Hasta La Gadget!

So you’re thinking about going to Windows 7, eh? Chances are your head is swimming in a sea of TLAs and confusing charts — enough to have the most adamant Microsoft defender reaching for a something with an Option key. Fear not, noble purchaser of legal software. Though XP users have been punished for skipping Vista by not being able to directly upgrade now, the process of backing up your data, formatting and installing Windows, and then restoring your goods again has never been easier — even if you’re on a netbook with less storage than your smartphone. Vista users have even less to worry about. We’ll have our full impressions of the finally finalized OS later this week, but for now let’s journey hand in hand down the gently sloped path of the upgrade process.

Continue reading How-To: Install Windows 7 and live to tell about it

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Software

How-To: Install Windows 7 and live to tell about it originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bad news for VAIO owners out there hoping to use Windows 7’s XP mode or run any other hardcore virtual machine applications — Sony disables the required hardware virtualization features of its laptops for “security reasons.” That means XP Mode won’t work on any VAIOs, but there’s hope yet: Sony’s Xavier Lauwaert says that the company will re-enable VT on “select models.” We’ll see what that means going forward — XP Mode is a niche feature, but it’s still pretty lame for Sony to be intentionally disabling hardware features.

Read – The Register
Read – Xavier’s post on the Windows Partner Blog (scroll down to his comment)

[Via Sony Insider]

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Sony laptops can’t use Windows 7’s XP mode due to disabled hardware virtualization originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 01:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This is seriously Microsoft’s Windows 7 upgrade chart, and it’s ridiculous. It manages to highlight the insanity of shipping multiple OS versions while totally minimizing the good news: most Vista users will be able to upgrade in place to the corresponding 32- or 64-bit version of 7. That should cover the vast majority of people running Vista, but if you’re still on XP or you’re trying to do anything out of the ordinary you’d better get ready for some pain: all those ominous blue boxes require you to back up, wipe your drive, and reinstall a totally clean copy of 7. You heard that right — the Windows 7 installer won’t even try to retain your data and programs if you’re not updating from the corresponding version of Vista. Pretty lame move, considering Microsoft is currently selling millions of copies of XP on netbooks and will sell XP downgrades until 2011 — sure, we get that most netbook owners aren’t going to spring for 7, but it’s insane that you can’t just pop in a disc and upgrade. Of course, now that 7’s been released to manufacturing and the final bits are available there’s not much to be done, so let’s all just take a moment to contemplate the fact that Ed Bott at ZDNet managed to totally outdo Redmond’s infographics people with a much friendlier chart with “about an hour” of work — check it below.

Read – Original chart at AllThingsD
Read – Ed Bott’s revised chart

Continue reading Official Windows 7 upgrade chart is ridiculous

Filed under: Software

Official Windows 7 upgrade chart is ridiculous originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft has, against all odds, managed to stuff comfort and wireless into its new Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000 keyboard and mouse set. Beyond the usual improvements to design (and some nice new soft touch materials), the setup includes some Windows 7 optimizations, particularly the Taskbar Favorites keys for instant access to corresponding taskbar items from a row of hotkeys (think your number row in World of Warcraft, Mr. Gnome Rogue), along with a Windows Flip button on the mouse and keyboard, and Device Stage support for checking out and setting up your fancy Microsoft hardware in glorious detail. The mouse is a BlueTrack-powered affair, and both devices hook up to the computer wirelessly through an included 2.4GHz transceiver. The pair will be out later this month for $80.

Filed under: Peripherals, Wireless

Microsoft’s Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000: ready for Windows 7, just like your haggard Vista PC originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Aug 2009 10:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Micosoft’s announced some Windows 7 pricing today, starting with a “family pack” option, which will allow users to upgrade three PCs to the Home Premium edition of the operating system for $149. The upgrade from XP or Vista to Home Premium for individual users, as previously announced, is $119. The company’s also announced the Microsoft Anytime Upgrade option, which will allow users to move from one version of Windows 7 to another for a discounted price. Moving from Windows 7 Starter to Home Premium will run you $79.99, while the move from Home Premium to Professional will set you back $89.99. Finally, the move from Windows 7 Professional to Ultimate will cost $139.99, and Microsoft says that the upgrades can be done in about 10 minutes. The company did not, however, specify what the move from Windows 7 Ultimate to Windows 7 Uber-Super Awesome would run, but we’ll keep an eye out for you, and let you know when we do.

[Via CNET]

Filed under: Software

Microsoft announces pricing for Windows 7 family pack, upgrading originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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