Answer:  Thanks for the question.  Hutch, at this point I would wait.  Windows 7 is slated to be released in October, and “Black Friday” shopping is not too much later.  Around the holiday season, sales and steep rebate programs are going to be plentiful, to say the least.

But, with that being said, many computers are being sold right now with a Windows 7 upgrade option, which will allow you to upgrade the operating system up to Windows 7 once it becomes available.  That’s all fine and dandy, but it also means that you will potentially have to deal with Vista problems for a couple of months.  Even then, the upgrade probably won’t be a fresh install, and you may be transferring Vista instability over to your new Windows 7 upgrade.

According to our testing with the pre-release versions of Windows 7, performing a clean installation of Windows 7 on a PC was much better than upgrading from Vista to Windows 7.  The “upgraded” Vista to Windows 7 computer has slower overall system performance, slower boot times (by about 20 seconds), and there was instability with some of the hardware (especially fingerprint readers and touch screen LCD monitors).

A word of warning:  I’ve been advising my clients (especially my business clients) to exercise some patience with Windows 7.  Just like any operating system, the early adopters will be guinea pigs.  If system stability is important to you or vital to your earning potential, let the early birds sort out the bugs.  Wait a few months before making the leap.  If you want to be extra cautious, wait for the first Windows 7 service pack to be released before upgrading.

Happy shopping.

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