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Windows 7 on a netbook: Looking good

Feb. 5, 2009 Paul Thurrott | Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows

A while back, I posted about my less-than-stellar results installing the Windows 7 Beta on a previous-generation UMPC. Well, I've just today installed the Windows 7 Beta on a current-generation Atom-based notebook, the Lenovo IdeaPad S10. And let me tell you, the experience is completely different. I'll write up something over the next week after I've used it more, but this system, which has a 1.6 GHz Atom processor and 1.5 GB RAM, handles Windows 7 somewhat effortlessly. It's really quite impressive.

Here are some before and after shots to get things rolling. Notice how Windows 7 is only a million times cleaner than the default XP Home install.

Before: Windows XP Home Edition

After: Windows 7 Beta

Discuss this Article 20

kadarzsolt
on Feb 5, 2009
Paul! if you are reading the comments, please consider the Gigabyte M912M for testing Win7 touch features. I would be interested in results. Thanx
RunTimeError
on Feb 5, 2009
Of course the Win 7 install is cleaner. You installed it with no crapware. The "default" installs that come on any notebook are always messy. PC manufactures seem to think that end users want all that crap running in the system tray (Sony is the biggest offender).
Cfischer83
on Feb 5, 2009
Your title says "Vista"... don't you mean Win7? You should post some benchmarks. I just bought the MSI Wind with the 1.6ghz Atom and will soon have 2GB of ram and would like to know if Win7 is a good upgrade for it.
shark47
on Feb 5, 2009
This is interesting. People who want a netbook now will no longer need to use an 8 year old OS or an OS that they no nothing about (no offense meant - people are more familiar with Windows than with Ubuntu). I might just buy a netbook now, especially if it's cheaper than the $400 laptop that doc and tayme keep talking about (mainly doc).
animositysomina
on Feb 5, 2009
Paul's going to get it from Redmond for calling Win 7 a Vista :-)
CompactDstrxion
on Feb 5, 2009
"The "default" installs that come on any notebook are always messy. PC manufactures seem to think that end users want all that crap running in the system tray (Sony is the biggest offender)." RunTimeError the manufacturers get money for installing various trials and crap then say it's doing the users a favour because then they don't have to find and install these programs themselves. And yeah Paul uninstall the rubbish before taking a screeny of the desktop. XP is beautiful really!
Waethorn
on Feb 5, 2009
"Sony is the biggest offender" Actually, the VAIO P looks surprisingly clean. It has very little (possibly none) 3rd-party software except for a few Sony multimedia apps to fill in for Vista Home Basic and the usual Works 9, Office 2007 H&S trial, and OneCare. It doesn't look that bad actually. Personally, I'd rather just see Home Premium on it without the Sony apps altogether, but at least it doesn't have AOL, Google, Yahoo, muvee Autoproducer, or a lot of the other garbage.
Waethorn
on Feb 5, 2009
IMO, the Lenovo XP install doesn't look all that bad either. I'd remove Norton and put OneCare in its place, update Adobe Reader, and I don't recognize that grey & green icon in the systray between the two speakers, but whatever. I'd like to see what's in the Start Menu though.
Waethorn
on Feb 5, 2009
PS: There are always 3 items that I remove from XP after install, because they're deprecated. Those are: MSN Explorer, Windows Messenger, and Outlook Express. The latter two can't be permanently removed, but at least the icons are gone.
Waethorn
on Feb 5, 2009
Just out of curiosity, have you tried a clean install of Vista on that same netbook and gave it a good run-through after the updates? Does the SP2 beta include any performance updates? Just wondering, is all.
subzerohitman721
on Feb 5, 2009
