Get A Peek At The Real Windows 7

[Hooch Tan]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/windows_7_review' target='_blank'>http://www.maximumpc.com/article/re...indows_7_review</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"So, as 2009 draws to a close, we find ourselves testing another new Microsoft OS: Windows 7. Building on the now-mature technologies introduced with Vista, but with a renewed focus on performance and ease-of-use, Windows 7 seems poised to succeed where Vista couldn&rsquo;t. We&rsquo;ve finally received a final build of Win7, and have run it through the wringer in both the Lab and in the real-world. Here&rsquo;s what we found."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//dht/auto/1250162435.usr20447.png" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>With Windows 7 being released to manufacturers, the "final" version can now be reviewed without worry that any tweaks or adjustments will be made.&nbsp; Well, outside of whatever each manufacturer sees fit.&nbsp; Maximum PC goes through the gamut of what you can expect if you upgrade, or get a new PC with Microsoft's newest hotness, including differences in performance for various tasks.&nbsp; Overall, I expect that a lot of people will probably be confused by the UI changes, especially the taskbar and ribbons, but that will probably wane over time.&nbsp; It seems as if the lessons learned through Vista have paid off and Windows XP's days are finally numbered.</p>

[Jason Dunn]

I've installed the RTM build of Windows 7 on three netbooks, one laptop, and one desktop PC so far and it's really impressive. The only thing that's not working 100% right is on my Dell XPS M1330, the cursor pad lacks the scroll-wheel area...I manually installed the Vista drivers but that didn't help. Everything is great - in fact, my wife's HP Slimline machine is finally working right - it was doing weird things under Vista like not fully going to sleep (the fans would keep spinning). I have to do a write-up about that. :)

[Eriq Cook]

Running the RTM on my notebook, desktop & media center PC. Love it. Much better, stable & faster than Vista and XP. I like the media center updates too. It can access the movie collection on hard disk without 3rd party software.

[Michael Knutson]

I installed Windows7 RTM on a new Toshiba NB205 NetBook with 2GB, and everything installed "out of the box." No futzing around with drivers needed. Absolutely none. Quite refreshing! And, it seems at least as fast as XP Pro.

A couple quick questions for those of you in the know: this RTM version is 'Windows 7 Ultimate:' when I finally buy W7 (family pack!?), I'm guessing that it won't be this version, will I be able to keep what I've already done? Drive wipe and re-install? How will this happen? When I get a license for say, a lesser version, will W7 be smart enough to simply disable features in my existing (Ultimate) version that I haven't purchased based on serial/serial number/activation? Maybe like an initially full-featured demo that times out after 30 days and from then on presents only a subset? I'm real curious about this aspect ...

[Jason Dunn]

A couple quick questions for those of you in the know: this RTM version is 'Windows 7 Ultimate:' when I finally buy W7 (family pack!?), I'm guessing that it won't be this version, will I be able to keep what I've already done?

Maybe I'm wrong, but in checking the Windows 7 download page, you can only download the Release Candidate. If you have the RTM version, that should mean that you have a license for it from MSDN, TechNet, etc. - the only places where you can download the RTM right now...so it's hard to answer your question because it doesn't seem to make sense. :)

[ptyork]

Maybe I'm wrong, but in checking the Windows 7 download page, you can only download the Release Candidate. If you have the RTM version, that should mean that you have a license for it from MSDN, TechNet, etc. - the only places where you can download the RTM right now...so it's hard to answer your question because it doesn't seem to make sense. :)

You're correct, of course. And to answer one additional question, no, you won't be able to keep what you've done. At least not directly. I think you might be able to do some magic with the windows 7 migration tools, but you can't upgrade from Windows 7 RC to the final RTM version. This was/is my only complaint, thus far. Oh, no it isn't. My only other complaint is that my brand new PC at work is stuck with an XP downgrade for another 6+ months at least since my IT department are tortoise-like control freaks (like all IT departments).

[Michael Knutson]

Maybe I'm wrong, but in checking the Windows 7 download page, you can only download the Release Candidate. If you have the RTM version, that should mean that you have a license for it from MSDN, TechNet, etc. - the only places where you can download the RTM right now...so it's hard to answer your question because it doesn't seem to make sense. :)

too much excitement over the RTM I guess. Michael