X41: XP or 7?

[crushedumblr]

Im mostly looking for speed, and less resources used. Is 7 any improvement on XP?

[Tasurinchi]

Do you want/need performance in general or do you want/need performance for a specific software(s)

I've read different reviews with different results, if I recall correctly most of the reviews were in favor of XP, but with a very small marginal difference.

I see in your sig that you are expecting to get a SSD, so I personally would recommend Win7. I also would say to go for Win7 in general, as MS has improved the OS in many areas (stability, security, user administration, new GUI and so on) compared to XP. It's possible that with future service packs the performance will increase as well. On the long term, I expect that the support of Win7 will exceed the one for XP, but time will tell.

My 0,02 cents...

[thinkpad1]

Do you need double the space for a Windows 7 install?

Does it matter whether you have a IDE/PATA drive v.s. SATA drive? What if it's PATA SSD?

I was told you need double the space or even triple compared to XP requirements.

If you have a smaller, PATA-compatible-only drive, you might be quite limited regarding disk space (especially if using SSD drive).

How much disk space should be allocated to a Windows 7 install?

I guess I asked the same question two or three times but hopefully, it might help someone other than I who is considering a future Windows 7 install.

P.S. My laptop is a Thinkpad T41 with 1.5 GB of RAM (soon, 2GB) and ATI Radeon 9000 FireGL card.

[ThinkRob]

Im mostly looking for speed, and less resources used. Is 7 any improvement on XP?

If you're after speed and low resource usage, XP is a better choice than 7, IMHO.

[vladis]

I am running 7 on my x41 even with 1,8" slow hdd ( wtb ssd in future ).
It is running wery well. Wifi, bt and fingerprint reader runs better than on xp, in my opinon.
Only aero don´t work.

I think that going to XP is step to the past. // edit to the past not future

cheers

[ThinkRob]

I think that going to XP is step to the past. // edit to the past not future

Windows 7 is a far more modern OS than XP, to be sure. When it comes to resource usage, however, there really is no contest: XP is lighter.

[closersource]

With your specifications Windows XP wins hands down. XP stripped to its most basic features takes less than 4GB of disk space and uses around 64MB of operating memory.

[crushedumblr]

would upgrading my ram from 1gb to 2gb be worthwhile for W7?

[ThinkRob]

would upgrading my ram from 1gb to 2gb be worthwhile for W7?

Personally I think that's a worthwhile upgrade for pretty much any OS.

[crushedumblr]

Ok so having now experianced W7 (I installled it on another laptop with 1.7ghz celeron, 1gb ram), I have so far been AMAZED at the performance improvments from Vista. There really is no comparison. And also compared to XP, its in another league, you really can't compare XP to W7, the improvement is so big, I would really find it hard to go back to XP after using W7.

Of course though, my X41 is a 1.5ghz pentium M, compared to the 1.7ghz celeron, that probably has better graphics chipset?

runs better than on xp, in my opinon.
Only aero don´t work.

cheers

Thanks for that, but what do mean aero won't work? can you use Aero Peek? Or will it not let you at all?

I am about to order a 2gb RAM stick, I think ill wait till I get that before I install.

[nicko029]

I'm sorry for bumping a little bit old topic, but I'm interested in battery life and powermanagement of win 7? Does the battery last longer on XP or Win 7?
I'm planning upgrade to runcore 32gb ssd and 2gb ram.

[ReCreate]

Nope. Assuming the power manager is installed. The battery will last just as long as in XP. Assuming all the same conditions are met. (possibly a little longer as windows 7 is more optimized than XP, but hardly noticeable)

Thanks for that, but what do mean aero won't work? can you use Aero Peek? Or will it not let you at all?

I am about to order a 2gb RAM stick, I think ill wait till I get that before I install.

Any of the aero features won't work at all. This is due to the lack of a WDDM video driver from intel for the GMA900 chipset. Even though the chipset is theoretically compatible, aero at the moment is not happening unless if intel makes the WDDM driver.

[ParatoOptimal]

7's min HDD requirement is 10GB but you could probably whittle that down a bit.
7's min RAM is 1GB with 1.5 recommended where as XP's is 512MB with 1GB recommended.

I ran XP-Pro (not stripped down) with 512MB and it was horrible.
1GB speeded it up well but I want another 1GB.

I'm running 7-Ultimate on various laptops with 1GB, 1.5GB and 3GB RAM.
I even have it running well enough on a T41 with 512MB RAM.

[crashnburn]

7's min HDD requirement is 10GB but you could probably whittle that down a bit.
7's min RAM is 1GB with 1.5 recommended where as XP's is 512MB with 1GB recommended.

I ran XP-Pro (not stripped down) with 512MB and it was horrible.
1GB speeded it up well but I want another 1GB.

I'm running 7-Ultimate on various laptops with 1GB, 1.5GB and 3GB RAM.
I even have it running well enough on a T41 with 512MB RAM.

How does one decrease Win 7's Install footprint on HDD?

[nicko029]

Nope. Assuming the power manager is installed. The battery will last just as long as in XP. Assuming all the same conditions are met. (possibly a little longer as windows 7 is more optimized than XP, but hardly noticeable)

Any of the aero features won't work at all. This is due to the lack of a WDDM video driver from intel for the GMA900 chipset. Even though the chipset is theoretically compatible, aero at the moment is not happening unless if intel makes the WDDM driver.

I just upgraded my X41 with 2Gb ram In your opinion, will the x41 be equally fast (or slow ) on Win 7 as it is on XP? I didn't get a chance to buy a SSD yet...

[ReCreate]

I know for a fact 7 will be noticeably faster than XP, especially if you multitask a lot. As I do. The only notable bottlecap that may cause terrible performance is the 1.8" HDD, but this is independent from the OS. (avoid paging as much as possible, that's the #1 cause of lag here(when it happens))

[fasteez]

Many people knows how to strip Xp to the bare minimum, how does win7 handle this department ? there's vLite but I've never used it, a trimmed win7 might be an interesting Xpriment (ohh no way).

It would also be a better comparison point, even though the new dll versionning scheme will always consume a lot more disk space.

[ReCreate]

I have no idea, though it would not be necessary or a good idea in any scenario either way.

[thediserp]

XP unless you have more than 3Gb of memory, hands down My experience with IBM X models is that Vista Ultimate 64-bit is better than 7, I don't know the X41 and if it takes enough memory to go to either lousy operating system of 7 or Vista, go with the tried and true XP or if you're knowledgable switch to Linux and stop making insane money for people selling something thats out there free and better, just takes more knowledge which I don't have

[nicko029]

I've actually worked with some Linux distros, but I don't care much of them for desktop use (at least for me).

And win 7 is not bad at all. It really raises a bar for user experience.

[ThinkRob]

I've actually worked with some Linux distros, but I don't care much of them for desktop use (at least for me).

Just curious, but which ones did you try and when? I ask because (as you know) Linux is developed extremely quickly, and with so very many distributions, experiences can vary wildly.

[nicko029]

Few of the latest Ubuntus and Mandrivas in the past 2 years. I don't say they aren't good, but I prefer more Win 7.