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Choice of Win 7 or Win 10 for New Dell 5810 Workstation

This is about choice of Windows version for a new Dell Precision Workstation 5810 computer.
http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-t5810-workstation/pd?ref=PD_OC

Dell offers:
* Windows 10 Professional
* Windows 7 Professional with a Windows 10 license

My question: Is there an obvious choice between Win 7 and Win 10 for this system? What factors should I consider?

Background: Likely parameters and needs for the new system:

64GB RAM (with eye towards up to 256GB some day)
2 - 3 internal SSDs about 256GB to 512GB each
1 external USB3 drive, probably more than 2TB
nVidia graphics card to be determined - at least the Quadro M2000 4GB
want option of encrypting one or more of internal SSDs and a partition on external drive

So far I have used Windows 7 and not gotten into Windows 10 but if Win10 is the right choice here that is fine. If you look at our desktops they resemble Windows XP - Aero, etc. disabled - no use for the fancy UIs. If I used Windows 10 I would probably disable Cortana.

Primary uses of the system: Image (still photo mostly, small amount of video) editing and conventional Microsoft Office, web. Need for a more-responsive system while editing images is driving getting this new system.

Your help in choosing the best OS appreciated.

Thanks,
Pete

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John

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Peter Bye

ASKER

Hi John,

Thanks for this response. Your thoughts about Windows 10 Pro 64-bit make a lot of sense. The primary aspect that might hold me back is whether I must live with more 'glitz' in the Windows 10 desktop design than I want. Can I setup the desktop to use a start menu and desktop icons, and avoid tiles, etc. similar to Windows 7?

I plan to ask about memory, SSDs, and graphics cards in separate questions rather than trying to roll everything into one question - it just seems more fair to you the experts that way. But since you mentioned it I'll just provide some added thoughts without expecting followup here - those questions will come soon. Why 256GB I have no idea now, but Adobe software is incredibly RAM hungry so perhaps in the future. Using one larger SSD is intriguing - I'll ask for more about that in my SSD question. I'll look into Intel graphics cards and fold that into my graphics card question - one problem will be that Dell does not seem to offer them as part of the configuration.

Thanks,
Pete

John

I use the same desktop as I have been using since Windows 95. Simple, plain and effective.

I add a Start Menu on the right side. I did this for Windows 8 and I cannot live without it

Right Click on the Taskbar
Select Toolbar, New Toolbar
Add the following content in the space provided:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
Save the toolbar. It should call itself Programs.

I know Dell does not offer Intel video, but Lenovo does and Intel keeps drivers up to date better than Nvidia (bitter experience on my part).

I cannot image any memory hungry application needing 256 GB of memory. I run whole machines that gobble up disk and memory and present no challenge to my ThinkPad X1.

Peter Bye

ASKER

John - Fantastic! That will be perfect. I do likewise with a few custom start menus.

In Windows 7 I also dragged the entire taskbar from the bottom of the screen to the left side of the screen and find that works really well for me. Uses horizontal screen space rather than vertical space for the taskbar.

Thanks,
Pete

SOLUTION

Gallaso Perth

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nobus

for the fastest disk throughput, i suggest using M2 type SSD's - they are MUCH faster than any older Sata SSD

here a detailed article : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.2

the best ones http://www.computershopper.com/feature/2016-guide-the-best-m.2-solid-state-drives-tested
samsung 512 GB drive : http://www.samsung.com/us/computing/memory-storage/solid-state-drives/ssd-850-evo-m-2-500gb-mz-n5e500bw/

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McKnife

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John

for the fastest disk throughput, i suggest using M2 type SSD's - they are MUCH faster than any older SATA SSD

That is what I have on my ThinkPad X1 laptop and it is a very fast drive.

Peter Bye

ASKER

Thanks everyone for your comments. Since my question was about Windows 7 versus Windows 10 I am focusing on those responses for my points awards. You have firmly convinced me that Windows 10 is the way to go based on future proofing, performance, and software compatibility.

Several of you commented about SSDs and graphics cards. I intend to post separate questions to explore each of those areas in more depth, possibly within a few hours of this post. I ask you to join those conversations for those topics. I hope that is OK.

Pete

John

You are very welcome and I was happy to help

nobus

if you want us to join, an easy way is posting the links here

Peter Bye

ASKER

An excellent suggestion, thanks nobus. Here is the link to my hard drive question:

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/28996579/Hard-drive-SSD-Config-for-Dell-5810-Workstation.html

Peter Bye

ASKER

And, here is a link to the question I posted about choice of a graphics card for this new workstation:

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/28996768/Graphics-card-for-a-new-Dell-5810-workstation.html

Pete