[holmes4]

Microsoft has said that if you upgrade from XP you have to use the "Files and Settings Transfer Wizard" to save your files and settings, do a clean install, and then restore the files. Programs will have to be reinstalled.

[grungysquash]

I'm not that unhappy either with windows 7 - have run this (both Beta and RC) on my mini 9 and am also running the 64 bit version on my M6400.

However as far as compatibility goes I still can't see it beating XP, there are some programs you just can't install on windows 7. So in my view (and it is just a view) so far I have 3 mini's one running XP Pro, another with media centre (both of these run 64gig runcore SSD's) and the last with XP home, on these units XP is ideal. Also if you consider these units are limited to 32 bit systems and by default XP is the current king (OK OSX & Linux is also good) for the mini 9. So in my view, outside of a pretty graphics there is no overriding advantage with windows 7 - except it does look pretty!!!

[DELLsFan]

I have literally breathed new life into some older laptops and PCs for family and friends with the Win 7 Release Candidate. Win 7 really is a great OS from what I've seen so far. It makes great use of existing hardware and works fantastic with less RAM than Vista does.

If you thought your old XP machine was obsolete, or if you have been putting off reformatting your malware-infested beast, you should definitely install the RC and test the waters. There is nothing to lose and so much to gain!

[pbendato]

Definitely worth the upgrade.

[adavis99]

In my experience, XP is still faster... but Win7 has the big advantage of modern driver support, so on most machines, you slap the DVD in the drive, and with a few key strokes and clicks, your machine is up and running.

It's definitely better than Vista, I'm on the fence about its ranking for netbooks when compared to XP.

FWIW, i have 7 on my mini9 and my mini12

[Clintre]

Much better than XP for me. Performance is about the same or faster depending on what I am doing. Plus W7 has much better support and performance on SSD drives.

Then again I never liked XP

[newbs]

Will I be able to install Windows 7 if I have the 8 Gig drive? And even if I can, will I have enough usable space left over? Or will it be too much of a pain to try and tweak it to fit the small space?

[DELLsFan]

Originally Posted by newbs

Will I be able to install Windows 7 if I have the 8 Gig drive? And even if I can, will I have enough usable space left over? Or will it be too much of a pain to try and tweak it to fit the small space?

Some folks have had good results using a program called vLite. Using it, decreasing page file to 256MB, and turning off hibernation seems to work well - leaving as much as 3GB free on a 8GB SSD. I'm sure if you were really aggressive, you might free some more space.

So, in summary: yes, it's possible. However, I personally would just use a larger SSD. 3GB isn't a lot of spare room for other Windows programs. Unless you like external drives, I'd save and invest in a larger internal one. Good Luck!