Share your Windows 7 experience
- posted by Michael Walsh on October 21st, 2009
- (31)
OK I’m going to start the ball rolling here.
As many of you know, tomorrow 22nd October, Windows 7 goes on sale in its final public release version.
In one of the most recent product presentations (AIO), I remember the product manager saying that one of the biggest complaints about Vista was that it was so damned power hungry.
And that is supposed to be one of the biggest improvements of Windows 7 – the fact that it needs a fraction of the resources to run. I’m looking forward to seeing whether that’s true or not in the real world.
Acer, along with all the other PC vendors, has a Windows® 7 Upgrade Offer for customers who purchased a qualifying Windows Vista®-based PC from June 26, 2009 to January 31, 2010.
But extolling the virtues of this latest edition is not what I want to do here – what I want to hear is your opinions and stories.
I’m sure Morris and the other Experts will have something fascinating to write and things will eventually turn up in the forum but I wanted to give it a little more exposure, as it’s something that’s going to affect us all.
Let us know how you get on with the upgrade, whether you can see an improvement and, most important of all, whether you would recommend others take the plunge.
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Jing wrote, on October 22nd, 2009:
I was one of those people that thought nothing wrong of Vista. When Microsoft offered the release candidate Windows 7 earlier this summer I thought why not give it a try.
It’s essentially Vista with a performance upgrade and a few tweaks to make certain tasks easier. Try using Vista AFTER Windows 7 and you find many problems.
It’s also a worthwhile purchase if you’re using XP, because networking is much improved and performance is snappier over a period of time. Whereas all XP systems slow down the more you use them. Notice startup used to take 20 seconds, then 40 seconds, then close to a minute? Windows 7 feels just the same as when I first installed it.
Once you’re using Windows 7, you can’t live without features such as Homegroup, which essentially allows you to set up libraries to reference those media files that aren’t always available to hand such as pictures on an external hard drive.
There are so many small tweaks and interface details it’s impossible to mention them all, however this is a must upgrade. The only trouble you should have is deciding which version to get.
If you’re a student with vista, it’s a no brainer. MS are offering upgrades from Vista to Windows 7 Home Premium or professional for £30 in the UK. Of course go with professional if you can, as there are a few more networking options there.
Peter wrote, on October 22nd, 2009:
I was lucky enough to get a copy of Windows 7 in advance from Microsoft.
I also happen to play World of Warcraft. Making the switch from Vista to Windows 7 resulted in a dramatic performance improvement in the framerate of the game. The most telling sign is in the busiest city in the game, currently called Dalaran, my average framerate went from 5 to about 20. That’s a huge jump. Everything about the games I play is smoother. It’s been really nice. Having fixed computers for about 16 years now this is the first MS operating system I’m excited about!
Morris Lee wrote, on October 23rd, 2009:
Windows 7 review from me to come~~
Morris Lee
Sam Smith wrote, on October 24th, 2009:
I downloaded Windows 7 today, took advantage of the free student version for doing a computer course at uni!
Everything does seem quicker, and i like alot of the new features. At first i just thought they seemed awkward but i now feel like i will miss them if i went back to vista.
The only issue i have thought is that i have an Acer 6920g, and i can’t find versions of acer software that i had on vista, such as the fingerprint scanner and the surround sound options. Without these i will go back to vista, and it means i can’t use some of the features that are most important to me. Maybe you have an idea on where i can get versions for Windows 7?
Thanks in advance.
Ferry wrote, on October 24th, 2009:
@Sam: Yeh that’s also my issue. I will not upgrade my 8920G until Acer releases drivers and applications targeted to Windows 7.
One of my concern is Cinedash which is developed using tailor-made Synaptic driver.
Worth waiting for a while I think
Come on Acer… this series is one of the expensive Acer laptop…
Ferry wrote, on October 24th, 2009:
I just visited Acer website, 6930 or above, 8930 or above are now Windows 7 supported.
I hope 8920 and 6920 will get the same official support soon.
Sam Smith wrote, on October 24th, 2009:
Yeh, i think i’ll wait a week or so and see, but if nothing is brought about i’ll switch to vista until any releases
Michael Walsh wrote, on October 24th, 2009:
@Sam and just about everybody else.
This looks like a great question to raise with the lab-coats in Acer support.
I’ll let you know what they say (if anything).
Sam Smith wrote, on October 24th, 2009:
Thanks, lets hope they bother!
