My XPS m1210 and Windows 7 64bit

July 14, 2009

By Utkarsh

I had been running windows xp with ubuntu and mac os on my xps since last 2 years. The latest reinstall of xp was some time in February 2009. I have a habbit of installing so many applications and as it goes on and on there comes a time that my start menu is so full that I just cant see the new programs that I installed. Then I have to delete some start menu items. I do not like vista because it is a resource hog. Lately I had heard too much about windows 7 being so low on resources and all that so I tried to give It a shot.

Downloaded 64 bit copy of it form Microsoft. Burned it on a DVD and installed it. The only problem with 64 bit OSes is that you don’t get the correct drivers. Same was the problem with me. I installed it. Everything except the camera, card reader and my graphics card worked out of the box.

I started my search for the drivers and found them here at this post by Ubikann.

The Card reader drivers are available at this site.

The Logitech diver can be downloaded from dell support via this link.

For an antivirus/firewall solution the latest ESET Smart security 4 works just fine on the 64 bit Windows 7 operating system.

I liked windows 7 very much. Its drag and drop is much more intuitive like the mac os 10.5

The interface is so sleek and the dashboard or what ever they call is super cool. The preview is too good. Previously I didn’t like an extra click to move to the window I wanted but now I am a fan of it.

I use my machine for web design and some gaming and so far windows 7 has supported all my applications except for the I8kfangui and Rightmark CPU clock utility because of unsigned drivers.

I tried running in test mode but that too didn’t help.

I have more than 20 windows open at once and all rums smoothly. Vista sucked at this.

You should also know:
- When the final version of Windows 7 comes out you will not be able to upgrade to it so you will have to do a clean installation
- You can upgrade from Vista 32 bit to Windows 7 32 bit but you cannot upgrade from Vista 32 bit to Windows 64 bit. You cannot upgrade from any version of Windows XP to Windows 7 you’ll need to do a clean install. I would recommend a clean installation though ONLY after having backed up all your data as you will erase everything on your hard disk and I would recommend backing up your data even if you upgrade as you never know what can happen.
- The Windows 7 RC will stop working on June 1, 2010