Solved! XP VS Windows7 [I need your votes!]

[alterock07]

Hi,

Question: What O.S. is most suitable for a laptop with the following specs for the best performance?
Choices 1:
#1: Windows XP
#2: Windows 7
Choices 2:
#1: 32 bit
#2: 64 bit
Laptop Use: General (internet surfing, video, music) and "Mild Gaming".
Thought in my mind: XP is stable. Not sure of Windows 7 haven't tried it yet. Also, given only 2Gb or RAM, Windows 7 MIGHT run slower compared to XP (XP is good with 2GB). But i don't know too if the difference is significant.

Acer Aspire

Intel® Core™i3-330M (3Mb L3 cache, 2.13GHz, DDR3 1066 MHz, 35 W)
2.0Gb DDR3
320Gb SATA
8X DVD-Super Multi double-layer drive
14in. HD 1366 x 768 pixel resolution
NVIDIA® GeForce® 310M, 512Mb DDR3 VRAM
(5.07 lbs.) with 6-cell battery : up to 3 hrs battery life
HDMI™ port with HDCP support
External display (VGA) port

 

[MDM5280]

Well you don't need 64 bit cause you only have 2GB of ram. To put it simple, if you like XP, stick with XP. If you like Vista, go with Windows 7. Small thing though, XP can't run DirectX 10 or 11, but you said you're a mild gamer, so that shouldn't matter much.

 

[alterock07]

Well you don't need 64 bit cause you only have 2GB of ram. To put it simple, if you like XP, stick with XP. If you like Vista, go with Windows 7. Small thing though, XP can't run DirectX 10 or 11, but you said you're a mild gamer, so that shouldn't matter much.

I did say Mild Gaming because the nVidia 310m is not really that strong. I will play, though, with the best games that this graphics card can carry.

Some games I do plan to try and are playable (about half of which must be set at lower resolutions and settings, but i don't mind) are: COD MW 2, F.E.A.R. 1&2, L4D 1&2, Far Cry, FIFA, etc.
http/www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-310M.22439.0.html

Not sure if any of these would need DirectX 10.

I do like XP. But I don't mind shifting to Windows 7 (32 bit in my case) if it has more to offer and not much drawbacks (hopefully).

Will a 32bit Windows 7 perform as fast as an XP on the same specs? (I'm not even sure if this is a valid question.)
AND if you were me, which one would you choose which you think is worth it?

By the way, thanks for your reply.

Current Count:
#1. 32 bit Windows XP - 0 Points
#2. 32 bit Windows 7 - 0 Points

#1. 32 bit - 1 Point
#2. 64 bit - Dead.

 

[FeareX]

I would run W7 x86 on that build. Since vista/7 has better multicore support you'll probably have better performance. And i've seen in tests that XP still is a bit faster then w7, but w7 has best battery life. Vista sits right in between. I personally have the feeling w7 is much more stable, i actually never had the error "*.exe has stopped workin", wich i had every now and then with XP.

Either way, there both fine. But XP is running a long time now and doesnt support all the graphic fancyness and GPU acceleration wich vista/7 does use. So its up to you Just sign me up for W7 32 bit

 

[piratepete7]

Alterock07,

I was in a similar situation not too long ago, with my Acer Aspire Timeline. I chose to go ahead and upgrade to Win7 from XP just to check it out.

It has a lot of "pretty" looking changes but they do draw some power to run. I turned a lot of them off since they just aren't needed.



Not sure I can cite any huge differences between the two, but I can assure you that Win7 is incredibly stable and I have had no issues with drivers or incompatible programs.

There are a couple articles from Toms suggesting that Windows 7 has better battery life too.

http/www.tomshardware.com/reviews/windows-7-xp,2339.html
http/www.tomsguide.com/us/Windows-7-Battery-Life,news-2848.html

 

[MDM5280]

Well, from experience, I know Windows 7 doesn't like Far Cry too much since when I tried the demo, everything was texture less, leaving the game unplayable, and looking like everything was covered in white paint. As for performance, I used to play WoW on my crappy little Netbook; on XP I would get 20 FPS in an open field and 12 FPS on that same field on Windows 7 Beta. I know a Netbook is extremely weak, yet there is still a performance difference between the two. Also, XP starts up in under 20 seconds with a little tweaking on my Netbook, yet Windows 7 takes 40 seconds on another laptop we have in the house.

But like others said, Windows 7 supports multicore and the new DirectX, which I think, out of your games, only Far Cry 2 supports. Good luck in you decision, but call me old school, I'd rather have XP than Windows 7.

 

[piratepete7]

It would be very difficult to draw a conclusion about the OS's under different conditions.

To the OS, my laptop boots in like 10 seconds (ok it's prob like 15) but it's fast as hell.

 

[alterock07]

Thanks MDM5280, FeareX, piratepete7(thnx for the link). Your replies are really helpful.

Insights:
1. Windows 7 has better multicore support
2. XP is a bit faster than W7 (in boot time, not sure if it's the same after boot. But if W7 is a more similar to Vista, i can say Vista is slower than XP) but this idea is debatable as some would probably claim the opposite. But MDM5280 did get slower fps in WoW in W7 compared to XP so that counts.
3. Windows 7 has directX 10 support, XP doesnt. But out of the games i mentioned, only one required directX 10. So the Directx10 will not be one of my deciding factors.
4. Windows 7 can give a better battery life.

These are really very helpful and interesting. Any more insights from others?

Current Count:
#1: Windows 7 - 2 Point (FeareX, piratepete7)
#2: WindowsXP - 1 Point (MDM5280)