I have been working in the I.T. field since 1995, and have seen every operating system, of every type, both Microsoft and Freeware vers' of Linix. By far the most stable O/S is still N.T.4 workstation on a single P.C. using the same file system that Win2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista and now Windows 7 have used. I of course did not mention the Fat 32 disasters of Win 95 A, B, and C. As well as Win 98 first edition,second edition and of course the worst of all Millinium edition.
I was still running Windows XP-Pro until Windows 7 released a version with service pack one on it, at a resonable price. Upon building a completely new system for myself I decided it was time to make the switch to Windows 7 Pro 64 bit O/S. Its a very intuative O/S, simple to use, but not over simplified and limmited like the Apple O/S's.( Sorry Apple users, thats just the way Apples O/S's are designed). They only run rock stable due to their simplicaty; like N.T. It really is quite simple with software; including O/S's. The bigger they are, the more complexe they are,the more complexe the kernal has to be, the more trouble you will have with them.
Apple's have used R.I.S.C. processers since the beginning ( Reduced Intsruction Set Code ). Now that the P4's have incorporated much of the same techlology into their C.P.U.'s, running a 64-bit O/S is a heck of a lot easier on the programers; for both the O/S and all the applications you would like to run. P.C.s can simply put, do a heck of a lot more than a Apple based system. They are up-gradable, and designed to run 32 bit and 64 bit programs as well.
(Sorry again Apple users) The only real reason Apple is still around is very simple. They give millons of them away to schools every year; and if you learn on an Apple, you are more prone to buy one for yourself, even at the high price they sell them for. For every 5 Apples on-line there are 100 P.C's. P.C.s are now a definate stable main stay with Windows 7- 64 bit Pro or Ultimate.
For only $139, you can buy a full oem copy of the O/S, which is very afforable. I highly suggest having someone building you a P.C. At todays prices I was able to build the ultimate Windows 7 system for under $2000. Thats a full $1000 cheaper than it was for my last new build, back in 05. Just don't run out and buy a $400 to $500 P.C. and expect to be happy with it; you wont, and it wont even come with a copy of Win 7 for you to re-install it, if needed.
P.C. all the way, for gaming, for video-editing, for mixing music, you just can't beat a 4-core P4 on the new 1155 socket with the Intel Sandy or Ivy bridge chipsets. Here are my system specs and recomemded parts.
(By the way if you do buy a prebuilt system, get a Dell Demention system. At least they still use standard ATX power supplies and standard hard drives. Even there memory is much more standard than it used to be).
Steve's System:
Asus P8 Z-77-V-Pro Motherboard
16-Gig GSKILL DDR3 16000 8-8-8-24 memory
1-Crucail 128 Gig sata 3 Win 7- boot drive
1-Crucail 64 Gig sata 3 Umbutu- boot drive
1-Seagate Momentus XT- 750Gig- 7200rpm sata3, 8 Gig SSD memory and 32 meg cache Hybrid drive
2-Seagate Barracuda 1-Terabyte 7200R.P.M. sata 2 drives (set in raid 0 )On a Marvel Control(Comes standard on a Asus P8-Z-68 Motherboard(Deluxe and Pro Model) with Virtu CPU video boost with on/off option!
1-Pioneer-Blu-ray burner 12X sata( Great burner have had no coasters yet!)Very quite.
1-LG DVD-RW sata( great DVD-RW, no coaster yet ) Very quite!
1- Intel P4 i5 2500k C.P.U. Quadcore 3.3 G.H.Z. running @ 4.6 G.H.Z.(With Antec H20 920 water cooler) Great product. If you want your system to be quite buy it!
1- Asus Radeon(Overclocked)R9- 270X-2gig,DDR5 Video gaming card times 2 for Cross-Fire support!
1-Asus L.E.D.-L.C.D, 24" high def monitor(2 M.S.)Great monitor, big improvment over my old 5ms acer 20". Games and aplications all look great!
1-Thermaltake Brown Switch mechanical U.S.B. Good gaming keyboard, with each key back lit with a blue LED for great back lighting and works very well with Windows 7 and Windows 8.1
1-Logitech G5 Laser mouse- U.S.B. They still sell them. Gamers generaly like wired keyboards and mice; since it reduces latency.
1-Saiteck X-52 flight control center- U.S.B. ( I was shocked to see Windows 7 install drivers for my 8 year old flight control system. It made my day.)
1-Logitech rumble pad game controller- U.S.B.(Once again I was shocked to see 7 install drivers for this 8 year old game pad I rarley use) Use it on free Dirt3 game that came with my Asus video card and it works perfect. I also used it to play 2K sports Baseball from 20012 and it worked very nice.
