Window 7 or XP?

[traumatek]

I'm looking at a new PC at some point in the future (or upgrading the motherboard and CPU)

It's likely I'd get a quad core or more, and perhaps 64 bit if that's worth it...

Any advice please on whether to go with a Windows 7 installation or XP
I have an XP disk, so would prefer not to go and have to buy Windows 7

for audio applications, would 7 be needed to get the most out of the new CPU and motherboard, or would XP be just as good?
There are lots of guides for tweaking XP which is handy and I find Win 7 (which I have on my laptop) to be a bit of a pain

{note: I've read this 'Orion under Vista and Windows 7 (Sticky)'}

Thanks

[Teksonik]

I'm still on Win XP and don't have any plans to change in the near future. However my Mother just took delivery of a new Win 7 computer yesterday and I had to set it up. Win 7 looks pretty cool but of course I didn't have to deal with audio card drivers or music software, 32 bit vs. 64 bit etc etc...(I am a bit embarrassed that me Mum has a more up to date computer than I do )

My Win XP system is working perfectly and I don't have any issues with running out of Ram so I'll probably stick with it until it gives up the ghost.........

[dmassive]

If you don`t need to use more than 4GB of RAM, XP is better for general purposes... I will use XP until RAM become a problem.

[Christophe]

or the driver not compatible with XP

[HYPNAGOGIA]

Personally, I'd go with 7. XP's support lifecycle is scheduled to end in 2014, which isn't that much time. That will also include the drivers and software support as well, so you might find yourself with outdated drivers and future updates of your software not working. I was opposing Win7 as well (just like I have an aversion toward Windows 8 now), and that's mostly because XP could do something 7 isn't capable of doing (related to ASIO and integrated HD audio), but really, now I can't think of going back to XP.
But, it's entirely up to you. If you don't think you'll need any of that, by all means, stick with XP if you can't imagine working on 7.

If you don`t need to use more than 4GB of RAM, XP is better for general purposes... I will use XP until RAM become a problem.

Selecting an OS has nothing to do with how much RAM you use. You still have XP 64bit, as well as 7 32-bit.
I've found that Win7 doesn't drag my computer any more than XP did. Games seems to work better on 7, though, at least here.

[Kriminal]

every new pc comes with win7 these days, for a good reason
ive had zero problems with drivers or install here

all new stuff coming out prob wont be tested on xp

microsoft support for xp finishes in about 2 years

get win7 64bit

[traumatek]

Thanks for the comments all.
I didnt know about the 4gb thing and hadnt realised support ends in 2014
So I guess I'll have to bite the bullet some time.

Win7 is pretty expensive though
My laptop with Win7 on cost £320, yet Win7 alone is something like £100
I dont need to change yet, but it looks like 7 will be the way to go in a year or so - maybe by then it'll be cheaper with 8 out?

[Kriminal]

win8 is really only an upgrade geared toward touch screen stuff, so i wouldnt worry about that too much

[michl]

i read many statements that 7 will increase your milage when having more than 2 cores compared against xp - 32bit or 64bit is about RAM - i made the switch recently and can't say anything bad about 7!

[bones]

win8 is really only an upgrade geared toward touch screen stuff, so i wouldnt worry about that too much

Nothing could be further from the truth. Win8 is the biggest re-vamp of Windoze ever. Every single part of it is being overhauled and improved, from the boot loader through to the way it deals with applications not currently in use. When I installed the Dev Preview on a netbook, it went from being a clunky, slow, useless thing to be actually useful.

Anyway, my advice would be to stick with WinXP for the moment and spend your money on a Win8 upgrade when it becomes available. It should give you a serious performance boost that will more than justify the upgrade cost. I'll be putting the beta straight onto my main machine when it becomes available in a few weeks.

[Kriminal]

win8 is really only an upgrade geared toward touch screen stuff, so i wouldnt worry about that too much

Nothing could be further from the truth. Win8 is the biggest re-vamp of Windoze ever. Every single part of it is being overhauled and improved, from the boot loader through to the way it deals with applications not currently in use

from the stuff i read recently (after seeing it mentioned here i did a bit of research) it seems win8 is only going to be a massive diff in about 3 years time, when M$ are hoping ppl are using touchscreens lot more, as this seems the only way to take advantage of win8's new features

more specifiaclly, its aimed at tablet users, they are trying to drag custom from the ipad/iphone crowd who are used to this way of working

i'll dig out the links if i can find them again, but there was def nothing in win8 that would improve my pc experience

[Teksonik]

Personally, I'd go with 7. XP's support lifecycle is scheduled to end in 2014, which isn't that much time. That will also include the drivers and software support as well, so you might find yourself with outdated drivers and future updates of your software not working.

I have an old computer that has Win 98 on it that still runs just fine....It's more likely that I will retire than my Win XP machine will become obsolete.....

But having said that Win 7 looks cool and since I'm a gear freak I'll probably end up using it at some point. Perhaps on a new Lappy.....

[badshah]

i am always goes to win xp. Bz all my software work fine.

[HYPNAGOGIA]

I have an old computer that has Win 98 on it that still runs just fine....It's more likely that I will retire than my Win XP machine will become obsolete

While your Win98 machine works fine, I'm sure you're noticing there aren't many things for it anymore. Though, I did say later on that if you don't need all the new stuff, you're free to stick with XP.
After all, why should I care what you're using

[bones]

from the stuff i read recently (after seeing it mentioned here i did a bit of research) it seems win8 is only going to be a massive diff in about 3 years time, when M$ are hoping ppl are using touchscreens lot more, as this seems the only way to take advantage of win8's new features

Not at all. Everything is faster in Win8. They have halved the number of processes running from WinXP, about a third less than Win7. It will boot in way less than half the time and in the time it takes to log on all your services, like wi-fi, will be up and running. It is amazingly fast compared to Win7. The touch side of it is hardly important at all, although that's what gets most of the press because it looks pretty in photos and is the most obvious difference.

more specifiaclly, its aimed at tablet users, they are trying to drag custom from the ipad/iphone crowd who are used to this way of working

Microsoft's mantra is "touch first", so it works well for touchscreens but I've only ever used it with a keyboard and mouse and found it just as easy to use as any previous version of Windoze. But it is their aim of making it work on tablets that has made it so lean and fast. Once you get to the desktop, everything is familiar, so you have nothing to worry about.

i'll dig out the links if i can find them again, but there was def nothing in win8 that would improve my pc experience

You mean no-one mentioned anything. I can provide you a dozen links to articles that foam at the mouth about how great it is, which is close to my own experience. You really are a Luddite, you know.