Update: Now read our full Windows 7 review (Ultimate edition).
Windows 7 is definitely faster than Windows Vista on the same hardware (or Windows XP), but don't expect dramatic improvements over the beta version. The Release Candidate (RC) certainly hasn't slowed down (it still boots quickly), and as long as you have a WDDM 1.1 driver you can still have large numbers of windows open without it slowing to a crawl.
Now you can get your hands on the Windows 7 Release Candidate - check out How to get your copy of the Windows 7 RC today
Now let's get on with looking at the RC's installation and performance.
PERFORMANCE: By default the RC has the full set of effects enabled and modern machines cope without problems
Installation is generally a little speedier: you can do an upgrade install if you hand-edit a config file, although transferring files does take longer than a clean install.
INSTALL: Microsoft suggests a clean install but you can upgrade from the beta
Microsoft has announced the system requirements for Windows 7 and they're as expected: a 1GHz or faster CPU, 1GB of RAM for 32-bit systems (and at least 2GB for 64-bit PCs), 16GB of hard drive space (20GB for 64-bit) and a DirectX 9-compatible graphics capability with WDDM 1.0 or higher.
64-bit Windows needs more memory and more hard drive space because the paging file is larger and so are the DLL files – but as the main reason for switching to 64-bit is to take advantage of more than 4GB of memory then this is hardly unreasonable. The release candidate still runs happily on netbooks, especially now that the default size for the page file has dropped to be the same as installed memory rather than asking for extra space.
MEMORY: In the beta the page file was a third larger than installed memory – now it's the same
We wouldn't call the RC buggy, but we would point the finger at beta drivers; on one test system the graphics driver restarted repeatedly – and then caused a blue screen.
DRIVERS: Bad drivers can cause problems even for the exceptionally reliable Windows 7
Your comments (4) Click to add a new comment
gandharva81
July 15th
4. Really Awesome , attractive looks like better than any other operating system.
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engrjayze
May 27th
3. hi! i just want to ask if the problem regarding windows media player's tendency to corrupt mp3 files was rectified in windows 7 build 7100 RC?
i am not a fan of WMP but i opted to use it since some players don't support windows 7 yet
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marybranscombe
May 2nd
2. watcher, I don't have full details yet but I can't see any reason it wouldn't emulate 32-bit on 64-bit - it depends on the admin options Microsoft provides. Look into Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualisation, which is the full business tool XP mode is based on.
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watcherzero
May 1st
1. Looking good, I have so many programs that refuse to work on Vista that the XP mode would be really useful, can it emulate a 32 bit XP or can it only emulate a 64 bit XP on a 64 bit windows 7?
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