Windows 7 xp mode - needed?

[JHZR2]

Since I'm putting a new ssd into my 2008 MBP, I'm doing fresh installs of everything. I was an early vista adopter and hated it, so sluggish on brand new, soa hardware, that I reverted to xp. Thus when I got my MBP, I put xp on it too.

I've heard that 7 is much faster and better than vista, so when I set up dual boot, I'm tempted to install 7 instead.

I'm confused about the xp mode though. I've read up on it on ars technica and elsewhere, but still are not sure. If I have programs that were written and compiled for an xp machine (like a USB obd scanner software), do I need this? My read is that only visual basic and IE6 apps need this. But how do I know?

Am I going to have to worry about 7 being a slouch like early vista was? I'm used to running xp and OS X where everything is instant.

Thanks!

 

[ag_ghost]

Microsoft got it right with Windows 7 Professional. My experience is all with the 64-bit version. I've been using it for a year and a half and just noted this morning this PC came up quite quickly. I also reimaged it on a 4 year old notebook for for my son last summer and he's been using it without incident at law school. Except for some Windows explorer settings I still haven't mastered, my system looks like an XP machine if you look at the screen.

Never heard of anyone using XP mode though. What is the OBD application? In any event, Win 7 is no slouch.

 

[dparm]

XP Mode is only for the absolute oldest of apps that absolutely do not run in 7. So far I have not encountered anything that won't run, save a 15 year old video game from the days of Windows 95.

Windows 7 was a big improvement over Vista, which MS even admitted had a lot of issues.

 

[bepperb]

Windows 7 is way better than Vista. I'd say 90% of our clients (banks) have gone from XP to 7 with no stop in between.

I haven't needed XP mode for anything, and we run some outrageously old stuff.

 

[Drew99GT]

Windows 7 professional is flawless IMO. I haven't downloaded XP mode, but 7 professional has a feature called compatibility mode that has worked on older programs I've used. I got my scanner to work that way. You just left click the program icon, go to properties, and select compatibility mode. Works awesome! Windows 7 is much better than Vista; especially the built in backup/imaging features.

 

[beast3300]

XP mode runs in a virtual environment so it is like having it installed. Once in XP mode you can full screen it and it makes it look almost identical to as if XP was your operating system. You need a processor that supports it though.

There is compatibility mode that will run programs as if it was XP that will sometimes work on really old stuff that won't run right on W7. That is just a right click on the program and properties to find the compatibility function.

 

[JHZR2]

So do I want 7 home or pro?

 

[buickman50401]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2

I've heard that 7 is much faster and better than vista, so when I set up dual boot, I'm tempted to install 7 instead.

Am I going to have to worry about 7 being a slouch like early vista was? I'm used to running xp and OS X where everything is instant.

Thanks!

7, particularly the 64 bit flavor, is faster than XP. Period. You're going to be running it on hardware from 2008 which I assume is a Core 2 Duo of some sort. If that is the case you'll be fine. My laptop which I bought in '08 came with Vista business on it. I put 7 Pro on it about 6 months later. Its only running a Pentium Dual Core which is basically a cut down version (cache and bus speed) of a Core 2 Duo. With 4GB RAM it runs great on this machine.

You probably won't need XP mode for anything. You also have to have the hardware capable of running it since its a virtual XP machine that runs inside of 7.

The worst compatibility issue I've run into was solved with the right click, run in XP compatibility mode as others have mentioned.

After 3+ years of 7 being on the market there should be little reluctance to dumping XP for 7. Yes Vista a turd. MS took everything they did right UI wise in Vista coupled with what they did right as far as stability/compatibility in XP, tweaked it all and wrapped it up in a nice package - the nicest of which is 7 Pro.

 

[Drew99GT]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
So do I want 7 home or pro?


Pro because it has disk imaging built in.

 

[Brons2]

I have Windows7 Enterprise on my Core2Duo T5250 (1.5Ghz) laptop which was a closeout when I bought it in 2008. Runs great! Only change I have made is to install 4GB of RAM.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
So do I want 7 home or pro?


Pro because it has disk imaging built in.


What does that do for me vs a third party app? Seems like I'm paying $40 for it.

Thanks!

 

[dparm]

I partially agree with Drew -- the built-in imaging is nice but I would not say it's vastly better than something like Acronis or Ghost. Native support is always good because it's just one less piece of software to upgrade/fail/etc, though some might argue that this sort of thing is best left to the pros.

