Win7 on a netbook? Don't!

[TJones2]

Installed Win7 on my Samsung N120 netbook, this is the result:

1. The system is slower, much slower than with XP.

2. The battery runs down twice as fast, from seven hours to four hours.

3. Can't see any improvements over XP other than cosmetic.

Feel free to post your own experience.

 

[Cheeseplug]

I would never even consider running windows, let alone windows 7 on my netbook. The eeebuntus are so slick, they are the perfect for that platform. What could anyone possibly be doing on a netbook that they can't do out of the box with eeebuntu? Even a linux noob would have no problems.

 

[KeypoX]

Originally posted by: Cheeseplug
I would never even consider running windows, let alone windows 7 on my netbook. The eeebuntus are so slick, they are the perfect for that platform. What could anyone possibly be doing on a netbook that they can't do out of the box with eeebuntu? Even a linux noob would have no problems.

Flash performance and battery life is a couple reasons. Also native office support. I think ubuntu 9.10 has made some progress in battery life though.

I think vista and windows 7 are huge improvements on xp. Maybe his is to weak i dunno. I wouldnt buy a computer without at least a dual core in the last few years.

 

[theblackbox]

i had osx on my dell mini 9 and it ran incredible. linux ran well, but osx felt like it was made for netbooks.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: theblackbox
i had osx on my dell mini 9 and it ran incredible. linux ran well, but osx felt like it was made for netbooks.

I can't imagine running OS X on anything less than 4G of ram.

 

[theblackbox]

i ran it on 512mb then went to 2gb. ran really well on the mini 9. for grins, i even tried photoshop, fcp, logic and a few other programs. besides the small screen, and the fact i couldn't do any hd editing, they ran pretty well.

 

[basslover1]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: theblackbox
i had osx on my dell mini 9 and it ran incredible. linux ran well, but osx felt like it was made for netbooks.

I can't imagine running OS X on anything less than 4G of ram.

OSX is supposed to run pretty well on most of the more common netbooks.

Here's a list of some netbooks that work in OSX.

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/...-netbook-compatib.html

Obviously there are some downfalls for drivers and whatnot, but this list is a few months old and I would guess that there has been some new developments.

As far as Win7 on a netbook, I believe there is a version of Win7 specifically made for netbooks, Win7 starter. Though it is limited functionality wise compared to the rest of your options.

On my HP mini, XP runs great, and the Ubuntu Netbook remix works really well too. I'd personally go with a *nix variant if I didn't want to run Windows on a netbook.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: theblackbox
i ran it on 512mb then went to 2gb. ran really well on the mini 9. for grins, i even tried photoshop, fcp, logic and a few other programs. besides the small screen, and the fact i couldn't do any hd editing, they ran pretty well.

I've run it on everything from 128M to 4G, and less than 4G seems silly to me now.

 

[Skott]

I thought the netbooks could run a special version of W7? A stripped down version. W7 Starter or something like that name.

 

[theblackbox]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: theblackbox
i ran it on 512mb then went to 2gb. ran really well on the mini 9. for grins, i even tried photoshop, fcp, logic and a few other programs. besides the small screen, and the fact i couldn't do any hd editing, they ran pretty well.

I've run it on everything from 128M to 4G, and less than 4G seems silly to me now.

well. personally i run it on 16gb, and i think thats the sweet sweet spot.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: TJones2
Feel free to post your own experience.

Mint FTW!

I squeezed the browser window down, so you could see the desktop...

Full desktop version of Mint 7 "Gloria" runs great on my netty - with obligatory mods.

Personally, I'm sick of stripped down versions of Windows!

If I can't run a full desktop version of (whatever), I don't want it...

Thanks for the warning!

 

[pcgeek11]

Originally posted by: VinDSL

Originally posted by: TJones2
Feel free to post your own experience.

Mint FTW!

http://vindsl.com/images/w7_not_lol.png (VinDSL.com | Netbook Screenie)

Full desktop version of Mint 7 "Gloria" runs great on my netty - with obligatory mods.

Personally, I'm sick of stripped down versions of Windows!

If I can't run a full desktop version of (whatever), I don't want it...

Thanks for the warning!

I'm running Windows 7 Prof full version on my Acer D250 with 2 GB Ram. Runs as well or better than XP.

pcgeek11

 

[Nohr]

Originally posted by: pcgeek11
I'm running Windows 7 Prof full version on my Acer D250 with 2 GB Ram. Runs as well or better than XP.

Same for me on my Aspire One w/1.5GB & 16GB SSD. Win7 runs at least as well as XP did with similar battery life.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Unhelpful as it may be, perhaps a real laptop for a couple hundred dollars more would have been a better option for the OP?

 

[XBoxLPU]

Never will install XP again so I have no comparison but Windows 7 has been running wonderfully on my Aspire Aspire 1410 (SU3500/2gb DDR2). Battery life is running at its rated life and performance is where it should be with a slow hard drive and only 2gb of memory

 

[ultimatebob]

I put Windows 7 on my Acer Aspire D250, and it works fine! No complaints here.

 

[nealh]

I have win7 home premium on my Asus 1005HA with 2gb of ram...boot is a little slower than on XP pro but it runs perfectly and very smooth.

 

[tenax]

running win 7 pro in a dual boot with winxp home on both mine and my wife's msi wind u100 netbooks..to be honest, haven't tried to run either just with the battery yet, but her's has 1 gig of memory, mine 2 gig..i haven't noticed any issues with speed on either.

 

[Rafael]

I have Win 7 installed on my Asus eeePC 1000 and it runs very well, 2 Gb of ram though.
But my sister and my gf run Win 7 on eeePC 1000HE and eeePC 1005HA respectively without any issues.
And to be honest after it boots to load programs feels faster than XP.

 

[KaChow]

My eeePC 1000HE seems to like Win 7 Home Premium better than the XP Home that it came with and to me the boot time actually seems faster.

 

[thescreensavers]

W7 on EePC 1000H works fine, battery life did take a little hit but not much.

 

[VinDSL]

I'm running Windows 7 Prof full version on my Acer D250 with 2 GB Ram. Runs as well or better than XP.

pcgeek11

Screenies, please!

 

[Tbirdkid]

My Gateway netbook runs pretty sweet on vista, so i can only imagine that it would run awesome with win7. I just havent migrated to it yet. I went to xp with the netbook, and it ran snappy, but i am into technology, and im in the middle of my mcts training for vista configuration and needed vista. So, i put ultimate on it, and it runs like a top. Next stop, win7.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

My eeePC 1000HE seems to like Win 7 Home Premium better than the XP Home that it came with and to me the boot time actually seems faster.

Same case here. Although I might try Mint or Ubuntu, to see how that works out. I do have a flash card (8gb) that I can boot into Ubuntu if I need to do some linux programming for school as well.

 

[Fox5]

I don't see why people run OSX on netbooks. Sure, it may run well, but it's illegal, quite a hassle, and you run the risk of Apple disabling it if you use the updates. (the latest rumors say Apple will disable OSX's ability to run on the Atom processor)
Linux is a close enough substitute imo.

I wouldn't run 7 though. Come on, those Intel IGPs can't even run WDDM1.1, and still lack vertex shaders, but 7 has no 2d acceleration so you're stuck with a sluggish gui.
Sure, it'll run, but it's not an optimal experience.

I'm really liking Ubuntu Netbook Remix. It's compiled specifically for the Atom cpu (I think), has a sweet interface that works well on a netbook, battery life seems good (about the same as XP), and flash performance isn't as bad as it used to be. The Windows Firefox works perfectly in Wine however, so you can always go that route if you want better flash performance.