At the moment, I am awash in copied of Windows 7. Thanks to the magic of an msdn subscription, I can test every version of the os till my fingers go numb or my eyes get too bleary to see the screen. This is both a curse and a blessing. Always in the back of my mind is that little voice saying “go ahead, try one more”. Desktop consistency be damned!
So it was with much constination that I decided to flip my perfectly usable Fedora on a x41 tablet to windows 7.
I’ve always had a special place in my collection for tablets and always find myself gravitating back to them. I like the concept and when they work, they work very well.
Linux, alas, has always been lacking in a decent pen interface for tablets so when I used them, I always left wanting more. So with that and keeping in mind windows 7 is rtm, I figured I would give it another shot.
Background: the x41 has the malaigned 915 chipsets from intel. This is the one that could run Vista but Vista in a crippled way. No fancy Aero, pokey slow performance and all in all a bad experience. Heck, you can’t even up the 41’s ram past 1.5 gb. (which I have). Still it’s a workhorse and one I like to use to take notes and surf the net.
the install:
It worked! Well it worked enough to present me with enough of the laptop functionality to be able to get on the network, though hardwired only. This is not as bad as it sounds. The bits that were not working were the Intel wireless network card, the fingerprint reader and sound. As wireless was now out of the question, I plugged it into my switch and attempted to set Windows update in motion. The verdict? Sound was discovered and the approriate driver installed as were the wireless and fingerprint drivers. A fully functional laptop was what I was now presented with.
My observations are simple. Everything now just works and feels good. I’m not a huge Vista basher as I had it installed and liked it in numerous systems. It’s just that windows 7 feels more complete. It’s perkier (though that could be from a new install) and I don’t remember fresh installs from Vista being as good as this. Slower hardware responds better. My x41 being the poster child for this. Some of the gimics work well. moving a window left or right to anchor it became an instant favorite of mine. Drivers have not been an issue and I think that’s because there were a number of them already vista’d that worked. I still hate how networks settings are accessed but at least I’ve gotten used to it. Why can’t I just click from the tray icon to get to ip settings is beyond me. Roaming to different wifi networks is seamless. This was pleasant surprise.
Now does anything in this scream update from Vista? No, not if your already happy with Vista. There are some features that are well done of course but nothing that would overall force you to switch unless your current hardware is not up to running vista well. Don’t expect this to run on your old pentium, it might but you could quickly be sorry for it. Your dual core systems will certainly show improvement as might your newer pentium like the m’s.
If you have fairly recent hardware with XP and are ready for a change and have significant time on your hands to rebuild your system, run, don’t walk, and get Windows 7. It’s that good….