It takes a special type of person to be truly excited about the release of a new/updated operating system, but that doesn’t mean that the rest of us you should be sitting idly by while Windows 7 hits the streets.  The folks over at Microsoft have been working extremely hard to bring you a product that will make up for its last effort (Vista) and they have already begun “persuading” some of us to make a very easy decision (see our blog post Windows 7 for $30 or FREE – do you qualify?).  If you haven’t spent some time contemplating an upgrade to Windows 7, it’s time to put your thinking caps on.

October 22nd is the official release date of Windows 7, but you might get your hands or eyes on a copy any day now.  Not only have promotional “test” copies already made their way into the hands of IT professionals and students, but a recent article on Engadget.com suggests that some custom PC makers will be shipping out new units, running Windows 7, the week of October 13th.  Should you be interested?  Here are some reasons that we think you might find important:

UPGRADE COSTS

FREE copies (yeah, that’s right FREE) of Windows 7 will be available to those who purchase a new PC between June 26th and January 31, 2010.  This offer is not good on every computer, but most of the PC manufacturers are making this offer available.  For more information on taking advantage of the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program, visit www.windows.com/upgradeoffer,

Upgrades will only come at a reduced price ($119 – 219) if you are upgrading to the same edition.  By edition, Microsoft means Home Premium, Professional or Ultimate.  So, if you are currently using Vista Home Premium, but you really want more and were considering going to Windows 7 Ultimate, you will NOT be able to purchase the upgrade.  Instead, you would have to purchase a full install, to the tune of $319.99.  All the more reason to buy a new computer with Vista Ultimate already installed and get the FREE upgrade.

LEARNING CURVE

The differences between Windows Vista and Windows 7 don’t seem to be vast, but I have yet to get a hands-on experience.  What will happen if your office or school upgrades to Windows 7 before you have a chance to use it yourself?  Will you feel left behind?  Will your work suffer?  This really wasn’t a problem when Vista came out because most companies and campuses did not want to make the commitment to upgrade all of their PCs to this new, untested OS.  This time around, Microsoft is going to put the pressure on large users of the product.  Your office might make the switch much sooner than you expect.

NEW FEATURES

As with any new operating system or program, new features are part of the game.  I am sure there will be some shiny-new bells and whistles but again, I have not a hands-on experience.  One of the JumpstartMyPC.com team has and his comments were very positive, including “Connecting to the internet is a breeze and it finds and downloads most drivers on its own!  You don’t have to hunt them down?!?!?!  Also, it’s very stable and integrated.  Device settings can often be changed in the OS itself (very easily) without using
third party software.”

There will be more to come in the next month.  We will continue to comment on the upcoming release and share any and all tips, tricks, bargains and/or problems we see coming your way.

Tags: Upgrades, Windows 7, Windows Vista

This entry was posted on Friday, September 25th, 2009 at 9:45 am and is filed under Deals, Windows 7. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.