I'm actually running several systems at the same time, so I can give you a direct comparison. I'm running XP SP2, Windows 7 32-bit, and Windows 7 64-bit, almost all with max 4 GB RAM.
While I do spend the majority of my time on a Windows 7 64-bit system, it's usually to do unessential things like surf the web, write letters, chat, goof off, etc. I don't believe 7-64 is much faster than my XP-32, I just enjoy the graphics.
For all of my important work, I can only use XP. I find it difficult to do any serious coding or to run programs that require alot of calculations on anything other than XP. Windows 7 is a bit like Apple's OS - it's meant to be easy to use straight out of the box and there are a ton of different "protections" built in to stop people from making changes to the operating system files (this is supposed to protect you from viruses/trojans/etc... I don't think the whole UAC thing is working out too well in this respect).
Pros Windows 7 64-bit:
- It is pretty fast and graphics are great. I like the pretty pictures. I like the pretty icons.
- While Win 7 seems to do a great job of optimizing RAM, it isn't able to do it for more than a few hours at a time... I find that I can keep the speed up if I re-boot the system every four hours.
- File management is SUPERB. You can make data back-ups without having to use an extra utility... Win 7 can immediately recognize new files and "merge" folders without having to re-copy redundantly. It also automatically alphabetizes all your files... while this is in line with less control for the user, this facet does make life easier when you are working with thousands of files in thousands of folders. In XP, you have to arrange files by "name" or "type" manually.
- Indexing and search functionality is excellent.
Cons Windows 7 64-bit:
- Not compatible with some software (EVEN if it says "Windows 7 64-bit compatible").
- As with other versions of Win 7, along with Vista, there are way too many built-in protections. You have to continually make registry changes if you want to make changes to particular operating system files.
- There a large number of processes running at all times (around 90 processes, vs 30 processes in a basic XP setup). I'm guessing that this may be a contributor to Win 7's tendency to freeze up every once in a while. Most importantly, I can't run more than three applications at a time.
- Doesn't give me a ton of leeway when it comes to customizing the system, plus it doesn't allow me to turn down the glare of my screen (XP allows me to do this). After staring at a computer for 10 hours or so, you come to appreciate the little things.
- The operating system structure of the Vista/Windows 7 family is pretty unnecessarily convoluted... if XP is a house with three rooms, then Vista/Windows 7 is a house with a 100 rooms. It takes a lot longer to find the exact object/file you're looking for.
About Windows 7 32-bit:
- Found it to be noticeably slower than the 64-bit version, otherwise I don't think it's that great. I'm using an older computer (from 2008, ha ha), so the 32-bit version (strangely) doesn't support some of my hardware (although the 64-bit version does).
- Hacking or cracking of any sort (not that any of you would do something like that) is an exercise in patience in Windows 7.
- Don't believe the hype about all the new products built for Windows 7... Even on a system running 16 GB of RAM, I've found that Adobe CS5 (any program), and Office 2010 load pretty slowly. You may want to down-grade your software for the time being, as I've found that the products that work the best in Windows 7 tend to be the ones that work really well in XP too. (Note that this is not an issue with Windows 7, it's an issue with the RAM-hungry, graphics-heavy glut of new products out there).
Pros XP:
- Extremely stable platform.
- Even with 4 GB of RAM (XP will only recognize up to about 3 GB), it's still pretty powerful. I'm able to run up to 15 applications at a time. Since I have absolutely zero patience, I use XP when I really need to be productive (and not waste time waiting for things to load or unfreeze).
- Able to freely make changes to central operating system files. This is essential, as it's the best way I know of keeping my system free of viruses... antivirus programs usually won't touch an infected operating system file so you may have to get in there to remove the offending code.
- XP is customizable... this is especially great if you like to optimize your system with a few tweaks or overclocking hacks. With Win 7, what you see is what you get.
Cons Win XP:
- Hmmm. Can't really think of any right now. XP has been around for almost a decade now, I think that definitely says something.
Overall, I can't recommend that anyone get rid of XP... you may want to consider setting up a dual-boot system with both OSes just to check out Win 7.
