Windows 7 Launch Date & Box Art Revealed

Rob Williams · 06-08-2009, 07:51 AM

From our front-page news:

Alright, so this isn't new news, but for the few people who don't know, Microsoft announced the Windows 7 launch date last week, and that happens to be October 22, a Thursday. This is semi-odd placement, as it misses the "back-to-school" rush and also lands a bit short of the holiday season, but hey, at least they aren't rushing things.

Although the release date has been unveiled, pricing has not. We can expect that to fall in line with what we saw with Vista, if not a little bit lower. Also similar to Vista, 7 will become available in a variety of editions, the most popular on these shores of which will be Home Premium, Professional (Business) and Ultimate. For netbooks, Home Basic is sure to be a popular option.

Along with the new launch date, Microsoft has also revealed the box art on their store, and I have to say, it looks quite good. It's modern, clean, and doesn't say Vista on the cover (haw haw). In all seriousness though, I don't even use Windows as my primary OS, but I'm still excited to see this thing launch.

Windows 7 was built around your feedback, so you'll see a lot of things you've asked for. You asked us to make everyday tasks faster and easier, to make your PC work the way you want it to, and to make it possible to do new things. And that's exactly what we've done. See how it's come to life.

Source: Microsoft Store

madstork91 · 06-08-2009, 12:04 PM

This was the same date that was leaked near over a month ago if I'm not mistaken...

If a 64-bit 7 is anything like the current 64-bit Vista, or better

, then you can count me in.

(for those of you following me an my anti vista campaign... *sigh* i am currently loaded up under 64-bit vista.)

Doomsday · 06-08-2009, 03:15 PM

Windows 7 will retire my Windows XP..
for a 64-bit windows, should i increase my RAM to 4GB or 8GB?!?

THUMPer · 06-08-2009, 03:52 PM

4GB

As long as you turn of UAC, Windows Search/Indexing and turn off system Restore. Vista runs great. Same for 7

Kougar · 06-10-2009, 06:25 AM

Nice avvie, Doom. And naw, 4GB is plenty. For triple channel systems I'd say 6GB is the sweet spot. Anything more is just wasted unless the person does hours of content creation, video encoding, etc...

I run 6GB, but gave VMware an entire 1GB of memory to itself to run Ubuntu, I still can't notice it's even running at ~27% CPU usage.

Rob Williams · 06-10-2009, 06:51 AM

I concur... 4GB is fine. By the time you'll see the need for more, you'll probably want to build an entirely new machine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kougar

I run 6GB, but gave VMware an entire 1GB of memory to itself to run Ubuntu, I still can't notice it's even running at ~27% CPU usage.

Not to side-swipe the convo... how are you liking VMware, or virtualization in general?

madstork91 · 06-10-2009, 10:56 AM

Not that this is on topic either ;-p

I think you wont see many apps pushing the 4gb hard until you start seeing more lapty and the like with 4gb+

There are a lot of lapty's being sold atm, and I think some of them might become the standard specs for programmers.

Doomsday · 06-10-2009, 01:23 PM

4GB it is then..

Kougar, What do you hear?

Merlin · 06-10-2009, 02:24 PM

Decisions........Decisions
Will it never stop?

WinXp is begining to look like Win98

I'll do the fresh install, not an upgrade, I hate to have all the left over garbage.
As with work, I'll have to be familiar with Win7 to help my customers

Kougar · 06-10-2009, 10:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Williams

Not to side-swipe the convo... how are you liking VMware, or virtualization in general?

I think the 2 CPU limit in VMware is bull, and the control interface through the browser for remote access is a little obtuse when I'd prefer a simple program for local access to it. But otherwise it is working well so far, and I can safely say the Linux SMP code is light years better than the Windows SMP program. Forget that it's being run inside a virtualized OS, it runs just as fast on two threads than the Windows SMP does on four, not to mention it's actually stable code.

But about virtualization in general... I know that with each new line of processors Intel has made significant improvements onto their hardware virtualization, Nehalem's HV capabilities are definitely impressive. The load from leaving Ubuntu running is so minimal that I can play games, watch videos, do whatever without noticing or knowing it was running. Now if I was allowed to configure VMWare to use four threads, I'd make a second virtual Ubuntu install and no even use the Windows SMP client anymore...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doomsday

4GB it is then..

Kougar, What do you hear?

Hear about what?

madstork91 · 06-11-2009, 01:25 PM

I currently hear Bob Dylan - Shelter from the storm. Lulz.

