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XP,Vista or W7 ?

K

Kurrosh

macrumors member
Original poster
May 29, 2008
44
0
Which OS would you recommend for games and maybe a little schoolwork? Vista, XP or Windows 7? And I would also like to be able to do school work on it (my school uses XP and Office 2003). For example I need to be able to run MS Access 2003 on whichever OS i am using and I need to be able to save it so that it will run on XP as well.

I was edging towards Windows 7, but any input would be greatly appreciated.

-Kurrosh
 
I considered XP cos i simply prefer it overall to vista. And as for why I bothered asking, I just need confirmation that it is good and that (hopefully) I can do school work on it as well; I don't want to spend money buying it if i'll have to replace it right after ;)
 
Unless you have any reason to go for Vista or Win 7 (specific software, DirectX10 etc) then I'd stick with XP. I run a small studio and teach at a college with similar spec systems with a range of operating systems. I've found XP to be the most stable, fastest, most compatible OS out of them 3. Vista shouldn't even be considered but Win 7 is a massive improvement on it - it's just not quite as speedy as XP.

Infact I use XP as my main OS at home (after trying the rest on my own computers) on bootcamp, I don't even use the OSX side that much. I've seen XP blue screen a few times in the past but since I bought this computer I haven't had a single crash, or virus and I'm only protected by AVG free.
 
XP is very well regarded. It has less overhead that Vista/7 and is supported until 2014?. For Vista or 7 you need 4GB RAM. 7 is supposed to be new and improved as compared to Vista, but there are savvy users out there who won't try a new Windows OS until the first service pack comes out.

When I got my MBP (see sig), I went with Vista because I was thinking DX10* was must have and I did not wait for the first service pack. :) Vista has worked well for me. I've had no problems or headaches with it. It runs Crysis in the low 20's fps. However based on what I've read, today if I was to buy a new WindowsOS for gaming I would pick 7. Of note, I just read a 7 article in PCWorld and it's performance (speed) is not significantly better than Vista.

*In my case DX10 was not must have because I've ended up playing most of my games in low/med settings and I just don't think the difference at low settings is significant. However, when I purchased, DX10 was brand new. Because DX10 is now the standard it is a non-issue. I guess my point is, if you can afford it and you are a big gamer, get a video card with at least 256VRAM and have at least 4GB system RAM installed.
 
Thanks for all the replies, i'll probably go with 7 to test it out; if it doesn't work out then I'll just install XP.

guess my point is, if you can afford it and you are a big gamer, get a video card with at least 256VRAM and have at least 4GB system RAM installed.
Click to expand...

Is it possible to replace macbook pro/iMac (intel duo both) video/graphic cards?
 
Since all I do under Windows is game, I want it super lean and fast. That's why I have installed a very minimalistic version of XP. Works great for me.

However, once I upgrade to 4GB of RAM (at 2 right now) I'll go with 7, as XP can't utilize over 2GB (not easily or properly, at least).
 
I'd go with a 64-bit Windows XP even. The installation of XP is so much smaller than Win 7 or Vista. If you're gaming on a 2nd partition with Boot Camp you'd appreciate a smaller Windows install.

Edit: Nevermind, the Windows XP Professional 64-bit Edition is designed for Itanium systems and is discontinued in 2005. LOL

Still. Windows 7 wants 16GB of HD space.
 
strang said:
Still. Windows 7 wants 16GB of HD space.
Click to expand...
Is that with or without XP emulation mode?

trose said:
Since all I do under Windows is game, I want it super lean and fast. That's why I have installed a very minimalistic version of XP. Works great for me.

However, once I upgrade to 4GB of RAM (at 2 right now) I'll go with 7, as XP can't utilize over 2GB (not easily or properly, at least).
Click to expand...

Bingo ;).
Also I'm using 3gb under XP just fine.
 
I would suggest whole heartedly against Windows XP 64-Bit. Not only is XP losing it's support, but 64-bit never had any support to begin with.

Here is the way I see it:

If you want to have a an OS for pure speed and a small footprint, pick XP.

Everything else, pick 7. Really, there is no reason to pick Vista over 7. 7 is just an improved Vista. Vista wasn't terrible, so if you can find it cheap, I would consider it though because really I don't notice a difference besides the UI from Vista to 7.
 
I'm no expert by any means, but my humble recommendation is Windows 7.

I tried it out on my HP Laptop a couple of weeks back, and it is definitely much, much better than Vista... primarily because my laptop didn't overheat as it did with Vista. After looking at the Task Manager, I saw that 7 used 50 processes while Vista had used 80, and 7 definitely used less RAM than Vista, so another thing for your consideration.
XP is pretty stable, and I still use it on my desktop, but like someone earlier said, why go with an 8 year old OS if you have the option of going with the newest one.
 
raggedjimmi said:
I don't know, maybe performance and compatibility?
Click to expand...

