Testing Windows 7 on an Asus EEE PC 1000HE netbook

I recently decided to install the Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 on my netbook, an Asus Eee PC 1000HE, which had been running Windows XP on 2GB RAM. Getting Windows 7 installed in the first place was a bit tricky since the netbook has no optical drive, but this was easily solved by using an external DVD-burner. If you don’t have access to one of these, you are going to have to go through the rather involved process of formatting a USB-key as a bootable drive. Total install time was about 40 minutes. Visually, Windows 7 looks worlds different than XP and even Vista, which I’ve had the unfortunate opportunity to use. From the taskbar, Start menu/Windows button, and desktop, the overall user interface has been revamped resulting in a very refreshing, uncluttered experience. The old Start menu has been given a more logical hierarchy and the taskbar now shows image buttons that you can hover over for a preview of the window. Customizing your user experience is also much more fun in Windows 7 with the greater variety of sounds, pointer schemes, and wallpapers. The wallpapers are the most surprising - there were some really abstract, funky images (think Gelaskins). You can also customize the shade and transparency of your windows for a colored, glass-like effect. With all this personalization and visual beauty, I nearly forgot that I was working on a 10-inch, 1024 by 600 netbook display. Technically, I didn’t see much difference in power usage - maybe an hour or so less, but on the 1000HE that isn’t much of a difference (I normally get about 7 to 8 hours). I did notice the fan going a bit more than usual and I figure that may be due to the visual features of Windows 7. I ran both Internet Explorer 8 and Google Chrome and experienced no hiccups. When I installed Chrome and my free anti-virus, I only received one warning message from Windows - a nice change over Vista’s constant nagging. Overall, I am fairly impressed with how the netbook is handling Windows 7, especially since RC 1 is the Ultimate version with Windows Media Center. If Windows 7 runs this well on a netbook, I can only imagine what it could do on full-sized laptops and desktops. I think I’ll definitely be looking to purchase the full version of Windows 7 when it is released. by Merlyn Akhtar