Doomsday · 06-11-2009, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kougar

Hear about what?

woopsy, sorry, i thought u were familiar with the dude in my avatar,Commander Adama from Battlestar Galactica, lol!
hmm, i recommend u watch the miniseries movie of Battlestar Galactica on 720p, if ur a Sci-Fi fan! and then u can answer me question too! hehe!

Rob Williams · 06-14-2009, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kougar

I think the 2 CPU limit in VMware is bull

I agree... and the reason as to why that's the case is something I want to figure out. This limitation is worse on i7 since it's effectively getting only one real CPU core. Odd how that works, huh? The EPT advantages have me really wanting to upgrade to i7 though... I rarely ever need more than one core for what I do there.

As for the remote access... can you give me a general idea of where to start on that? I had no idea such a feature existed in the consumer version of VMware.

Kougar · 06-14-2009, 07:19 PM

I am using VMWare Server because that was freely available for use from their site. I am not entirely sure if they impose such CPU limits on VMware Workstation, which is what I apparently should be using. VMware server doesn't allow me to clone the virtual machine either.

VMWare server is built for use as a server VM that you log into from other machines, so it's a little unorthodox to administrate it from the machine it's actually running on. Most web browsers will outright prevent you from even accessing it because it flags the address as dangerous, but leave it to IE to let you browse there anyway.

Rob Williams · 06-14-2009, 11:23 PM

Oh, alright. I'm not familiar with VMware Server. I thought none of the free versions of VMware allowed creation of virtual machines though. Am I wrong? I'll have to check it out regardless...

As for VMware Workstation, it's what I use, and yes, it imposes the same 2-core restriction.

06-08-2009, 07:51 AM	#1
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,246	Windows 7 Launch Date & Box Art Revealed From our front-page news: Alright, so this isn't new news, but for the few people who don't know, Microsoft announced the Windows 7 launch date last week, and that happens to be October 22, a Thursday. This is semi-odd placement, as it misses the "back-to-school" rush and also lands a bit short of the holiday season, but hey, at least they aren't rushing things. Although the release date has been unveiled, pricing has not. We can expect that to fall in line with what we saw with Vista, if not a little bit lower. Also similar to Vista, 7 will become available in a variety of editions, the most popular on these shores of which will be Home Premium, Professional (Business) and Ultimate. For netbooks, Home Basic is sure to be a popular option. Along with the new launch date, Microsoft has also revealed the box art on their store, and I have to say, it looks quite good. It's modern, clean, and doesn't say Vista on the cover (haw haw). In all seriousness though, I don't even use Windows as my primary OS, but I'm still excited to see this thing launch. Windows 7 was built around your feedback, so you'll see a lot of things you've asked for. You asked us to make everyday tasks faster and easier, to make your PC work the way you want it to, and to make it possible to do new things. And that's exactly what we've done. See how it's come to life. Source: Microsoft Store __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

06-08-2009, 12:04 PM	#2
madstork91 The One, The Only... Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: TEXAS! Posts: 1,434	This was the same date that was leaked near over a month ago if I'm not mistaken... If a 64-bit 7 is anything like the current 64-bit Vista, or better , then you can count me in. (for those of you following me an my anti vista campaign... sigh i am currently loaded up under 64-bit vista.) __________________ ..

06-08-2009, 03:15 PM	#3
Doomsday Tech Junkie Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: KHI, PAK Posts: 1,539	Windows 7 will retire my Windows XP.. for a 64-bit windows, should i increase my RAM to 4GB or 8GB?!? __________________ PSU: Corsair AX850 - Case: Cooler Master HAF X - CPU:Core i7-2600k - Cooler: Cooler Master V6 GT - Motherboard: Asus Z68 Maximus IV Extreme Z - Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8 GB-1600Mhz - GPU: AMD MSI R6970 Lightning - HDD: WD Caviar Black 1TB, Seagate 2TB Barracuda Green - SSD: Intel 520 Series 120GB - K/B: Razer Lycosa Mirror - Mouse: Logitech G700 - MouseMat: Steel Series 4HD - LCD: Samsung 2333SW 23" - Speakers: Creative Inspire M4500 4.1 - Headset: Logitech G35 7.1 "Do not look at a man's prayers nor his fasts, rather, measure him by how well he deals with others, the compassion he shows his fellow man, his wisdom and his integrity" - Umar Ibn Al-Khattab