No, that school of thinking should be reserved for Vista strictly. You'd be surprised as to how much Microsoft has worked to make Windows 7 as compatible as Windows XP. I had no trouble running XP software on Windows 7, as I had in Windows Vista. I even installed Flight Simulator 98 on 7 and I had no trouble whatsoever playing it. Similarly, I was able to install and use some small "apps" or programs off the internet that had Windows XP or Vista as their recommended OS systems, with no trouble.
Which is why I would recommend Windows 7 over Windows XP. The only reason you'd want to go for Windows XP, truly, is if you liked the traditional Windows taskbar that much. But again, this is my humble opinion, and I'm speaking strictly though my personal experience rather than any expertise.
 
colbertnation said:
No, that school of thinking should be reserved for Vista strictly. You'd be surprised as to how much Microsoft has worked to make Windows 7 as compatible as Windows XP. I had no trouble running XP software on Windows 7, as I had in Windows Vista. I even installed Flight Simulator 98 on 7 and I had no trouble whatsoever playing it. Similarly, I was able to install and use some small "apps" or programs off the internet that had Windows XP or Vista as their recommended OS systems, with no trouble.
Which is why I would recommend Windows 7 over Windows XP. The only reason you'd want to go for Windows XP, truly, is if you liked the traditional Windows taskbar that much. But again, this is my humble opinion, and I'm speaking strictly though my personal experience rather than any expertise.
Click to expand...

No, there are still overheads. We have a 3ghz, 4870, 4gb PC that I use for software testing (I run XP, Vista and Win 7 to test for compatibilities of my own software).
XP will always perform the best. That's agiven since it was built for older hardware in the same way Windows 2000 would outperform XP for general day-to-day use. However it's not as compatible as XP.
I also missed out HDD usage, XP takes up a lot less than the other 2 systems. Doesn't XP compatibility mode in Win 7 add another 5 or so gb's?

If all you're going to do is play games then XP is the way to go for now. Or until Win7 decides to completely shut off the Vista/Win7 shell and exclusively run in XP mode.
 
Kurrosh said:
Which OS would you recommend for games and maybe a little schoolwork? Vista, XP or Windows 7? And I would also like to be able to do school work on it (my school uses XP and Office 2003). For example I need to be able to run MS Access 2003 on whichever OS i am using and I need to be able to save it so that it will run on XP as well.

I was edging towards Windows 7, but any input would be greatly appreciated.

-Kurrosh
Click to expand...

FWIW, I'm wondering the same thing for my HD 2600 iMac.:rolleyes: As I see it, Windows 7, assuming you've a powerful enough Mac to play the latest PC games.

If not, then maybe XP. The former takes up about 16GB immediately (besides needing extra RAM), the latter only 1.5GB. The non-gaming software should run fine whatever you get.
 
If Windows 7 runs my older favorite games well, which Vista couldn't (a variety of reasons....) I can finally ditch XP.

But, TBO... I don't expect those kind of compatibility marvels just yet...
Let me know, if you by chance play any of these games in 7:
- Need for Speed 4 (Road Challenge / High Stakes) >> won't start at all in Vista.
- Richard Burns Rally >> can't save settings in Vista
- Far Cry >> couple if issues in Vista.

I would love just one Windows OS to have to boot into for my gaming.... ;)

Cheers.
 
The way I see it is that the choice is really only between 7 and XP. If you have older games in your backlog (like me!) then stick with XP until you're ready to move on to newer games, then upgrade to 7. Omit Vista entirely - 7 is similar enough to Vista that any games that runs fine in Vista will most likely run just as well in 7.

Just a note, if you're talking REALLY old games (like back BEFORE the days of XP), consider virtualization (VMWare or whatever) - it can probably easily handle the rigorous (;)) 3D requirements of those old games. And for games even older than that (DOS games namely) check out DOSBox.
 
i have W7 and its sooo kick a**! Its like microsoft and mac made a baby, best of both worlds lol....
 
Sounds pretty good. I'm still with XP, but I was worried about using Windows 7 with Bootcamp. Since nothing mentioned about Bootcamp supporting Windows 7, I thought it would be a waste of money at this time. So does the drivers and everything work with it? I did notice an issue with XP for the Macbook Pro Unibody, though. It seemed that once installed, the speaker audio while running Windows seemed to be operating at half the volume it should (even when turned all the way up), and the headphone port red light would stay on, all the time. You get full volume using headphones, though I don't think that's normal operation. Otherwise, it worked fine. I'll probably consider Windows 7 if that, indeed, works with Bootcamp without any hassle.
 
XP. XP all the way, it works seamlessly with all games to date. Don't waste your hard disk space with 7. Vista is completely out of the question.
 
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