Jump to Win7?
 

I'm still running 32-bit Win XP with Adobe CS3, and I'm debating about upgrade. I'm just curious who already did an upgrade to Windows 7? How well it copes with current PC editing software?

I haven't made the jump to Windows 7, nor will I any time soon because I have the same basic kit as you. The only benefit (aside from potential performance improvements because of the OS) is that you'll be able to access more memory. If that's worth it to you, check that al of your ancillary software supports it. I have MB Suite, Boris, and TMPGEnc and I wouldn't move until those have had some time out there under Windows 7. I'm probably going to wait for CS5 before I upgrade.

I have made the jump, first from XP-32 to Vista-64, now to Win7-64 and it is no diasppointment. Smaller footprint, better responsivess, around 10% performance gain over Vista and 15% over XP. Stability is good too. Some programs are still struggling to get all the wrinkles out, due to the driver changes, but nothing major. All in all, a very worthwhile upgrade IMO.

The upgrade from xp means a clean install of all programs and files, pita. But it may be worth it...win7 seems to work well with my Adobe production cs4 suite (although MS says Encore is not compatable...mine works for regular DVD's, I think there is some Blu-Ray issue that may be why they say that)

I did the 1:1 upgrade from vista32 to win7 32 (which avoided the clean install I would have had to do to move up to win7 64) and am quite pleased so far. Vista was a nightmare, at least on my system, BSOD was its middle name. So far, except for a couple wrinkles as Harm mentions, it is stable, responsive, and seems to iron out problems in the background somehow....one (admittedly old) MS program ate my MS Office install, but when all were re-installed, no problems. If if were not such a hassle, I would have gone to win7 64, but that will have to wait until my next computer upgrade... /Battle Vaughan

Thanks guys for all replies.

I wanted to upgrade to W7 mostly because I wanted to also get CS4 upgrade and this one is known to work much better in 64-bit environment.

I'm just not quite sure how much I should upgrade my hardware. Currently I'm running Dell XPS 410 with Q6600, 2GB Ram and 500GB (2x256) HDD. Already upgraded my video card to nVidia 9600GSO (512MB ram). As of know I need more hard drive, so I got external 1TB drive connected via eSata (there is no room inside the case for more drives). Next move before upgrade would be Ram - up to 4GB (or even 8GB).

Question is CS4 worth all the struggle? Or stay in 32-bit world untill I really need new software? BTW: I do mostly weddings with HDV editing, no blu-ray, export to SD DVD's and YT or Vimeo.

With HDV as source, I would directly upgrade to at least 4 GB and maybe 8 GB depending on the stick(s) you currently have. That will give you a significant performance boost with CS4, as well as much better stability.

Thanks Harm.

I'm getting more Ram next week (the board will handle only 4GB), and then I'll get W7 (as soon as I finish my current project).

check out the articles over on digitalcontentproducer.com (now millimeter) where they tested CS4 in 32bit vs 64 bit. There won't be any question after you read them. (easiest way to find the article is google)

I just read it - eye opening. Thanks a lot.

I take it the bottom line is they recommend 64-bit?

CS4 is better then CS3. CS4 works better in 64-bit. CS4 should work smooth on Win7.

Are you sure? I'd heard w7 just slides Vista/XP out of the way. Did you have to reinstall everything?

I've been running Win7 for months. Very stable, works great. DO NOT UPGRADE. Install from scratch. And keep garbage off your editing machine.