ll have to see how it plays out.
Ok, that’s gonna be it from me. I’m sure I’ll be writing more on Windows 7 as I mess around with it more so stay tuned.
~C
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