Comments on: Rest day- installing Windows 7 beta

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 14:16:58 +0000

@Saad

Hello!

I had this problem when I installed. I’m not sure what the problem is, probably some bug where a loop doesn’t work properly or something, but the DVD drive just stops. You have to eject the tray then push it back in and it should carry on with the install. The first time I tried it came up with an error so I restarted. The second time it worked, I left it and came back to set up an account and get going.

Just for the record, I switched over to ubuntu from xp about 5 months ago, now I have windows 7 and ubuntu, dual-boot. I have to say, W7 is a lot more user friendly, it was literally click and go, no drivers to install and codecs are mostly there.

Chris

By: Kris

Kris — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:36:00 +0000

When i boot from 64-bit windows 7 i just get the blue background with the windows 7 “for testing purposes only” after the screen saying “windows is loading files” this screen stays on indefinatley. Anyone else have this problem?

(yes it supports 64-bit)

By: Saad

Saad — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:23:04 +0000

@Jake

Thank you I installed windows 7 and I am truly impressed by the multitouch features on the Latitude XT – very “iphone”-like

By: James Kendrick

James Kendrick — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:51:16 +0000

I only have the 32-bit version but I suspect that some Office programs still don’t work on the 64-bit version. The OneNote virtual printer doesn’t work on 64-bit Vista for example.

By: jay

jay — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:47:52 +0000

yes I have the same question.. thanx in advance

By: dd

dd — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:46:49 +0000

which is better to install as a partition on a macbook? the 32-bit or 64-bit?

By: Tory

Tory — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 23:56:50 +0000

@GoodThings2Life, I did a clean install to avoid residual issues. I wanted to give this OS the best possible test. It could be driver issues…but that would be tough to ferret out. I did manage to improve performance a hint by disabling the 2 devices without drivers.

Today it seemed a little better…but still have disk thrashing on bootup. Time to disable superfetch again, I guess. I think I’m nearly equivalent to Vista now…but didn’t have much time to work with it today.

I did have a driver issue with a Lexmark (bleh) printer at work. So much for 100% compatibility.

By: Johan

Johan — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:33:14 +0000

@GoodThings2Life, it seemed to me like the task bar was double the height, but if it is only 4 pixels taller as you say, then the difference is not worth complaining about :)
I did not know about being able to use small icons, when Windows 7 final comes out I will definitely install it again and try that, thanks for the tip!

By: GoodThings2Life

GoodThings2Life — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:06:53 +0000

@Johan,

It literally only takes 4 pixels more space vertically than the Vista start menu, so I’m not sure how everyone keeps making such a big deal of that. More over, right click, Properties, and set it for small icons. Problem solved.

By: GoodThings2Life

GoodThings2Life — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:05:25 +0000

@Tory and Johan,

Did you upgrade or install fresh? Since you both mention adjusting Vista to achieve better performance, I can’t help but wonder if some of those adjustments are causing issues in W7.

I also wonder if some of it is more to do with drivers than the OS itself. Then again, maybe it is just the Q1U model.

Aside from performance issues, I’m interested in hearing more about your impressions of the rest of the user interface, etc.