New AOD250 owner, with quite a few questions.

I browsed around a good deal. Lots of great info on the board. I do have some questions that may spark some discussion.
1. I'd like to go Windows 7. What are some of the pros/cons of an USB install vs. an external dvd install? Anything I need to consider before making the change. I already moved to 2gb of RAM.
2. Anyone use readyboost through windows 7. I'm curious to know the diferences in using the MMC reader which would be nice and hidden, as opposed to a usb stick which would be kind of bulky. With 2 gigs of ram will an 8 gb sd/usb be overkill for readyboost. I know win7 has no limit, but they do recommend 1 to 3 times your RAM
3. What up with the crappy youtube HD. I understand that Flash only uses CPU, but I thought that flash 10.1 beta was gonna change that. I'm still only getting 1fps for youtube HD. Any suggestions on how to change that?

 

I made the move to Win7 a couple weeks ago. Upgraded from XP. Here are my experiences.

1. If you've already upgraded memory, fine. I started with 1 GB and it ran fine with that. I upgraded to 1.5 GB yesterday and see no obvious improvement. Win7 just plain works well with the system.

2. Microsoft has an XP - 7 files & settings transfer utility. USE IT. It will transfer all your personal files and the settings you have. Of course, if you want to start with a blank slate then don't use it.... but be prepared to reinstall all your routine settings.

3. You can't do the upgrade process with an XP to 7 upgrade, but you can use the upgrade version. Just have to tell it custom installation and overwrite your C: drive. Start by reviewing the Microsoft guide here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/help/upgrading-from-windows-xp-to-windows-7

4. USB vs ext drive: I used an external DVD drive. From what I hear, the USB drive method works and is faster.

5. Before upgrading, run the Windows 7 upgrade advisor and delete any programs that look incompatible. Even if using the Files and Settings transfer utility, you will still have to reinstall the programs from their original discs/files. But you may as well delete the settings of those incompatible programs. Also, it might make it a faster transfer if you manually move (move, not copy) all your personal files to an external drive. The reinstall of personal files can be time consuming.

6. The flash video quality is not great. There is a beta version of a new flash, I think it is 10.1, that is supposed to off-load part of the processing onto compatible graphics chips..... my Aspire AOA 150 doesn't have a graphics chip that can utilize this capability, so it doesn't do me any good. My Acer Revo saw a little improvement with the newer version of flash. I think you need an NVidia GPU to take advantage of this change.

hope this helps a little.