Kmuland wrote, on October 24th, 2009:
I wasted more time installing 7 than using it.
Personally I only look for a small install sizer HD and fast performance.
Im not a kid that loves visuals and themes in my desktop. I only look for a fast and responsive OS.
For me Ill live with XP until really a technology only available into 7 will force me to change.
For these ones that claims that XP is an old OS. SP3 and rest of horfixes are updates to make XP a decent OS for years and a serious competitor to that new 7.
If you love 7 cause visual are similar to vista but it loads faster.. ok
“VISUALS ARE FOR KIDS”!!!!!!
Ferry wrote, on October 24th, 2009:
@Kmuland: Visual are also for front-end (UI) developer
No doubt when you develop desktop applications, you want your application blends to the existing “nice looking” environment
topo wrote, on October 25th, 2009:
hello everybody,
Sorry for off-topic. A few days ago I bought an Acer Aspire 5542 with Windows 7.Someone of you knows some forum(or some discussions) about this new model from Acer. I don’t like one thing with this laptop: the fan is doing a lot of noise – so I am looking for a solution to fix this inconvenient(a service manual can be helpful – but i didn’t find it yet).
If some one can help me with some stuff please help!
Thanks!
Richard wrote, on October 25th, 2009:
Just installed WIndows 7 Professional on my Aspire 6930G and so far so good. I downloaded all the drivers off the Acer web site in anticipation (64-bit) but haven’t actually had to install them yet. I’m not fussed about the fingerprint id functionality, but everything else seems to have been detected and drivers installed as part of the install and update process.
The installation was very easy (including detecting the wireless) and the only thing I’m currently trying to suss out is whether there is a version of Acer Arcade for Windows 7 (to playback Bluray) or whether I should ditch that nayway and get a third party app.
But, in general terms, the laptop just feels faster than it did before (when I was on Vista 32-bit Home Premium). Thumbs up so far!
Morris Lee wrote, on October 25th, 2009:
@topo,
I had the problem not too long ago until I opened it up and disassemble the fan oiled it with WD-40, worked like stealth ever since, XD
Morris Lee wrote, on October 25th, 2009:
@Richard,
The finger print problem i can never test it out for you guys, I ain’t got a machine with a finger print reader.
for the Arcade replacement, I suggest http://www.arcsoft.com/en-us/software_title.asp?ProductCode=TMT3P and use the offical nvidia or Ati driver from http://www.nvidia.com or http://www.amd.com, they enable the hardware acceleration from GPU that acer Arcade or ArcSoft TMT player uses.
Morris Lee
Battery with Windows 7 wrote, on October 25th, 2009:
Many users online seem to be reporting reduced battery life when the acer 1410 is upgraded from vista to windows 7.
Is this because the power management system is lost?
How does one upgrade to windows 7 but retain the power management of the 1410 so the battery life doesn’t drop when one upgrades to windows 7?
Daemon wrote, on October 26th, 2009:
I’m one of those guys that bought a refurb’d Acer 4730z with Vista Home Premium over the summer from Factory Direct. The machine has so far worked wonderfully.
Now that Win7 is out I’ve been considering an upgrade. So of course I went over to the Acer site(s) just to see if drivers for the Crystal Eye Webcam & Cyberlink Power Director were available for my model. No such luck, so I emailed Acer Support and of course I got pointed to their remanufacturer’s Revonate which of course do not have any files on their site such as the device drivers I require. Seems silly to me so either I wait see if they’re going to eventually put up drivers for older Acer models and hold off on my Win7 upgrade…or run out and buy a new laptop from another manufacturer.
Anyone else getting the REVONATE burn?
Peter wrote, on October 26th, 2009:
I’ve got an Acer 5920G-6313. I did a clean install of Windows 7 and I needed to get drivers for the video card, from Nvidia’s website, and the 64-bit vista driver for the synaptics touchpad, thanks morris, got my touch media buttons working. That was it. It was pretty awesome. Windows found all the other drivers for me, got to say I was pretty impressed as I expected to have to find more.
Peter wrote, on October 26th, 2009:
Sorry for the double post:
I forgot to mention this is a 2.5 year old laptop. Not officially supported by Acer for Windows 7. However there are Windows 7 drivers for just about everything out there. As well you can also see that in many cases Vista drivers will work fine. This is because Windows 7 uses the same driver model as Vista. As opposed to the big change between XP and Vista.