I think all PC manufacturers should offer us a "clean install" state without any additional charge. Its ridonkulous that some of these manufacturers think they can get away with charging people for Crap. Wae, I agree bout removing those 3 programs. My brother is testing Windows 7 on a 2003 era Dell Minitower XP machine that we would install in an DISD Administration machine. P4 with 2.x GHz processor, 1 GB of ram, AGP card, and onboard sound. So far the results have been impressive. Windows 7 boots up decent speed, definitely outperforms Vista, and he's keeping it as his main desktop unit. When I saw the responsiveness of this almost 5 year old system, then I knew that Microsoft had a hit on their hands. The only hang up is this VB script vulnerability. Bryant of AeroXP has a great little write up on why its could be problematic. http://www.aeroxp.org/2009/02/the-real-issue-with-win7-uac/ I'm just glad Microsoft is taking a second look at this issue. If they can nip this in the bud and clean up IE 8, I think Windows 7 will be in great shape for a potential late 2009 launch.
DRWAM
on Feb 5, 2009
Read my past posts. I told ya so! College kids will be buying a smaller netbook computer instead of lugging around an affordable laptop [much heavier], and the Win7 netbook may be their only college computer. Next will be Skype or that MagicJack thingy with it too. Some VoIP will be in there,,, and all with a Win 7 netbook. I know what you're thinking. What does an old doctor know about college? But actually, I'm quite immature ;) Either way, I at least know a little about what the average Joe needs and can afford.
Waethorn
on Feb 5, 2009
@sub, all: Looks like the RC basically fixes the problem. They're making it so that the UAC slider excludes itself from UAC policy and always runs at the highest security level, which they state means that changing the slider will result in a UAC prompt regardless of the present UAC security level.
amabo
on Feb 5, 2009
"Notice how Windows 7 is only a million times cleaner than the default XP Home install." Send it to me I will install XP on it and make it look cleaner than 7. Everyone talks about 7 running great after they do a clean install. Ummm yeah every single OS I have ever did a clean install with runs great. With most windows desktop OS'es give it 4 months and tons of software and it will slow down.
shark47
on Feb 5, 2009
"Looks like the RC basically fixes the problem. They're making it so that the UAC slider excludes itself from UAC policy and always runs at the highest security level, which they state means that changing the slider will result in a UAC prompt regardless of the present UAC security level." So, the sky isn't falling anymore? I think Microsoft is doing the right thing here. Even if they don't believe this is a big issue, fixing it means that when Windows 7 finally comes out, people will stop focusing on such flaws. Sites like Engadget will make sure the focus stays on UAC.
amabo
on Feb 5, 2009
@DRWAM "College kids will be buying a smaller netbook computer instead of lugging around an affordable laptop [much heavier], and the Win7 netbook may be their only college computer." While I think netbooks are cool for web surfing and taking on vacation to plug up your camera to dump pictures onto/check email......they BLOW for any type of serious typing. Imagine typing up a 20 page term paper on that little keyboard, or sitting in your dorm room playing Wow on that tiny screen, or doing any kind of video work with a Atom CPU, no thanks. Netbooks are never going to be a large market. They are hot now because they are new, they are like a better smart phone, in that they have a better screen/keyboard. However like a smart phone they are not for serious work or serious entertainment, they are for casual information lookups.
Waethorn
on Feb 5, 2009
@sharky: It appears they pulled up the proverbial pants after all. Just say no to crack. ;)
robertsjoe
on Feb 5, 2009
Windows 7 Starter Edition allows three apps to run? http://www.atmasphere.net/wp/archives/2009/02/03/windows-7-starter-editi... FAIL!
vijju
on Feb 6, 2009
paul thats gud isnt it but what about your favourite distro ubuntu?windows 7 is making waves ofcourse well kindA LOL :) you some time back told that you would be installing ubuntu in a virtual machine in HYper-v have you done that?
Angel Of Death
on Feb 6, 2009
Don't know if anyone's interested, but I have two hardware-wise identical Lenovo T61 (7659-12G) laptops with 1GB mem each. One run Vista SP1 Enterpise, with only Office installed on top. The other run Win7 beta with loads of stuff on it. The Vista machine is almost unsuable, it's incredibly slow and it's an agony only to open Outlook or Word even. The Win7 machine is smooth as silk, purrs like a cat, even with multiple processes and large file transfers. I love it. It's a world of difference. Just wanted to share...

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