WetLeather Motorcycle Rider Information

Windows 7 Beta 1 (build 7000)

System configuration
- Dell Inspiron E1705 (BIOS A09)
- Intel Core Duo T2500 2.0GHz
- 2GB RAM
- Intel 945 Express mobile video (256MB)
- Boradcomm 440x wired LAN
- Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG
- 200GB Hitachi 7200RPM
- Partitions: 40M Dell diag, 154GB Vista, 20GB XP (target for W7), 20GB Ubuntu Hardy Heron
- Multi-booted using Vista's boot manager
- Using a 4GB SD HC high-speed (Ducati edition!) Flash card dedicated to ReadyBoost

Initial installation:
- The x64 setup indicates "this system cannot run the 64-bit version of the operating system"
- Subsequent work done with the x86 DVD
- Install from booting DVD didn't remove prior boot entry for Windows XP (same partition); dosn't work of course.
- Install from booting CD didn't make Vista partition visible; had to manually use Disk Manager
- Detected video card and set 1920x1200 properly.
- Detected wireless card and wireless net seamlessly
- WPA2/AES setup was dead simple - "just worked", needing only one setting (the key).
- Joined to my home SBS 2003 domain quickly, no hassle.
- Mapped network drives quickly, no hassles or hiccups.
- Attached network shared printer (on SBS server) with no hassle. Small test print OK.
- MagicCD driver doesn't work, causes BSOD (?) Removing the package does NOT make the crashes go away.
- Virtual Clone Drive seems to work, but would crash part way through Office 2007 install from mounted ISO file.
- Crashes caused by prior MagicCD driver?
- Bluetooth driver erratic. Sometimes BT icon appears, sometimes not. BT mouse seems to "nod off".

Re-installation:
- Formatted the partition again and re-installed by running installer from Vista
- This works out better. Vista stays C: drive, W7 becomes D: (which is what I wanted)
- Power management seems to work OK (sleep, hibernate, restore). Smoother and distinctly faster than Vista at the same functions.
- Downloaded Vista driver from Dell for Synaptics touchpad was necessary to enable extra features like edge scrolling - it works fine.
- Sound from on-board audio works fine, no additional driver needed.
- Microsoft default driver for Bluetooth still erratic.
- VirtualCloneDrive worked OK on this clean install (not trying MagicCD).
- Office 2007 Pro installed OK (default config).
- Installed W7 MP3 fix. Very long time to shutdown & reboot, but eventually did.
- Office SP1 and subsequent updates installed OK.

Browser(s)
- IE8 works OK, I guess. Has some issues with displaying Gmail index theme background ("tree"), often lagged with dark shadow, then would snap-in.
- FF3 seems to work normally.
- Flash players and Acrobat readers install and work normally

Impressions:
- Simpler. Less included crapola (mail and photo gallery and movie maker now available through Live.com)
- New taskbar has some very nifty options: fullscreen preview, managing multiple windows per app, etc.
- Gesture-based window manipulation (size, position, etc) is pretty cool.
- Definitely faster. Maybe faster than XP, for some common computer tasks
(see http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2009/01/02/windows-7-build-7000-outperforms-vista-and-xp)
- Still beta. Had some odd unexplained freezes during shutdown requiring power-off.