Windows 7 also works extremely well with Solid State Drives. Microsoft has made some changes with the way the OS interacts with SSDs. I've been using the Win 7 64 bit RC for the past several months and plan to transition over to the retail version this weekend since Microsoft will release it to TechNet and MSDN subscribers tomorrow.
I have been heavily looking into Windows 7 with all the good hype I've heard so far. Though I don't have the money, it is sounded way better then going to Vista Ultimate by everything I've heard. Plus I want to take advantage of my DX10 on my other computer and why not upgrade to that just to take advantage of a much better gamig environment. Though I will probably wait till they start sticking it on laptops before I grab a key(I'm always snazzy like that)
The RC version is the Release Candidate--it's stable but primarily used to test driver/software/hardware compatibility. The RTM version is the Release To Manufacturing version which is the full retail version of Windows 7 that will be available to everyone in October.
Maximum PC has a nice little guide for configuring Windows 7 to install from a flash drive. http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/how_to_install_windows_7_beta_a_usb_key
Awesome, was about to ask how the best way to install it on my new harddrive I just ordered should be. Which, I guess - the question still stands :]
Windows 7 = Windows Vista with less junk in it microsoft has just been lazy over the years making minor changes to their OS and charging $180+ for their software every 2-4 yrs. I think its mostly done out of greed, some people still use Windows Xp over Windows Vista and it works perfectly fine, aside from not supporting 4gb+
The same can be said of every company--they make updates in their product and sell it to you again. Cars, software, etc. Blizzard anyone? Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo--they do have a new MMO in development but it's probably World of Starcraft. But I digress... Any 64 bit OS will support 4GB+; 32 bit OSes run out of memory address space which is why they can't use huge amounts of RAM.
The easiest way to install it is from the DVD. You just boot from it, tell it where to install and let it go. Installing from a USB flash drive is a bit quicker though and you can delete the ei.cfg file in the Sources directory so you don't have to carry around multiple DVDs for the various versions.
I did it from a DVD and it worked fine as soon as it started up it found almost all my drivers almost instantly.
Any guides or suggestions for transfering settings from RC to the Home version upgrade? Currently have Vista installed on a new hard drive and Win7 on a spare, but I kind of like my setup with the RC and would love a fast conversion over on release.
It's not supported officially--they recommend a fresh install. There are some guides available that explain how to upgrade though. I haven't tried any yet because I was planning on just doing a fresh build--so be careful. http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-upgrade-windows-7-rc-to-rtm/
Only way I can think of is to make a copy of your C:\users\<yourname> folder and then copy it back over to the new install. The hidden folder "appdata" should contain all the personal settings that you have made. But there is no guarantee this will work or even screw something up. If you want my opinion, though, starting from scratch is always best with a new OS install. Just make backups of your personal documents, email, browser bookmarks, etc. For games, its usually safe to copy the entire old game folder over the newly installed one in order to keep your settings, mods, and savegames (this definitely works for WoW).
well, once again, when ordering the discounted upgrade version, a fresh install becomes more problematic unless they're just ensuring you have vista and letting you format during the install. it seems like the app data thing works between vista and xp for ventrillo servers at least. i was just wondering if there was more to it than that, though i suppose if there is, i have the advantage of still have the RC hard drive attached