Windows 7: Installing on new hard drive Vista vs Win 7

I have a quad core i720 intel processor and the asus p6t deluxe V2 motherboard and a basic 512 video card. I installed Vista 64 bit first - took about 50 minutes. Then installed Windows 7 RC1 on a second hard drive (dual boot) and it installed in 20 minutes. It couldnt find the divers for chipset but shortly after it said I didnt have them installed (they werent available on the mb setup disk nor on Asus website) and it asked if I wanted them installed and windows installed the drivers. Much more intuitive.

Also I looked at the processes running on initial startup - I had perhaps 8 on windows 7 and perhaps 25-30 on vista. That alone made me a believer.



Now it wont run all of the software i would like to run (some antivirus and antispyware - spydoctor - zonealarm etc) but that was the same thing initially for vista. Oh superatispyware ran from the get go on vista and does on windows 7. I cant figure out why other antispyware and antivirus companies hem themselves and make a product that is so OS version specific.

Overall I am impressed with windows 7 - far less processes running in the background.

The beta of win 7 crashed when I tried to join my domain. Had to reinstall then I left well enough alone. The RC1 joined domain without a hitch. Less trouble than either XP or Vista.

Runs my business programs just fine. been testing those for a month.

Also pleased with the try before you buy concept. I can use the win 7 setup thhrough may 31 2010.

Would like to see the price of the OS come down a bit. Close to $300 is a little steep to convert more of my machines to win 7. I am running a laptop with vista, 2 desktops with vista. and three desktops with XP.

Will keep ya posted

Thanks DrM

This is helpful and very timely.

I have been running Windows 7 beta on my old T42p laptop for 3 months in a dual boot configuration with XP with no issues. I have now installed 7.1 RC, with no problems.

I am considering installing 7.1 on my desktop despite the warnings about not installing on your main working machine. I am very dissatisfied with the stability of Vista and have been impressed with that of Win 7. I have the following configuration:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550
ASUS P5Q Pro
CORSAIR 4GB DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
SAMSUNG Spinpoint 1TB 7200
Western Digital Caviar 500GB 7200
Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB
Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit

I am thinking of a dual boot on the main drive and using the WD as my backup just as it is now. Does this make sense?

Should I simply spring for a new drive and install 7 there?

Any advice on ASUS driver issues?