Samsung nc10 with Windows 7 courtesy of BehELOh

Photo courtesy of BehELOh

January 25th, 2009 – You might have heard that beta testing has started of the next Windows operating system, Windows 7. For those of you lucky enough to get a free beta key (Microsoft stopped providing them today), you are able to download the ISO’s until the 12th of February (as long as you began your download on the 10th or before).

Ok, so you may wonder why I’m talking about a computer operating system when this is a music site. Well, Windows 7 will be the operating system of the masses, and therefore it’s very important to know how the new Windows will affect music production.

Windows 7 is optimized for 64-bit architecture. This means it can take full advantage of the power of new processors. Windows 7 is also much faster than its predecessor Vista. My IT friend has seen netbooks with only half a gig of RAM run faster with Windows 7, than full on desktops with 2 gigs of RAM and Vista. As well, while benchmarks have pegged Windows XP as still faster than Windows 7, these tests are being done with current processor architecture. As processors multiply the amount of available cores in the future, Windows 7 will overtake XP in speed.

The biggest and most important improvement in Windows 7 is the ability to fully exploit more than 4 gigs of RAM. With the price of RAM falling, why wouldn’t a person want the most RAM they could afford? Having more RAM takes the load off the hard-drive since more samples can be loaded into memory; this is much faster and less processor intensive.

Of course, Windows 7 is still in beta which means there are lots of bugs. But judging by the interest in it, there will be plenty of beta testers to let Microsoft know what they think. Also, with the Windows Vista debacle, Microsoft will try their hardest to have an operating system that is up to par with releases of Linux and OSX. I signed up for a beta key, and I’m going to try it out on a VM. If Windows can turn it around with version 7, I’m all for it.

via Lifehacker

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 25th, 2009 at 12:05 am.
Categories: Engineering, Software Review.

4 Comments, Comment or Ping

  1. Terry

    Is protools ever giong to be compatible with windows 7 anytime soon?

    Jul 26th, 2009

  2. Sean

    @Terry : Good question. I think the chances of Avid releasing a Windows 7 compatible version before Windows 7 is released commercially, are slim. They’ll probably only want to release an update when Microsoft has a solidified a retail version.

    Jul 26th, 2009

  3. james wilson

    I’m about to buy a new computer with Windows 7 64 and an i7 Intel cpu. reviews tell me that windows 7 will run 32 bit apps AND address 4Gb+ ram. Other reviews tell me to expect driver problems and forget about running 32 bit apps under this platform. Another review says XP-64 automatically adapts to whatever you throw at it, be it 32 or 64 bit apps.
    Which system offers the best solution and still allows me to use the full potential of the i7 Intel and the 9 gb of ram?

    Dec 21st, 2009

  4. Sean

    @James Wilson : I’m not a Windows expert, but I was reading an article on Lifehacker today about this subject. Apparently, the 64 bit version allows you to fully use the amount of memory on your graphics card, while the 32 bit version doesn’t use its full potential : http://lifehacker.com/5431284/the-lifehacker-guide-to-64+bit-vs-32+bit-operating-systems Hope that helps!

    Dec 21st, 2009

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