Should you invest in Windows 7?
Before we answer this question, we are going to share some background information.
Let’s look back at Microsoft’s last present to the World:
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Microsoft’s marketing strategy never ceases to amaze me.
When Vista was released, we as a public, (also known as Microsoft’s guinea pigs) were forced to upgrade to this new OS both in our Homes and in our Businesses. So, goodbye Window XP, hello Windows Vista! There was no escape, no way out. No matter how hard you tried, no one could avoid Window Vista. Even giant corporations were forced to bow down to Microsoft. The hardware manufacturers were seemingly instantly bought out. Dell, Sony, Acer, HP, Toshiba, and all the rest were suddenly making computers with hardware that was only supported by Windows Vista. Especially in the last 2 years, you could not find a computer on the shelf that came pre-loaded with Windows XP. It was plain: either buy a new computer with Vista, or stagger on with your old computer that was on its last leg.
Microsoft does not give you a choice. You either follow them, or get screwed.
Microsoft has one of the largest monopolies in the World.
So what does that mean for the everyday consumer?
You purchase a brand new Dell laptop from Best Buy pre-installed with Windows Vista. You take it home, and guess what? YOU HATE IT! Even fresh out of the wrapping paper the computer runs slower than your old Windows XP Machine. Even worse, when you try to install some of your old applications, you find that they are not compatible with Windows Vista. So you have just paid a ton of money for a slower, practically useless laptop and you’re even stuck learning a new Operating System.
Now the frustrated consumer comes to us begging us to “Downgrade” them from Windows Vista back to Windows XP. So now on top of buying a new laptop, they have to pay us to wipe Vista off and install XP. Now we, being the friendly computer shop naturally want to help our clients in any way possible. The problem is, these laptops were made for Windows Vista. So now we are forced to take apart the entire laptop and manually identify all the components on the motherboard. We then go to each individual website and look for XP Drivers. For the video card, we go to the Nvidia website, for the wireless card, we go to the Broadcom website and so on. This takes two to three times longer than a typical install, so as a result, we have to charge more (and of course we explain that to the customer first).
When vista first came out, we did hundreds of roll-backs to XP and were charging around $300 each to do it (for a 6+ hour process that was the lowest price we could give). Many of our customers were extremely unhappy with Microsoft for putting them through this ordeal.
There was a public outcry about how horrible Windows Vista was and how Microsoft was dealing with the problem. Macintosh took advantage of this and started their add campaign slandering Vista. This caused many people to switch from PC to Mac.
Some PC manufacturers tried to combat the situation by packaging dual boot systems. The problem was, you had to buy 2 Windows License keys – one for Vista and one for XP. So instead of buying a computer with just Windows XP, a customer was forced to pay for a license for both Windows XP and Windows Vista.
Fast-forward to the Windows 7 release. So now, instead of fixing Windows Vista properly and giving their customers what they paid for, Microsoft is releasing Windows 7 which is basically what Windows Vista should have been – an upgrade to Windows XP that runs smoother, but is updated and is more visually stimulating.
So now, finally, we are going to answer the question: Should I invest in a Window 7 upgrade?
The answer is yes – and here is why:
Windows 7 makes it easier to install drivers and keep drivers updated – it actually has the ability to check the Microsoft servers to see if driver updates are available and it is nicely packaged into Windows Update.
Windows 7 has built in support for Solid State drives which are the next step in speeding up your computer’s data access times.
Windows 7 has better multi-tasking abilities – and takes full advantage of processors with multiple cores.
Windows 7 has true backward compatibility with older Windows XP machines. Do not upgrade a machine over 5 years old, however. It is time to get a new computer pre-loaded with Windows 7 if you’ve got a 5+ year old computer.
Windows 7 was re-worked from the ground-up. It is the first time Microsoft has changed this much of the back-end programming since Windows 98 over 10 years ago.
Windows 7 is not “More of the same” as Mac claims it is. This operating system is actually the best, most stable OS Microsoft has released since Windows 98. Even Windows XP had more bugs on release than Windows 7 – which is virtually bug-free from our experience.
So should you upgrade my existing Windows Vista computer to Windows 7? Yes yes YES! It is the best Microsoft OS to be released in a decade!
Where should you get the upgrade? Well, LaptopMD of course! We will give you the cheapest upgrade New York – Guaranteed.