Morris Lee wrote, on October 27th, 2009:
Like I promised!
http://www.theacerguy.com/2009/10/windows-7-is-ready-are-you/
@Peter,
no problem for the driver, hehe, you should check the advanced settings for the touchpad, you get a several features extra over the official driver from Acer.
As for the video driver, just like vista x64, any important driver such as video card driver, if unsigned, they won’t load on startup unless booted with unsigned driver with F8 options. Any vista drivers installed on 7 should be unsigned, and if you were to use vista video card driver on 7, I think you will encounter this problem. just some info for those who have such problem
Morris Lee
Sokar1be wrote, on October 27th, 2009:
I have win 7 running for some time now and my quality of my laptop wich is a 8920G improved alot (World of warcarft was playable again). I worked out everything well without the official drivers but ofc lost some of the great futures of my pc. Now that win 7 came out officialy I had to see a list wich doesn’t contain my pc anymore. Altho this was a high end machine and costed alot. I hope I get the service to also get a driver update and support of acer. Would hate to buy my next laptop not from acer due of this.
Hope for the best I guess
Michael Walsh wrote, on October 27th, 2009:
@Battery with Windows 7
I sent your comment on to Simone as I thought it would be interesting to have a professional (insider’s) opinion on this. This is what he replied:
Michael Walsh wrote, on October 27th, 2009:
Want to bring your attention to this page I found on the Acer support site.
http://www.acer.com/windows7/eng/
If you’re thinking of updating your Acer product to Windows 7 PLEASE CHECK OUT THIS SITE FIRST to make sure your product is compatible and whether the drivers are available.
I’ll be writing a separate article on this to make sure it gets read. Spread the word…
nobb1x wrote, on November 8th, 2009:
my pretty new Aspire 5935G is not so much compatible with Windows 7 64bit!!!!
Even using latest bios update it is impossible to install the S.O. leaving the bios option on Discrete graphics (this laptop has 2 graphics card, a GF 130M and an Intel 4500MHD) The only caveat is to install setting the bios on Autoswitch, then forcing manually the installation of nvidia drivers and if you are lucky in the next two or tree restarts (changing the bios setting again) you can have a working gfx. Impossible to use the safe mode tho. i told that to acer support early but they offer support only for Vista 32 (sic..)
Once the Geforce card is recognized it works ok, but you need to be very lucky to install it. some folks on a forum told me that this issue is common to Vista 64bit too
(i’m using w7 64bit retail)
Ferry wrote, on November 26th, 2009:
UPDATE: 8920G drivers for Windows 7 are available on the Acer download site now.
ashton wrote, on December 27th, 2009:
im 15 years old just got a acer aspire 5542 and it has a bluetooth button when you press it a box comes up on screen and it has the bluetooth symble with a red cross on it does this mean the laptop does not have bluetooth or no driver for it? i realy want bluetooth so i can transfer files easaly to and from my phone without having to take my memory card out all the time, windows 7 is not as great as they said it was to be honest i do prefur xp i might downgrade and just get windows 7 theme
after all i am kid so im aloud to like visuals lol
Rob Tahamtan wrote, on January 21st, 2010:
Acer fails to deliver a promised upgradeability to Win7.
I bought a new Acer 4810T with Vista OS at end of November 2009. System qualified for Windows 7 free upgrade. Got the upgrade with few lines of instructions.
Upgrade resulted in loss of system image. I was told later by tech support the issue is BIOS related and I should have known (don’t know how) to upgrade the BIOS before OS upgrade.
20 days and 3 OS upgrade attempts later; I give up on Acer and Acer Tech Support.
I am a happy user of Windows Vista. I have bought my first and last Acer product for ever.
Morris Lee wrote, on January 21st, 2010:
@ashton,
yes, that means it has no bluetooth device installed on that model, you could go aftermarket internal ones, or just get mini bluetooth dongles which is easier to do without voiding the warranty.
@Rob Tahamtan,
sorry to hear your experience, but I never really trusted OEM “upgrade kit”, I prefer clean install, probably works without the BIOS update too.
Morris Lee
vicky wrote, on April 1st, 2010:
hi iv just got the 5935g an dont know how to use the fingerprint reaeder if that makes sense, when i run my thumb over it it shows up but how do i use it for security??????
vicky wrote, on April 1st, 2010:
please answer my question when you get the chance its really bugging me lol…..
Morris Lee wrote, on April 1st, 2010:
@vicky,
you need to set it up, then it is used for websites but most of the time, it is used for logging in to your account
Morris Lee