Hi there. I just bought a new laptop w/ Windows 7 & really really like it so far. I was running XP - refused to ever use Vista b/c I don't know anyone who liked it, & from what limited experience I did have with it, it seemed to be such a beast to deal with. I loved XP, but my old laptop had been giving me problems, so I just decided to wait until Windows 7 came out to get a new one (man, Best Buy was crrrraaazzzyyy that day! lol). It's totally different from XP, but IDK about how different it is from Vista. I've been using XP for years & haven't had a bit of trouble figuring out how to work in Windows 7 so I'm very happy with it. (I also now use Office 2007 which has been more of a change than the O/S switch! LOL It's totally different from 2003, but I'll get used to it eventually.)
From what I understand, it may not be a good idea to simply upgrade from a Vista machine b/c there will still be components of Vista installed which could complicate things down the road - but I'm not a computer guru, that's just my IT hubby talking. That's why I waited until I could just get a full blown Windows 7 laptop without worrying about any Vista remnants. Again, my experience with W7 has been great... JM2C though.