06-10-2009, 06:25 AM	#5
Kougar Techgage Staff Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Texas Posts: 2,643	Nice avvie, Doom. And naw, 4GB is plenty. For triple channel systems I'd say 6GB is the sweet spot. Anything more is just wasted unless the person does hours of content creation, video encoding, etc... I run 6GB, but gave VMware an entire 1GB of memory to itself to run Ubuntu, I still can't notice it's even running at ~27% CPU usage. __________________ Core i7 4770k Gigabyte Z87X-UD5H Crucial Ballistix Sport LP 1600MHz 32GB EVGA GTX 480 HydroCopper FTW ASUS Xonar DX Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB \| Windows 7 64-bit Apogee XT + MCP655 & Thermochill Triple 140mm Radiator Corsair AX1200 PSU \| Cooler Master HAF-X

06-10-2009, 10:56 AM	#7
madstork91 The One, The Only... Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: TEXAS! Posts: 1,434	Not that this is on topic either ;-p I think you wont see many apps pushing the 4gb hard until you start seeing more lapty and the like with 4gb+ There are a lot of lapty's being sold atm, and I think some of them might become the standard specs for programmers. __________________ ..

06-08-2009, 03:52 PM	#4
THUMPer Coastermaker Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Indianpolis! Posts: 230	4GB As long as you turn of UAC, Windows Search/Indexing and turn off system Restore. Vista runs great. Same for 7

06-10-2009, 01:23 PM	#8
Doomsday Tech Junkie Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: KHI, PAK Posts: 1,539	4GB it is then.. Kougar, What do you hear? __________________ PSU: Corsair AX850 - Case: Cooler Master HAF X - CPU:Core i7-2600k - Cooler: Cooler Master V6 GT - Motherboard: Asus Z68 Maximus IV Extreme Z - Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8 GB-1600Mhz - GPU: AMD MSI R6970 Lightning - HDD: WD Caviar Black 1TB, Seagate 2TB Barracuda Green - SSD: Intel 520 Series 120GB - K/B: Razer Lycosa Mirror - Mouse: Logitech G700 - MouseMat: Steel Series 4HD - LCD: Samsung 2333SW 23" - Speakers: Creative Inspire M4500 4.1 - Headset: Logitech G35 7.1 "Do not look at a man's prayers nor his fasts, rather, measure him by how well he deals with others, the compassion he shows his fellow man, his wisdom and his integrity" - Umar Ibn Al-Khattab

06-10-2009, 02:24 PM	#9
Merlin The Tech Wizard Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Lakeland, Fl Posts: 1,855	Decisions........Decisions Will it never stop? WinXp is begining to look like Win98 I'll do the fresh install, not an upgrade, I hate to have all the left over garbage. As with work, I'll have to be familiar with Win7 to help my customers __________________ Win7 64 bit Intel i7 920 watercooled Asus P6X580 Premium mobo, GTX280 GPU watercooled Synology NAS 207 Network Server with 2 Hitachi Terabite drives LG NAS N2R1 with 2 ea 2 tb drives LINKSYS PLK300 Powerline Network Kit

06-11-2009, 01:25 PM	#11
madstork91 The One, The Only... Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: TEXAS! Posts: 1,434	I currently hear Bob Dylan - Shelter from the storm. Lulz. __________________ ..

06-14-2009, 07:19 PM	#14
Kougar Techgage Staff Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Texas Posts: 2,643	I am using VMWare Server because that was freely available for use from their site. I am not entirely sure if they impose such CPU limits on VMware Workstation, which is what I apparently should be using. VMware server doesn't allow me to clone the virtual machine either. VMWare server is built for use as a server VM that you log into from other machines, so it's a little unorthodox to administrate it from the machine it's actually running on. Most web browsers will outright prevent you from even accessing it because it flags the address as dangerous, but leave it to IE to let you browse there anyway. __________________ Core i7 4770k Gigabyte Z87X-UD5H Crucial Ballistix Sport LP 1600MHz 32GB EVGA GTX 480 HydroCopper FTW ASUS Xonar DX Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB \| Windows 7 64-bit Apogee XT + MCP655 & Thermochill Triple 140mm Radiator Corsair AX1200 PSU \| Cooler Master HAF-X

06-14-2009, 11:23 PM	#15
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,246	Oh, alright. I'm not familiar with VMware Server. I thought none of the free versions of VMware allowed creation of virtual machines though. Am I wrong? I'll have to check it out regardless... As for VMware Workstation, it's what I use, and yes, it imposes the same 2-core restriction. __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

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