Friends shouldn't let friends buy Windows PC's

Even among the most enthusiastic of Windows champions, few advise upgrading an older XP or earlier machine to Vista or Windows Seven. The reason is simple enough: these new versions demand too much from hardware and your performance will suffer.

The ill-advised "upgrade" is actually a complete reinstall, overwriting and wiping out everything currently on the machine.

Microsoft agrees. At Can my PC run Windows 7?, they say:

"And while we don't recommend it, should you choose to upgrade your current PC from Windows XP or another operating system to Windows 7, we recommend that you get help with this process from your local computer service provider. You'll need to back up your current files and settings, perform a custom (clean) installation, and then reinstall your files, settings, and programs."

Coming from Vista may not brighten your heart that much: Microsoft also notes that a Windows 7 upgrade could take nearly a day on "mid end" hardware (not "low end", not "high end", "mid end") .

So you'll get to hang around for a few hours. Better have a UPS - this is not something you'd want crashing mid-way!

Why not just get a Mac?

Really. If you are coming from XP, you need a new machine. Your XP programs aren't going to work, some of your old hardware may not work, you need to transfer data - it's a lot of trouble. Sure, you might be able to get help with all that from wherever you buy that new Windows 7 PC, but then again, if you are buying on-line or at a discount store, you probably won't get any help.

If you buy a Mac, you can bring your old XP machine to the local Apple store and for $99.00 they'll do all that:

"Just drop off your old computer - Mac or PC - and we'll transfer your files, install any new Apple software you've purchased, and put it all in the right places."

Your new Mac is going to be safer than running Windows. It's not just because there are very few Mac viruses and exploits to start with, although that is true. The design of OS X is simply much more secure than XP and any previous Windows version. Vista and Win7 are also more secure, and it would be fair to say that they match OS X in that were it not for one thing: the incredibly easy ability to disable much of that security for "convenience". Win 7 is supposed to be less annoying than Vista, but it's annoying enough that the controls for disabling security prompt entirely are built right in to Control Panel.

Imagine that - Microsoft KNOWS that people will hate these features and gives you a way to bypass them! Many users will do that, leading to increased possibility of attacks.

As to Mac's being more expensive, that's simply misdirection. You CAN buy low end PC's for less than the lowest cost Mac. However, those bargain basement machines will be low quality and low power - they aren't going to run Vista well and they are more likely to have quality issues. If you really compare apples to apples, Macs often cost LESS than comparable PC's - that's a subjective judgement, of course, but I say it with good reason.

For most users, there is simply no reason NOT to use a Mac. Equivalent or identical software is almost always available, quality is definitely better, and although we don't yet know how Windows 7 will do on security, a Mac is likely to be safer.

And, if you really miss XP: you can run it inside Mac OS X with Parallels or VMware (Win 7 Premium offers the same ability).

Friends shouldn't let friends buy Windows PC's. It's as simple as that.

Click here to add your comments




Sun Oct 18 14:11:12 2009: Subject:   anonymous


Somehow, unlike your other articles, this one seems quite biased.





Sun Oct 18 14:50:18 2009: Subject:   TonyLawrence


You are kidding, right?

I am STRONGLY biased against Windows and make no pretense otherwise.



Sun Oct 18 20:03:20 2009: Subject:   manny


hehe i have to agree with this =)

but specially if you can't afford a mac, linux distros are coming along so nicely specially ubuntu 9.10+ will be great



Sun Oct 18 21:15:08 2009: Subject:   TonyLawrence


Absolutely - if you are self-reliant, Linux is a great choice. I'm just lazy.



Sun Oct 18 23:13:08 2009: Subject:   BrettLegree
http://6weeks.ca

Agree completely - go Mac if you can, if you're moving from XP. Ubuntu is a good choice too (but make sure you have a good friend who knows it to help you out!) - in many ways, there is almost *too much* help online and knowing what is right could be a challenge for some new Linux folks.



Mon Oct 19 01:14:07 2009: Subject:   BigDumbDinosaur
http://bcstechnology.net

The reason is simple enough: these new versions demand too much from hardware and your performance will suffer.

You can double that statement in brass. A colleague of mine recently did a Win7 ISL on an AMD64 dual core box I built for him about six months ago. The previous Windows version was XP64, which ran pretty well, all things considered. He brought the box to me after loading Win7 because he thought there was something amiss with the hardware, as Win7 was markedly slower than XP64. I went over the machine with a fine-toothed comb and could find absolutely nothing wrong with it. It was clear that Win7 is a major resource hog and has an inefficient kernel design, making even XP look almost Linux-like in comparison.

Just to convince my friend that there was nothing wrong with the hardware itself, I took a hard disk from my inventory, installed into the box and loaded SuSE Linux, using all the defaults. Linux had no trouble detection the hardware and in less than a half hour we had a running system. He was impressed by the significant improvement in performance, not to mention the significantly shorter time required to do an installation. I didn't even go to the trouble to tune the kernel or do any other performance enhancing procedures.

