The release candidate came out today. Doesn't expire until July 2010.

Got the 64bit RC today for my laptop. So far it's been fantastic. I about died when I got an IRQL_Not_Less_Or_Equal just before I rebooted from the beta to format and install the RC. The new login screen background had me loling. It was a total "We're a green company" bandwagon look. I wonder if there will be a way to change it natively in Windows. Otherwise, I've been happy with the RC. It's responding a bit better than the beta with somethings and I just can't complain.

I have been considering putting it on an older laptop I'm going to be using this summer... but with only 1GB of ram, I'd rather not.

The 64-bit version runs very well on my desktop though. I haven't booted back into Vista since I installed.

The one thing that annoys me about Vista and 7 is the way the windows look on a non-enhanced Aero theme. Their borders are humongously thick. I like the general curvy style of the windows but the size of the borders makes me lol. Is there any way to get decent looking windows (i.e. not classic theme) that don't have hugemongous borders?

I'm using Aero :-P
By the way, Aero is MUCH SEXIER AND SMOTHER then it was in Vista <3

The thickness is actually the same, it just looks larger without transparency.

Yeah, VirtualBox's guest drivers don't support Aero and I don't plan to install the OS on an actual partition (quadruple boot? lol?). I've been meaning to get OpenSolaris off my machine for awhile. Haven't booted into it since I accidentally deleted the bootloader while trying to access the ZFS filesystems from Linux lolz. I need to copy the remaining files off and reformat my other hard drive as ext3.

I've got a ~600GB drive that I have partitioned up for OSs. All files are stored on my 1TB drive. When I got the 1TB drive I copied all my files there and wiped 64-bit XP from the 600GB partition (best thing I've every done). It now has a 200GB partition with Vista and a 200GB partition with Windows 7 RC. And yes, 200GB is a bit over kill, but when games are a few GB a piece... it doesn't hurt.

Do I have to remove my current Beta copy and install the RC on the same partition or can I just update from Beta to RC1?

Where can I get an update for it if it's only for MSDN users?

How does this Win 7 RC compare to XP? In all aspects. And is it worth using as main OS?

I'm rocking a custom latest version of "Windows XP Professional Performance Edition SP3" which I'm liking.

Also only on 1GB Mem. Not so much these days is it.

this edit restriction isn't good
 

Though, I am on a Dual Core. Asking here because Microsoft recommended req are historically inaccurate.

I guess the definitive answer to this spec question won't be accurately answered until I install and trial it out for myself.

MS says you should. I wouldn't be surprised if you can run it as an upgrade, but given you're going from a beta to an RC that might cause a nasty headache. I formatted and re-installed.

rgr that.

With 1GB of ram I would probably stick with XP. I would like to try 7 on my low-end laptop with 1GB of ram, but I'm worried it wont be nearly as great as the full blown thing :-\
For 64-bit system, Vista or 7 is a MUST.

When you start steam, it tells you it needs to install a few things. (atleast did for me, was using xp steam). Then it works fine.

Has anybody tired virtual xp? I don't know how useful it is, but its pretty cool

http://i40.tinypic.com/bcy93.png

My only working computer, the one i'm also posting on, is old and shitty, with only 1.25gb of RAM, and I've been running Win7 since the public beta went live in January. No problems thus far except a few blue screens but I haven't had one since February. It runs faster than Vista for me, by far. And I haven't touched XP since explorer.exe gave me problems. On a little over a gig of ram, it runs quite well.

My other worry is driver support. The Dell D610 only have Windows 2000 and XP driver support. Vista drivers work fine on Windows 7. XP drivers don't.

Yea, I can see driver support being an issue... especially since the XP -> Vista driver change was so significant.

Though, if any other laptops that have the same internal hardware; couldn't you attempt to use those drivers? Like, if they have the same network card or something, it should work regardless. But then again, it is Dell...

Pixel, how did you get that working? I tried to install a program via a VM and the XP VM would crash before I could open the damn cd!

Windows 7 Build 7127 RTM