1-Asus Xonar DGX 2.5 PCI-Express X 1- 5.1 105 D.B. Sound/Gaming Card (Best I could find for the money by far $40)with headphone amp built in!(I don't buy Soundblasters cards any more!!
Kliptch Promedia 4.1 THX High End Amplified speaker system!!
Coolmaster Haf 932 BlueLED Full Tower case includes 3 230mm Blu-led 700RPM fans; 6 side mounted rubber isolated hard drive mounts,4 5-1/4 Top bays, 1 -5 1/4 modified for 3 1/2 for USB 3 add on. Top power and reset switchs,4 USB 2 ports, 1 - 1394 Firewire port, 1- external sata port, 1- microphone and 1 front speaker/headphone jack.1 bright power on/off LED and 1 hard drive activity light (Blue LEDs)
I- Crucail 750 watt 12 volt single rail 80 percent Bronze rated Power Supply with black braided cables.
Review of games: Duke Nukem Forever runs well, Dirt3 is really nice, Call Of Duty 2 Modern Warfare and Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 3 run perfectly! Wings over Vietnam-Wings over Europe both run perfect. Quake 4 will run, however sometimes the program will shut down( This is a Windows 7 issue!). Many older games are running fine. The only one's that won't run are 16 bit games. But who cares you could play those on an older system with a video card upgade. I have a a oldler build P4 Dual core 2.8 G.H.Z.with 2 gig of Corsair DDR 2 memory; it's fast as he** for a XP machine. But I just cant part with my belovid Corsair memory and my Spire power supply or my Radeon 3870. the parts mean to much to me and besides it's a pefect little gaming system, with tons of power to drive it all.
Note on the Corsair power supply: Corsair Bronze certified 750 watt power supply standard ATX (Make sure you buy a Corsair Power supply. At least a Bronze certified. These new boards and video cards need tons of power. Especally if your running an Nvidea video card; I always buy Radeons; due to the price point and stability. If you don't buy a Corsair Powersupply then at least make sure the one you do buy uses a Single 12 volt rail, it's always the most stable way to go.
My Corsair 750 Bronze; actually will pump out around 820 watts when it has to, without becoming unstable.
Your PowerSupply is the most important componate in your system after your motherboard. So save up and buy a really good one that should last for years, and be tranfered to your next build. In my case; both my motherboard and my powersupply will support the new PCIEXPRESS 3.0 video cards.
I highly recommend the Antec H20 920 water cooling kit for around $95. That is not expensive at all when you consider what you are getting with the unit. It has a USB contolled sofware system for fan speed; LED color; and coolent tempature readings.(plus its very quite, and cut my Full tower noise buy 50 percent.) This cooling system also received a GOLD award from HardOcp which is the best top rated hardware website.
Remember Windows 7-Pro will put a lock on all hard drives in the system. The only way around this lock is to use a tool called Part- Magic(Freeware from Linix) and do a secure erase command to wipe the drive and put it back to factory spec. You also need to unplug all your other drives when doing a fresh install of Window 7 Pro or one of the secondardy drives will end up with your windows backup data on the drive!
It's best to just unplug all your drives except your main boot drive and just go ahead and install! It will save you troubles in the end!!
Happy computing:)
P.S. there is no valid resason to buy Windows Ultimate Edition, the only difference between it and Pro is that Ultimate supports multiple languages and second; it has some additinal security features. If you arn't going to use them, why spend money on them?
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64bit (OEM) System Builder DVD 1 Pack [Old Version]
3.8 | 915 ratings
Price: 229
Last update: 12-26-2024
About this item
Make the things you do every day easier with improved desktop navigation.
Make your web experience faster, easier and safer than ever with Internet Explorer 8.
Run many Windows XP productivity programs in Windows XP Mode.
This OEM Windows product IS NOT an upgrade product. This Windows product does not come with Microsoft support and requires a clean install.
Easily create a home network and connect your PCs to a printer with HomeGroup.
Make your web experience faster, easier and safer than ever with Internet Explorer 8.
Run many Windows XP productivity programs in Windows XP Mode.
This OEM Windows product IS NOT an upgrade product. This Windows product does not come with Microsoft support and requires a clean install.
Easily create a home network and connect your PCs to a printer with HomeGroup.
Top reviews from the United States
Steven L.
Best Windows operating system yet! Stable good driver support!
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2011KEL
I should have bought Windows 7 64 when I built the machine a year ago.
Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2011