Now, far be it from me to suggest that Win7 is a dog with a broken leg, but it sure seems that way. Arf! Arf!



Mon Oct 19 01:34:28 2009: Subject:   BrettLegree
http://6weeks.ca

@Dinosaur,

I'll back up that experience of yours on this machine right here (it's my work laptop). It runs okay with XP, but 64-bit Ubuntu flies.

(I use Ubuntu on it because of the Wubi install. It works so well I put it on my wife's Vista laptop in case I need to use it - she doesn't know it is there... heh heh)

---

---

Tue Oct 27 15:12:50 2009: Subject: netbook   anonymous


you can be biased, but at least offer other possibilities. apple hardware isn't the be-all-end-all. my tiny dell mini 9 does a fine job running osx for me.

in fact, if one is lazy and doesn't want too much fiddling, one can obtain a psystar installer and throw osx on any old pc that is intel based.

don't discriminate against hardware as it is the software that most people interact with. no need to pay 2000+ for something that can be had for under 500 bucks.



Tue Oct 27 15:28:11 2009: Subject:   TonyLawrence


That's fine, though you'll probably have problems with upgrades and patches sooner or later.

I admit it: I have more money than patience.



Tue Oct 27 16:45:17 2009: Subject:   BrettLegree
http://6weeks.ca

Hmm. Before I bought my MacBook Pro, I briefly considered going the hackintosh route. I'm pretty handy and I like to tinker.

The thought process went like this (bear with me, numbers are rough):

MacBook Pro - approximately $3,000 (all in, with the model / options I chose)
Alternative - approximately $1,500 (to be equivalent hardware-wise)

Expected lifetime of laptop before replacement - 3 years.

Current salary - almost 6 figures.

Savings per year over life of laptop - $500.

Cost of headaches saving that $500 per year - no idea.

It was a no-brainer for me.



Tue Oct 27 16:51:58 2009: Subject:   TonyLawrence


My income is way down, so I may never buy another Mac laptop (too bad: I'd love to play with that Tablet coming next year). When it comes time for me to give up on the MBP, if I simply can't afford another Mac, I wouldn't go Hackintosh: I''d go Linux.

But with Macs starting at $599, why would I ?? Even the Tablet may not be priced out of my (now diminished) reach - pundits are guesstimating a $700-$800 price.



Tue Oct 27 16:55:17 2009: Subject:   TonyLawrence


Speaking of having too much money, my dear sister asked about the Nook. I suggested she wait to see what the Apple Tablet turns out to be. She said "Oh well, I can always buy both".

I told her she should feel free to buy one of each for me also :-)



Tue Oct 27 17:28:56 2009: Subject:   BrettLegree
http://6weeks.ca

My next machine may also not be a Mac, but perhaps not necessarily due to price (though, the way my company is going... I may be self-employed before I know it...)

I could do pretty much everything I do now with a Linux machine anyway, with only a bit more effort (the latest Ubuntu version runs flawlessly on the laptop that my company provided - incidentally it runs better than the supplied OS - Windows XP).

So my next machine just might be a good quality "PC laptop" running Ubuntu.



Tue Oct 27 17:58:48 2009: Subject:   BigDumbDinosaur
http://bcstechnology.net

My income is way down, so I may never buy another Mac laptop...

Business has gotten so weak I'm considering dusting off my old Commodore 128D. <Grin>

---

---

Tue Oct 27 20:49:50 2009: Subject:   anonymous


I'm not made of money either as I'm a student so hackint0shing is the way to go (in fact I have ubuntu resting on a 2nd partition for times that I want to tinker). however, messing around with ubuntu and osx has left me having almost everything I needed with ubuntu, but osx still did better (I'm definitely not an uber unix user and never claim to be even remotely proficient with terminal).

working with matlab, r, texshop is just so easy given the nice gui's for osx that I don't need to relearn them in ubuntu.

Don't miss responses! Subscribe to Comments by RSS or by Email

Click here to add your comments

If you want a picture to show with your comment, go get a Gravatar

Jump to Comments

Many of the products and books I review are things I purchased for my own use. Some were given to me specifically for the purpose of reviewing them. I resell or can earn commissions from the sale of some of these items. Links within these pages may be affiliate links that pay me for referring you to them. That's mostly insignificant amounts of money; whenever it is not I have made my relationship plain. I also may own stock in companies mentioned here. If you have any question, please do feel free to contact me.

Specific links that take you to pages that allow you to purchase the item I reviewed are very likely to pay me a commission. Many of the books I review were given to me by the publishers specifically for the purpose of writing a review. These gifts and referral fees do not affect my opinions; I often give bad reviews anyway.

We use Google third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.