OS advice for my new build

[Hanzo]

Hello!

I asked a few questions about a potential new build i was planning a few months back and I got some very helpful feedback. Since then the whole idea went pear shaped in terms of cash flow and the build got put on hold, but rather happily in the last few days it's all on again!

But I am faced with a problem. I was just going to throw Vista 64bit on the new build and go from there when I was first planning it, now however there is the prospect of the Windows 7 RC.

If I remember right the W7 RC is going to be available to the public in the first week of May. Should I wait and get that release? Or stick with Vista for the time being until W7 gets it's retail release?

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

[nightkhaos]

Windows 7 is a very good stable and fast OS, however it is not offically supported, so in the (rare) chance you encounter any problems there is not much you can do to remedy them except wait until the issues are fixed with the OS and/or drivers.

Personally I would go for Windows 7 as I have found it to be very good, but it is not for everyone, yet.

[tonpal]

I depend on what you are using your new build for. The point about stability and support was well made by nightkhaos so if you are relying on the pc then the Vista then Windows 7 route may be better for you, particularly if you have a copy of Vista knocking about.

On the other hand, if you would have to go out and purchase Vista or the availability of the PC isn't critical then it may be worth taking the risk and going straight to Windows 7.

Has anyone seen any information on the availability of Windows 7 RC?

[Blaineoliver]

May 5th.

[Splash]

If I remember right the W7 RC is going to be available to the public in the first week of May. Should I wait and get that release? Or stick with Vista for the time being until W7 gets it's retail release?

My understanding is that OEMs have it now, Technet/MSDN subscribers get it 5th May, general availability 15th May.

[lodore]

technet and msdn have it april 30th and public gets it 5th may.

[synaesthesia]

It's "available" but for the sake of legality, certainly hold fire until the 5th. Definitely worth the go, I'm still wondering how on earth they managed to get it running on so little memory, certainly in comparison to Vista installs. Was expecting memory consumption to increase and performance to decrease at the RC stage, however I'm happy to admit being wrong. Thumbs up for 7.

[Hanzo]

I depend on what you are using your new build for. The point about stability and support was well made by nightkhaos so if you are relying on the pc then the Vista then Windows 7 route may be better for you, particularly if you have a copy of Vista knocking about.

On the other hand, if you would have to go out and purchase Vista or the availability of the PC isn't critical then it may be worth taking the risk and going straight to Windows 7.

It is going to be my main (only!) PC when built due to the gutting of my current setup for parts during the build. So it needs to be for general use, gaming and also video editing and encoding.

It's "available" but for the sake of legality, certainly hold fire until the 5th. Definitely worth the go, I'm still wondering how on earth they managed to get it running on so little memory, certainly in comparison to Vista installs. Was expecting memory consumption to increase and performance to decrease at the RC stage, however I'm happy to admit being wrong. Thumbs up for 7.

Thats certainly an encouraging recommendation! My worry then is the availability (legally) and support of the Release Candidate. Can anyone get the RC from MS after May 5th?

Thanks again for the help and info guys

[synaesthesia]

I suspect it'll just be technet subscribers (of which I am one/MSDN, but I'm just too impatient) - however without creating too much of a legal storm, MS are more than happy to turn a blind eye to the "dodgy availability" of their beta and RC builds of their OS currently, and who can blame them - they're getting good feedback from people who are beta testers or not, and have what really is a very good OS on their hands. I like reliability, I was *very* happy with Vista x64 and even so decided that 7 offered enough more to me to warrant moving over to it in it's beta (7000) state. My plan is to install the RC upon it's legal release (it's in use currently in a VM and on a 512mb ramed Celeron D box, very well!) on my main system up until it's expiry/7's full release, whichever is sooner.
Certainly very happy to pay for a good OS and I can't wait for this one.

[Splash]

technet and msdn have it april 30th and public gets it 5th may.

Got a reputable source for that? Not calling you into question, but I've not seen anything stating that thus far.

[lodore]

Got a reputable source for that? Not calling you into question, but I've not seen anything stating that thus far.

windows team blog

[Splash]

Cheers

[how1]

Windows 7 RC. Will it be available to 'Anyone' to try out? If so, from where?

[Maccer101]

If you don't Game, Linux.

Its free and I've found more stable than Windows with a massive selection of free apps