Windows 7 vs Linux Mint 8

[The Dong]

Ummm. Linux Mint 8 wins :)

Acquired a few laptops too dodgy for purpose and fixed them up 
reasonably again. Tried Windows 7 just to see if the hype is deserved. 
These laptops are not new, one is 5 years old (1Ghz celeron) other a bit 
newer, 1.8Ghz centrino. Both used as test beds.

Installation ease, flexiblility and speed: Mint.

Compatibility: Mint (Windows 7 supported very little on these laptops 
and sadly, driver support was also dead for much of it)
The only plus for W7 is games, but that is a minus when your machines 
gfx card is not supported.

Migration: Mint. All it took was copying across two folders, Thunderbird 
and Firefox operate as before, maybe better speed wise.

Compiz is nice once you find the keys :)

I liked the fact Mint (Linux, then, but Mint is really easy to configure 
compared to some others I tried) seemed to work much more readily with 
the odd, new and old, hardware that windows 7 utterly failed to support.
After install, simply configure the network, wifi in these cases and 
that's about it beyond tweaking the appearance and installing 
software/packages.

I like it enough that I've installed it on my main computer and am 
typing this on it, no compatibility problems, to dual boot win XP.
Linux for browsing, email, scanning + image editing, torrents, shares to 
media players, misc software.
Win XP for games and the RME hammerfall (music)/tracks.
Hey, I haven't figured out the apparent mess called ALSA to use the RME.
Maybe some time.

Anyone know how to use the RME in Linux, without getting complicated?