Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor

In case you have been living under a rock Windows 7 RTM was made available to Technet and MSDN subscribers yesterday

I grabbed my ISO’s this morning and was thinking about how best to approach the upgrade on my netbook.

I then remembered that when Vista was first released there was a tool for letting you know if your system would be up to the task and thankfully there is also a Windows 7 version.

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor (Beta)

Here a grab of the final report,

No major problems.

It’s suggesting I do a backup as I’ll need to do “custom install” (i.e a clean install). Since the netbook is running XP this is to be expected.

It also says that ActiveSync isn’t compatible with Windows 7. This isn’t a surprise either as it was replaced with Windows Mobile Device Manager in Vista.

At the top of the report it says that the system meets all four of the system requirements. Drilling into it you see this,

I haven’t installed any extra RAM in the netbook yet, so was pleased it didn’t kick up too much of fuss about that. I was also glad to see that it’s Aero capable!

Guess what I’ll be doing this weekend?

My new toy – Samsung NC110

If you follow me on Twitter (or Facebook) you’ll have seen this

Where can i get a netbook TODAY? Curry’s, Comet & PC World not being much help

I’ll spare you the story of me impatiently trying to find something at a local store instead of doing the sensible thing and buying online but I came home with a brand new Samsung NC110

The NC110 is a slightly newer version of the popular NC10 with the only real difference being longer battery life (up to 9.5 hours according to Samsung!) and an improved touchpad

The vital statistics

10.1” screen

Intel Atom Processor (1.6Ghz)

1GB RAM

1.26KG

Windows XP Home

Webcam, 3x USB ports, Card reader

Wireless, Bluetooth, LAN port

The thing that drew to the Samsung was the keyboard. The product blerb says it’s 93% the size of a full keyboard but it’s as useable as a regular laptop keyboard

I wanted a netbook for keeping connected out and about. I’ve been in several situations recently where it would have been great to have a laptop with me but hauling my regular laptop around wasn’t really an option. This is so small I can put it in a bag and carry around with me. Also with the extra long battery life I can safely go out and not need to worry about carrying power cables as well

It took a little while to get used to browsing on the smaller screen but it’s nothing to complain about

I’ll be looking to put Windows 7 onto it over the next few weeks (trying to decide if I should wait for the RTM!) as going back to XP always feels weird now (in the same way going back to Windows 98 machine was weird after Windows 2000 appeared)

I asked Bryony to take some pictures while I unboxed it (in the kitchen of all places…i was being very impatient!) as all geeks love a good unboxing ceremony!

How small is the box compared to Bryony’s Nokia?!

All very neatly packed

Box contents

Battery, power cable, sleeve, restore discs, documentation and NC110!

There it is!

Thanks for indulging me

A really good Samsung fan site can be found at www.sammynetbook.com which also has it’s own forums which I’ll be leaning on for tips and tricks I’m sure