It’s no secret that I’ve never been a fan of Windows Vista. I really wanted to love it but even as a designated Microsoft MVP I couldn’t drink the kool-aid(1) nor did I promote Vista to family and friends.
So, what makes Windows 7 so much better that I’ve changed my tune? I’m still happy with Windows XP but I am encouraging folks to invest their money and time to upgrade to Win7. I’ve put together four reasons that may not be secret but you may not hear a lot about due to their technical nature.
MultiCore Processing
When Microsoft designed Vista they saw a future in 64 bit machines. It was a reasonable assumption but they were a little ahead of the times. While x64 CPU’s are gaining in popularity the technology of cheap multiple core processors still dominates the market. MultiCore processors give you the power of multiple CPU’s within a single chip. Windows 7 doubles the number of your CPU’s.
In any modern OS there is a system that schedules which programs or processes run when and at what priority. It’s like a traffic cop inside your computer. Vista was optimized to easily handle 64 bit operations. Its traffic cop was trained to expect a lot of big Cadillac's and SUV’s to be using the data road.
The Windows 7 traffic cop understands that multiple core CPUs are still popular so it’s still ready for the SUV’s but knows in between there will be a lot of Sport cars, Smart Cars and even Motorcycles on the data roads.
If you have a dual-core, quad-core CPU you will be thrilled with the increased performance. Using Hyper Threading technology from Intel, a virtual core is created for each physical core adding yet more multiprocessing computing power.
Solid State Drives
I’ve been preaching the future of Solid State Drives over many years. While the prices may still be out of the reach of many, they’re continuing to come down. SSD’s are so much quicker than traditional drives which have moving parts. They’re also so much more dependable. Windows 7 understands how data is stored on Solid State Drives and is optimized to handle their unique operation.
General Purpose Graphics Processing Unit
You may have noticed over the years the video cards inside your computer have grown in both size and power. As gaming and video popularity has grown computer manufactures have greatly increased graphical power. Modern video cards now have their own processors(GPU’s) and plenty of memory. Windows 7 can now take advantage of some of this processing power when it’s not being used for rendering graphics. If you have a powerful video card from NVidia or AMD(ATI) you’ll most likely benefit from this technical addition in Windows 7.
Network Startup Time
Quick startup may not be a secret but most folks don’t realize that Microsoft has put a priority on WiFi network discovery on startup. At least 2-3 times a week my wife Cindi would ask me if the network was down when she went to read the morning paper online. The problem was, Windows appeared to be all ready for use but it wasn’t. The cursor reverted from an hourglass to the arrow but Windows was still doing many background tasks including trying to find the default network. So while everything appeared to be ready for action, the internet was still a few minutes away from use. In most cases, you’ll notice Windows 7 will have you connected as quickly as you can load your browser.
References:
Engineering Windows 7: Support and Q&A for Solid State Drives
Toms Hardware: Win7 Desktop Graphics Loves Multi-core CPUs
CNet: Intel, Microsoft Highlight Windows 7 Improvements
(1) Note: While I did make reference to the common expression about drinking the kool-aid it really bugs me when I hear this. Most people relate this expression to the Jonestown mass suicide when in fact the followers of Jim Jones drank grape cyanide-laced Flavor-Aid.
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