Windows 7 is coming – should you upgrade?

September 4, 2:32 PMGadgets ExaminerDan Appleman

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Windows 7 will be available in October

In coming months Microsoft’s marketing machine will go into high gear to try to convince you to upgrade to Windows 7. Should you listen? In a word – yes.

Unlike Vista, that was plagued by incompatibility and performance issues, Windows 7 is actually a great product. It’s faster, more secure, and more intuitive to use than Vista or XP. It includes an XP compatibility mode that can run older XP applications in a virtual machine (meaning that most of them will actually work correctly). It is compatible with Vista drivers, meaning that all recent hardware will work correctly.

But that doesn’t mean you should necessarily run out and buy an upgrade as soon as it becomes available. Here are some factors to consider.

If you’re buying a new machine…

Consider waiting a couple of months to buy Windows 7 preinstalled. Yes, most new systems will include a free Windows 7 update, but it’s always easier and safer to avoid the update process if you can.

No Upgrades from XP

If you’ve avoided Vista and are still using XP you’re out of luck – Windows 7 will not upgrade over Windows XP. You’ll need to back up your data, perform an clean Windows 7 install or update, and then reinstall your applications and restore your data. Sounds painful? It is. So if you’re running XP, you might want to just stay with it until you buy a new computer – Microsoft will be supporting XP until at least 2014.

You still need recent hardware

Windows 7 is generally faster than Vista, but so much faster that you’re likely to notice much of a difference. That means you still need fairly fast and recent hardware to get reasonable performance. If you’re still running a Pentium or Athalon (or anything more than 3 or 4 years old), you’re probably better off staying with XP.

Consider 64 the bit version

Most newer processors are capable of supporting true 64 bit operating systems (even though most systems still ship with 32 bit operating systems). A 64 bit operating system will run faster than a 32 bit system – but some 32 bit software may run more slowly or not at all. That’s where the Windows 7 compatibility mode (which is a 32 bit virtual machine) can help. If the software you run is compatible with a 64 bit OS (check the online support for the application and look for reports on compatibility issues), then now might be a good time to upgrade.

Conclusion

The question of whether you should upgrade to Windows 7 really only applies if your machine is fairly new (no more than a few years) and currently running Vista – in that case the upgrade can make sense. Otherwise, the question is really whether you’re ready to upgrade to a new machine – if so, definitely go for Windows 7. XP is on its way out and Vista is.. well, it’s Vista (and definitely also on its way out).