W7, Vista or XP Home?

[MrMoose]

Which is better as far as features and pre-installed programs: W7, Vista, or, what I have, XP Home.  I am into photography, audio, and Web browsing (I am not a gammer.)

I appreciate all your opinions.

MrMoose

[Spawn]

Overall, I am going with Windows 7.  Pre-installed programs would have to go to either Vista or XP.  In actuality though, I'd go with Windows 7 and then just download anything else you need.  Most of what you mentioned...photography, audio, etc can be taken care of with free programs available on the 'net.

Spawn

[Runaway1956]

My answer is, it depends on what you need/want from an OS.  People who are into eye candy should go with W7.  People who use their OS in a risky manner should go with W7.  People who need long term support should go with W7.

Vista, I don't recommend to anyone, unless it comes preinstalled.  I've run into serious issues with drivers, resource usage, and the early UAC aggravated the heck out of me.  I agree with the consensus that I've found on the web: Vista was an ill thought out marketing scheme, "Vista ready" computers weren't, and it was to rough around the edges, it was overpriced, yada yada yada. 

XP support will be ending in the foreseeable future is the only bad point.  It's tried and true, stable, highly tweakable, and there is nothing you can't do with it.  Want eye candy?  You can find it.  Want security?  You can make it secure.  Need performance?  You can trim it down to a lean super fast operating system that does what you need.

Trying to tell someone which they should use is a bit like recommending a Linux distro.  I need to know something about your usage to make a meaningful recommendation.  But, whatever you do, DO NOT PAY MONEY FOR VISTA!!  If you're going to spend the money, spend it on 7!

[Black Viper]

At this point, Vista should not even be an option. Stay with what you have or go to W7 if your hardware is new enough to exceed the requirements.

[DRSLETMEDOWN]

?? BV ?? What is the minimum for Win 7 to work ??
I've read one thing & been told something else so I wanted YOUR opinion. Will a P4 dual core W/2 gig DDR 3200 cut it ?? O/S the reason I ask is I tried it & it is SLOWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!
The desktop icons have black borders or highlights around them ?
This has onboard video could that be the problem with the icons ? When I look at program files they look the same way ?? Like a bunch of black squares ? They work & open if you click on them ? Just look weird ?

[DrWhy]

Which is better as far as features and pre-installed programs: W7, Vista, or, what I have, XP Home.  I am into photography, audio, and Web browsing (I am not a gammer.)
I appreciate all your opinions.

Is this for a "new" computer? or If new W7- if older (+1 years)  XP Pro

[IH8U]

?? BV ?? What is the minimum for Win 7 to work ??
I've read one thing & been told something else so I wanted YOUR opinion. Will a P4 dual core W/2 gig DDR 3200 cut it ?? O/S the reason I ask is I tried it & it is SLOWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!
The desktop icons have black borders or highlights around them ?
This has onboard video could that be the problem with the icons ? When I look at program files they look the same way ?? Like a bunch of black squares ? They work & open if you click on them ? Just look weird ?

The onboard video is most likely the issue, especially if Aero is running. I ran Windows 7 on a laptop with 1.6ghz centrino single core and 1.25gb ram (I think those were the specs) and it was as fast as XP. It did not run Aero though as the video chipset was not up to snuff.  Did you have the latest drivers as well?

[VampireMuffinMan]

I would say W7 for just about any computer.  As far as the minimum requirements, I've been running the RC version very successfully on a Pentium M 1.86 Ghz laptop (Dell d610) with good results.  It's faster than XP Pro in most respects.  If you're going for stability, I'd have to go with 7 as well.  I've had my computers run for weeks and weeks without a restart (sleeping when inactive) and the thing never seems to bog down for it.  Heck, last week I had AutoCAD 2010 open (working with multiple 3-D drawings open) most of the week and never restarted the program, let alone the computer.  With XP I still had issues where it would slow and need a restart after a few days or so, and I never really trusted it to keep a program open when I wasn't on it.  What I mean by that is that I had issues with XP sleeping and never waking...but usually only when I had a program running.  W7 I'm able to let it nap whenever which is great since I can set it to sleep at 15 minutes after my screen saver starts (avast! scanning screen saver).

[reventon]

I vote for Windows 7; it's the best OS from Microsoft IMHO.
That said, XP is not too bad either, I am still running 2 XP systems including my main gaming rig while I have W7 only on my new laptop.
If you want to 'futureproof' then W7 would be the only choice.

I'd avoid Vista....it's neither here nor there.