Reformatting my HD - Windows XP or 7?

[stick]

I've used Windows XP for the majority of my life and I know it like the back of my hand. When Vista came out I didn't bother upgrading because of all the bugs. When 7 came out I didn't upgrade because I had the same expectations for it as Vista. However, I'm planning on reformatting my hard drive and I'm not sure whether I wanna stick with XP or finally make the switch to 7. It's gonna be used mostly for surfing the web, encoding movies, disk burning, and other everyday tasks. Are there any advantages to Windows 7 over XP, or has anyone been in a similar situation as me and could provide some insight? Let me know, thanks.
Also, don't tell me to get a Mac. I already dual boot with Snow Leopard, which is what I'm posting from right now.

EDIT: Here are my system specs if you need them to help answering.

2.83GHz Intel Core2Quad 9550
8GB DDR2 RAM

nVidia 9300/nForce 730i Integrated Graphics

1.75TB Hard Disk Space in AHCI Mode (2 SATA and 1 IDE drive)

 

[mondaynightraw]

why not Linux

 

[retrosniipes]

I was just like you. I loved XP. Vista is crap, but Windows 7 is amazing in my opinion. I'm running a 64-bit system, 2.6 quad-core processor, 4gb of ram, etc. Runs extremely clean. Never needed to install any drivers for new hardware. No complaints here.

 

[stick]

Originally Posted by mondaynightraw

why not Linux

Over the past few years I've tried to run Linux a few times but it just wasn't for me. Do you have any distros you could recommend? I've tried Ubuntu and ArchLinux in the past.

 

[danger style]

Windows 7 is awesome

 

[hella handsome]

Windows 7 is the better choice. Now that 7 has been around XP is just the past. You can run programs in XP mode if you want to. Its just as stable.

 

[stick]

Originally Posted by Retrosniipes

I was just like you. I loved XP. Vista is crap, but Windows 7 is amazing in my opinion. I'm running a 64-bit system, 2.6 quad-core processor, 4gb of ram, etc. Runs extremely clean. Never needed to install any drivers for new hardware. No complaints here.

Nice, I was hoping that I didn't have to go hunting for drivers. My system seems to have similar specs as yours too. 

 

[northmiamiboi]

get an apple

 

[big j 33]

Ubuntu. You could always dual-boot with Windows 7.

 

[650]

i used to install windows xp cause it was a lot faster than vista, but windows 7 is just as good. installed it on an 5+ year old celeron computer and it works fine

 

[mondaynightraw]

puppy is my fav linux distro

 

[whyhellothere]

Windows 7>>>_______, ________ & __________

 

[mrbrown]

Originally Posted by whyhellothere

Windows 7>>>_______, ________ & __________

corny

 

[whyhellothere]

Originally Posted by MrBrown

corny

 

[omgitswes]

Wait for Windows 8.
jk you'll be waiting a while. But yeah Just go ahead and get Windows 7