Do it.

I currently have Windows 7 Proffesional x86 upgraded from Vista, 4gb of ram and 256 ati video card on my laptop, everything is really really fast.

Sins of the Solar Empire runs around 20% faster.

Windows Search is 10x faster, and Windows 7 feels alot more stable then Vista, and bootup and shutdown is alot faster.

I recently upgraded an XP machine AND a Vista (32) machine to 7.

The Vista I upgraded to the 64 bit 7 using a program called PC Mover Upgrade Assistant by Laplink

that moved my settings AND programs to the new OS.  A few I had to re-install but so far most of them

are working well!

     I used the same program for the XP machine and even though I was upgrading from 32 bit to 32 bit,

there were problems with the OLD XP settings that screwed it up and I had to re-install the programs manually.

     As there were only a few programs on the XP machine, it wasn't a big deal.  The Vista machine has almost 200

programs and games so I was glad that one worked.  Having had problems with the older XP system for some time, I was kind of expecting it to fail.

Ditto

I've been expecting something to go wrong, M$ to rush out a patches to fix up problems until the SP1 comes out, computer crashes, the usual things that happens.... But no I have been found wanting.

Windows Pro 64bit is the best investment I have spent on my home computer to date. Runs like a dream and will do me for the next five years or more.

If your computer is running the way you want, don't bother. But if you are looking to upgrade to a leaner more stable OS (Vista was bloatware hell) this is the way to go!!!

Vista was alright.  It was just too glitchy for me.  If OEMs would stop loading machines with crap (Really, HP?  over 100000 files just to tell me my machine needs a DVD backup and how to use my webcam?  What the hell ever.) Windows wouldn't have the bad name it does.

I am not buying another laptop that isn't from store.microsoft.com (ala not preloaded with crapware.)

It's still ok. 71% marketshare last i checked.

I have XP , Vista, and 7, I MUCH prefer XP with respect to customizing possibilities, explorer file navaigating and start menu design.

Yeah, 7 is a a brand spanking new OS, but that doesn't in any way make it preferable. Design wise it's pretty much the same as Vista with a few new bits added to boost sales imo.

Security wise, 7 is better and if you have a nice fast machine may run a bit faster.

If you are happy with XP, I'd stick with it.

MS will support XP until 2014 from what I heard. I'm still using XP on my personal machine. I've tried 7. It's OK I guess.

From what I've found it runs faster than XP...and I don't mean on my i7 with 12gig of DDR3... I mean on a P4/3.0 with 2gig...

XP 64-bits is a steaming pile of bulldrops, and the switch to 64-bits is, in my opinion, completely worth it and best done early. I've heard of many people having troubles with getting the 32-bit version of Win7 to play with their apps for some reason, it appears the 32-bit compat mode of the 64-bit version works better than the "real deal" so if you must stay with the hopelessly outdated 32-bit x86 architecture, stay with XP.

So, to sum it up in order of preference: Win7-64 -> WinXP-32 -> Win2K -> Vista-64 -> Win7-32 -> Applying a hammer to your current computer and buying a new one afterwards -> Vista-32 -> WinXP-64.

I have XP on my comp, windows 7 on my laptop.

Tbh I wish I had windows 7 on my computer at the moment too.

I've been running XP ever since it came out and like it.  Ran the beta and rc of win 7 in dual boot just to check it out.  Needless to say I really like win7 so bought the advanced copy back in June. After receiving my copy I decided to have the best of both so I am now dual booting.  Had no problems installing and running win 7.

So, for those that can, dual boot might be a good option.  Hard drives are cheap these days anyways

i would def upgrade..i didnt really have much problems with vista but 7 so far has been great

I've upgraded both my laptop (4 years old, 32-bit, 2 gigs of RAM) and desktop (1.5 years old, 64-bit, 4 gigs of RAM) from XP (32-bit) to 7 (32 and 64-bit, respectively).  I've really enjoyed the change.  Since it's a little different from good old XP, it's still taking me some time to figure out all the tweaks I want to make to the system, but it's behaved quite well so far.  I like a lot of the little changes they made.

I also agree with the aforementioned dual boot option.  My desktop still has XP on the other HDD, just in case.

I think the worst thing is that my work computer still has XP.

Try running Photoshop Cs3, SKS, Movie Gear and C4D.

XP is vastly more responsive on my dual core 3.4 w\ 3 gigs ram.

So if I'm running a centrino laptop with 2gig ram, and have no new hardware(all manufacturer supplied with the laptop) I shouldn't have issues with 7 not being able to work with my present hardware?

That's my biggest reason for not upgrading at this point. I have a chance to install 7 (haven't asked yet if it's an upgrade or a full install) but remembered all the issues xp and vista had with older hardware in the beginning

Printers and tv tuners.  They cause issues every release.  Everything else is usually pretty well covered.  You can install Vista drivers in many cases where 7 drivers aren't available.

Thanks Savyg,

I'll consider installing much more seriously now.

Yes, the loading time of Photoshop would make a good comparison, XP to Win7 .

And how convenient...I have 2 drive caddies for that machine...one with XP Pro and the other with Win 7 Ultimate...both 32bit.

What say I get out the olde stop-watch and see....

BTW....less than 4 seconds on the i7 ...

My HP printer and Avermedia TV tuner card both installed correctly in Win 7 (Home Premium x64), and both function as they should.  In fact, Win 7 detected them both and installed the appropriate drivers during installation.... all I had to do was install the software to access the GUI and various functions of each.