Vista or not to Vista, that is the question...

After using XP for many years now I've finally come to realise that Vista is the new OS that every new PC seems to be loaded with.

But is it really worth all its hype and is it worth buying?

System Specs are:

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.6GHz
4GB RAM @ 800Mhz
620W PSU
nVIDIA GeForce 9800GT

Regards,
James.

 

Well, if you already have XP on that rig then I would say stick with it even though Vista would work just fine on those specs. There's also the issue of program compatibility, you may have to pay for an upgrade along with replacing older peripherals if they don't have Vista drivers. I like the OS, crashes less than XP and has better security but if you're satisfied with XP, as I am, then there's no need to move yet IMO.

 

Speaking frankly, and I hope not out of turn, vista sucks, it's buggy as hell, slow and I haven't seen even one tiny little thing that it does better than XP. Personally, I'm thinking of going Linux. All they've done is repackaged the MS OS to create the impression there's a new product which we "must have". Only in doing so they've edited everything that was good out of XP and replaced it with a pile of useless rubbish. If I'd have made the mistake of paying for it, rather than unfortunately ending up with it through the purchase of a new computer, I'd really be angry. My apologies if I'm stating the obvious.

 

For the GUI my current XP system looks and sounds like Vista Ultimate (True Transparency, BootSkin, LogonStudio, Vista Inspirat 2, etc.). I still prefer Linux for eye candy if that is what you are into. Compiz Fusion with wobbly windows, the desktop cube, etc. etc. etc... Windows 7 is also on the horizon, I see that 64GB flash drives and 1TB HDD are available now, and their prices are coming down, and USB 3.0 is in the works. I will stick with XP and keep saving for the day...To answer your question, yes, if it is preinstalled on the system, and you are in the market for a new pc...SP2 is due.

 

Oh come on, I remember the other updates. Windows 95, now that was impressive. Vista hardly any different from XP?! I wish! It's soooo slow, it has rampant compatibility issues, it's buggy, programs freeze or self-close at the slightest provocation. I only have to open MS word for it to say: "MS Word non responding" at the top. It's been said that there's a whole new load of technical stuff that makes it markedly different from XP. Different? Certainly! Better? How?!?!?! Please, I really want to know what's good about this OS that mitigates everything that's bad about it?

yours despairedly (you'd have to be to go Linux right?)

 

Oh I just wanted to chew the fat. I don't need any help. I look forward to coming back after a failed foray into the world of Linux, and grumpily evading questions about how it went.

 

No I do. It was on a new machine I bought. The grass of far far far far fewer viruses to protect oneself against is certainly greener. I think that's the main draw, that and sticking it to the man.

 

Well, I have been using vista for almost a month on an elcheapo Acer laptop. Now, it was cheap, but has 2 gigs of RAM, and a Dual core Intel CPU at 2GHz. I have had a couple of bugs/lockups, mainly running Opera. But it seems fast and stable to me. The main thing I like is the file organization seems better.

But mine boots fast, and seems to work well. Of course I don't plan on busting out and putting Vista on my other machines, got a good deal on the laptop, it has Vista, so I got it. I am pondering gettiing the 64 bit version of Vista and bumping up to 4GB of RAM...:-D

I did have to nix the UAC. That just got old. Wish it was trainable like a firewall.

 

I came from linux, to XPpro, since it was free, and got Vista prepared to hate it, as everything I'd heard was pretty negative...and I like Vista: several things on XP I had to run apps on, I no longer need, and I understand all the things people have said, but I've been around a while--generally prefer the UNIX based mac osx or linux...*but* I haven't had single crash, or anything go wrong, and I'm only running 2gigs of ram, and I *have* seen some 1giggers have some clogups, and yeah, I've removed some crap, I basically run barebones XP...but again, I like this system.

I just ran the same premium avira I had running on XP, on here, and I've fought a little getting it to dual-boot, so I made a mirror copy of XP/Vista on another Hard Drive...and whoops, I'm starting to gush again...probably old age, hell, I hated Win 3.1, back when yer grandpas were saying the exact same things I"m hearing now....just w/worse language ;-)

And like Fred, I too now want to switch to 64 bit: need to find out if I can reload on this motherboard, if I get the 64 bit OS, even tho it's already activated, or else wait a year or so, see what's up when I build a new one...

 

Upgrade from XP? Don't bother.
Buy new? You'll be OK.

I bought Vista for my "Vista Capable" laptop. Gateway and MS have a different definition of capable than I do, apparently. I then put it on my now 3 and a half year old desktop instead. It runs great, Aero and everything. As for programs, most ran fine but some needed to be run as administrator. I don't think I ran into any that didn't at all and I have some from the Win98 days.

 

I have 3 computers, My newest with vista ultimate (for directx 10 games), and i have not had any complaints or problems, seems to boot fast

my other 2 i have an ibm thinkpad with xp pro, runs fine, no plans for upgrading it to vista...and my older p4 computer, tried ubuntu...and gave it up and am putting xp back on it.

 

Vista is fine for your average user.

If you want a Operating system that you can more customize to your own personal wants and tastes Then Xp would be the one to have.

Myself I use nlite. Last I knew and someone please correct me if I am wrong, nlite for vista will let you remove stuff but not add or tweak stuff.

With nlite and Xp, I can do a complete reinstall, with all the tweaks, drivers and programs, ready to go in a Hour and a Half.

 

I changed to a Vista machine about 3 months ago and i find it faster and easier to find things (the search facility is amazing)

The only problems i have had have been software issues (printer/webcam) the drivers i had were for XP but it was easy enough to find them on the web.

All in all after a learning period i find it a superior system to XP.
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