My SSD included Acronis and I will say they make it foolproof to clone and take images of your drive.

I'd say just buy Home Premium and be done with it. You can always do the Anytime upgrade to Pro or Ultimate if you really want the extra features.

 

[Drew99GT]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
So do I want 7 home or pro?


Pro because it has disk imaging built in.


What does that do for me vs a third party app? Seems like I'm paying $40 for it.

Thanks!


It works much like 3rd party imaging software, but it doesn't have differential imaging and advanced features like Acronis True Image. It simply allows you to create one disk image at a time (and a boot CD). I've used it a few times already and it works great. I make an image every week. It's faster than true Image was when I had XP. The only negative I see with 7s built in imaging is you can't browse through images to retrieve individual files, but that shouldn't be a problem if you use 7s built in automatic backup feature.

 

[JHZR2]

Since I will be using 7 far less than 10.7, I think I'll go with home for now. Not sure I'll use it. So long as compatability mode is available in home, it seems like that is a nice option.

Wonder if starter would actually be best for me. It was nice to only pay $70 for the upgrade to full 10.7 (fresh install complete, not an upgrade USB stick).

 

[dparm]

Starter sucks. Avoid it.

Compatibility modes are in every version of Windows 7. XP Mode is only available in Pro/Enterprise/Ultimate.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

XP mode is Microsoft's marketing speak for a 'free' license of Virtual PC, and a downloadable copy of WinXP that's licensed for your use automatically if you have Pro/Ultimate/Enterprise. N/A on home or lesser versions.

I've only needed it for one thing: IE6 that runs a stubborn line of business app that never worked right on IE7 or above, or anything other web browser.

This can be handy for home PC's where older kid's games will only work on WinXP.

Otherwise, you don't need XP mode, choose Virtualbox or VMWare Workstation if you need to virtualize WinXP for anything.

I suggest Pro version as it has most of anything you'd want with a corp network mindset built-in. Feature comparison here:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/compare
exhaustive comparison:
http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows-7/windows-7-product-editions-a-comparison

And yes, grab the 64bit version if compatible, but do check the Apple forums as there are issues with drivers and possible power saving problems with the 64 bit version, I tried on my late 2008 MB, too much pain to get the drivers working on the 64 bit version, eventually gave up and just virtualized the Windows 7 instance.

 

[jaj]

As everyone else says, Win 7 is as fast or faster than XP. I installed it on one of my old single core laptops and it is much friendlier than the original XP was.

In answer to your question about XP mode, I have it because I thought I'd need it, but everything runs fine under 7, so I just don't use it.

I have Win 7 Pro 64 bit on two machines, and I like it a lot. One thing to be careful with - Win 7 comes with two versions of the IE browser - a 32 bit application and a 64 bit version. There aren't a lot of 64 bit plug-ins for the 64 bit version, so it isn't compatible with all websites. The 32 bit version works just fine, though.

One other quirk of the 64 bit version is that it will not allow the use of unsigned device drivers under any circumstances. The 32 bit version allows the administrator to install unsigned drivers using an override of the OS security system. The override is not available in the 64 bit version.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
It was nice to only pay $70 for the upgrade to full 10.7 (fresh install complete, not an upgrade USB stick).


I *really* wish Microsoft would adpot a pricing policy more like Apple's. When you buy a copy of Mac OS, you own it, and to my understanding, you can install it on however many machines that you like. The upgrades are also far cheaper than Windows upgrades (often less than 50 bucks for the upgrade version).

One of the big differences between Apple and Microsoft is that Microsoft doesn't have a large hardware side to make money on, and possibly subsidize its software side. Perhaps this is part of the reason, or all of the reason, why Microsoft's OS is so expensive.

 

[Hokiefyd]

I've upgraded two of my own computers now, and also my mother-in-law's computer, from XP to 7 and 7 was faster and more "nimble" in every instance. Our two are a Dell Dimension E521 with an AMD Athlon 64 dual-core processor with 4 GB of RAM (though I recently removed 1 GB, with no real noticeable drop in performance), and a Compaq Presario C300 with an Intel Celeron M at 1.7 GHz with 2 GB of RAM.

I used the 64-bit version on the Dell and the 32-bit version on the Compaq. Both run very nice, better than XP, and I don't know why I waited so long. In my experience with every version of Windows since 3.0, 7 is by far the best version that Microsoft has released.

 

[JHZR2]

I went with the 64 bit system builder W7 Home Premium version. Should work best for me, IMO.

Thanks for all the insight!