Is updating windows from XP worth it? Which windows is best?

[Rikharthu]

After extensively using 7 after years of using XP, I ended up going back to XP. There wasn't any performance benefit (or detriment). I just liked the interface and explorer system better with XP. Of course I had everything set to 'classic' mode. I'll take office grey over that bubbley blue look any day. Also I'm yet to find any software I want that doesn't work with it. The switch is pretty easy, though, so I have no problem with putting it off as long as I can.

[BenSW]

There's not a whole lot of difference between XP and 7 (assuming you have working drivers for both), in terms of UI it's more or less the same old Windows.

But if you're getting a new PC I'd definitely recommend 7, at least for more future proofing and all. Some new software won't work on XP anymore.
Even 8 is worth looking into, although the "tiles" UI is not something I'd consider an improvement for desktop use.

Oh yeah and pretty much all software that works on XP works on 7 as well, in my experience.

[cinealta]

I'm not sure because I'm on Mac OSX. But I have had some friends who were on Vista and didn't like it.

[Psychlist1972]

Vista was fine *if* you had good drivers. It's mainly the switch to a new driver model which gave it such a bad wrap. I ran it from the betas onward long before joining Microsoft.

That said, Windows 7 is really good performance-wise. It's faster than Vista and requires less memory. Security is much better than XP, and pretty much everything has drivers for it now.

If, however, your hardware is anywhere near as old as your OS (XP is like 11 years old now) you probably want to upgrade that.

Windows 8 is also coming out on October 26th, and you'll see a number of new and interesting music and other apps there as well, plus a ton of new hardware (especially tablet/notebook hybrids). If you're in the market for a new laptop/tablet computer, you may want to wait a month and see what pops up out there. If not in the market for new hardware, and you want something *now*, you can buy Windows 7 now and upgrade to 8 for something like $20.

Pete

[Jay M]

At some point you will have no choice but to dump old software that isn't Win7 compatible. There is a lot that I do now that doesn't support XP.

The rest of the world is marching forward, only our industry is slow to move. If you were doing anything other than music, you wouldn't even be asking this question, you would already be on Win7.

I've been on Windows 7 64 for almost a year and I have no desire to go back to XP. It's different enough that you might not like it right away, but I don't think it's any worse, just different.

I wouldn't add Win 7 to an old PC, it's not worth the effort. But I would definitely, put it on a new PC.

There are guys on the forum who spend hours doing benchmark tests comparing processors and operating systems. I think they show a slight advantage on Win7.

The biggest reason to change is if you are using virtual instruments. That's where having more ram is very helpful. XP is limited to 4gigs. Win 7 64 is virtually unlimited.

~Jay

[Shizzl3Mayn3]

I personally love Windows 8 I got a copy of the final version the other day due to being enrolled as an IT student and the upgrade is awesome once you get the have of the new start menu it is awesome I use pro tools has my main daw and had alot of issue with it on windows 7 .. On 7 i could only use 3 rtas vi's at a time if i added anymore the laptop would bog up and hiccup and sometimes just crash and thats with all of avids reccomended optimizations

8 on the hand no tweaks needed and everything installed and is running super smooth I can run as many VI's as I need now at a low buffer with no hiccups

I had my playback engine settings at 128 samples and did a stress test and was running 30 different RTAS VI's with no hiccups or errors and only using about 28-30% of the cpu on the system usage window heres a snap shot of a session I got running right now https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A296m4wCAAAujHX.jpg:large 18 different rtas vi's a buffer of 128 samples and only using like 15-20% max of the cpu

[Pro5]

Go windows 7. Been on 64bit win7 for ages and I couldn't go back to XP if you paid me. At this time I'm not interested in 8.

[JC Wolf]

Another vote for Windows 7 (Pro - x64). It would also be a good time for a plugin "spring cleaning" so to speak.

[fastlanestoner]

XP and Windows 7 are both very stable and I've had good success with the 32 and 64 bit versions of both