Windows XP or Windows 7?

[Gorecore]

Sometime this summer I'm probably going to buy a new computer tower. I have a legit copy of WinXP Home SP2 and I've always been quite fond of XP. The only reason I'm considering Windows 7 would be to get a computer with more than 2 gigs of ram because XP won't recognize more than 2 gb of ram.

I don't do any Photoshop or really any graphically intense stuff. I don't play any PC games. I only surf the web, watch videos, and burn stuff. I'd like to get back into home recording again but my PC keeps crapping out when I'm running 2 or 3 recording softwares at once. I've only got 512mb of ram in an Athlon XP 2500+ and a 140gig hd.

Any advice for me? My price range would be about 600 dollars.

[SpRi7e]

I've never used windows 7 so I'm not sure on how it runs compared to XP, but as long as you get a good processor with 2 gigs of ram, you'll be able to run nearly anything no problem. I have a pentium 4 3.0 and 3 gigs of ram and can still run a bunch of things at once without it slowing down. Especially since you aren't using it for gaming, I would boost up the processor and have a lil worse of a video card if you really even want one.

[crackrjak]

My old computer had windows xp, but after using windows 7 i like a lot of their features and it runs smooth, i haven't had any problems with programs not responding or any of that junk.

[SpRi7e]

yeah from what I've heard from a few people who have it, windows 7 runs just as good if not better than windows XP and it has a bunch of cooler/new features that don't bog down your system

[Certified-Nutter]

2gb ram? shit man, i thought XP was capped at 4GB.... fuck
well, either way, i got a legit copy of 7, and my pirate, hardly working copy of XP still runs circles round it, half of my programs are not compatable with 7 or come up with some sort of bug when i am trying to run it.
also it wudnt read my slave drive, i think probably because the slave drive was once a master and has a copy of XP on it, altho its not used, but i couldnt get rid of it without accessing the drive or formating the damn thing, and even though i installed XP just to access it and back it up to try again, i had no external or internal drive big enough to back it all up, so i just stuck with XP, much less hassle

my 2 pennies, stick to XP unless you find yourself in dire need of the advancements of 7 (whateva they are? i am yet to see them)

[weedguru_animal]

I have been using windows 7, with this newer desktop, for a few months now, and its fine...seems to run very quickly. Has crashed just once, which isn't bad given that I use it every day, muliple times. ALL the programs I used to use on XP work without any glitches. And indeed, it recognizes and plays with happily, my 4gb of RAM. I am unsure as to the advantages of using a 64bit Operating System with 64bit processors...someone else will surely be able to explain this further. I will sugguest then, that IF you are grabbing a modern processor, with more than the standard amount of RAM which XP can recognize and utilizie, then obviously get windows 7....one other suggestion is this: SOME linux operating systems, work amazingly faster on older processors THAN XP, and whilst there can be problems with some windows focussed programs, there is usually a work around. On my old craptop, XP versus, even Ubuntu, which is fairly rich graphically, was a slug versus a hare/

[Mate]

Windows 7 and xp are both all right.

i'm using windows 7 actually.. took me 2 days to get used to it.
had some lan problems with it.. but easy to fix if you're not retarded.

Windows xp is also awesome. i like both of em.

i want to install back xp tho... i'm just so used to it.
windows 7 does not bring interesting stuff i need i can't do at all on xp.. really.

[Gorecore]

I'm thinking I'll stick with XP. It'll minus about 110 bucks off the cost of a new system and I already know it'll work with my recording softwares.

[Viewer_Discretion]

Oh god I love windows seven before that I couldn't stand windows I am both a Mac and windows user now but i love windows 7.

[Weedguru_RyaNayR]

from my experiences, win7 is actually a bit faster than XP... but that could also be cause i have it tweaked just right... something i automatically do with every new OS i install... could also be cause it is utilizing all my 4gigs of ram vs 2 and the 64-bit cpu vs 32bit running on 64... aside from that, it does have a lot of nice new features, and of course the fancy looks are always nice. I would highly suggest that anyone that's going to use windows 7, get Ultimate edition. I have never had a problem with it, but i hear that the other versions (mainly Home Premium) have issues, especially with older programs such as those from XP with no version available for win7...

And honestly, I wouldn't fork out the 200 some odd dollars for windows 7, i'd just download it from a torrent and burn it to a blank dvd.. especially if you've never used it before and just want to try it out. then if you like it, and you feel obligated, you can go and buy it.... but i wouldn't.