Vitsta < or don't < Vista

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Phil R

New member
So, I'm buying a new computer this week but it comes with Vista installed already on the unit, I'm not super smart with computers and I'm absolutely completely happy with my XP Pro but whats the overall poll with Vista. I've heard alot of good / new things that sound interesting but I've also heard alot of things that sound like it would be too much of a pain in the ass for Vista this early in the game.

*cliffs*
Is Vista overall a good program
 
Yes, I love it. It runs faster, looks amazing and has much better security. There are other features aswell but those are the main ones for me.

Though, it is quite demanding, what are the specs for this computer you are getting?
 
250 SATA HD
1 GIG RAM
Hypothreading dual Processor
500 watt Powere supply
CAC Card reader with firewire

there are others but it's just a barebones model with plenty of expansion room.
 
havnt tried any games yet, using the jan 5 drivers from nvidia(the newest ones).

The OS runs perfect will all animations and such on, thats what i was talking about. ill try some CS after steam finishes downloading it...slow pos
 
I'm running Vista on a P4 2.8 Ghz, 768mb RAM, and it takes about 2 minutes to start up... But I would recommend atleast 2gb RAM for it to run smoothly. I like the OS though, maybe i'll build a better computer in the future.
 
Um, 1GB RAM runs fine, the first time or two you start up Vista is slower because it's doing all sorts of configurations, but eventually it gets faster.

You want a Pentium 4 2.6GHz+ or an Athlon 64 3200+ (single cores) at least, and that's pretty low end for today. The lowest end prebuilts from Dell only let you get Pentium D 2.8GHz or Athlon 64 X2 3800+, and if you have 1GB RAM and even a bad video card you should be ok for Vista Home Premium.
 
Yes.

If you are starting from scratch. You will have to buy everything new for it. So don't expect some of your old peripherals and old programs and games to run on it. If the software box doesn't say that it is certified to use with Vista - then pass on it. If you're a gamer - then expect to only play new games on it - pass the game section at EBgames and Babbage's, since there are no new games yet. Interested in that new DVD player? It had better be Vista ready. Same goes for any CAD/CAM, architecture, music, burner, anti-virus, etc., application.

Just imagine that you just bought OSX - forget about shareware. It's the same predicament.
 
I've been using vista a week or so and i like it.

i personally think it run's faster, programs seem to load faster in it, and it's pretty damn easy to use.
 
I was running Windows Server 2003 on my home machine. It's a bit dated with a 3ghz P4, 2GB DDR400, 6800 GT, etc...

I had automatic updats turned off and needed to install Visual Studio .net 2005 for a project I wanted to work on at home. Well I tried to install 70 critical updates and then .net SP1, and my machine pretty much crapped out.

I backed up everything and was going to just install XP and get just VS.net 2005, SQL Server 2005, Photoshop, and office running. Well XP and Server 2003 would not install.

I had a version of Longhorn server sitting around and installed that. It ran, but was still to buggy. I jumped on MSDN and grabbed Vista Ultimate and installed that.

To my shock the install went great, VS.net 2005 w/ SP1, and SQL Server with SP installed just fine. Office 2007 and photoshop, etc... also installed fine. No problems or crashes or anything. A first for a new Windows install.

Turned on Remote Desktop which works just fine. Played around with the built in AV program, which looked stout. The security is annoying at first, but it really looks like it's vastly improved.

Even with my older system, Vista works just fine. If I didn't have too much running on my new XPS at work, I'd put Vista on it as well. I just have too many Visual Studio 2003 projects I need to support, which can't be moved to 2005... so until those projects are dead, I'll have to keep running XP at work.

My user experience is a 4.2 (guessing out of 10), but everything seems to be running just fine
 
try more like 50%-60%
There are even compatability issues with it's own drivers and some issues with IE7. If you are running an older office suite there are problems and there are even issues with office 2007. As for things like front page, forget about it, no way for it to access a website to manage it.

For someone looking for glitz and glamor and overdone graphics, it's pretty, but for someone using it in a business environment that has established software already, it's a pain in the ass. As for speed, it's slower than XP in my personal experience. I have two matching machines that came from Dell. Both with Vista. After getting fed up with compatability issues in it's own software, I reformatted one and went back to XP. It was easy to sit both down on the desk side by side and run tests but when running applications, XP was quicker. As for gaming, with the games I play it was no contest, XP again was better.

Tomorrow I have to get on the phone with Dell and demand a set of XP disks for the other machine so it can be reloaded too.
 
every one of the 33 programs that i had on XP work with Vista, excluding alcohol 120%. All my hardware works fine, my mx518 mouse works, my usb keyboard works, my speakers work, my wifi card works.... etc

just about everything has a vista drivers out already. And programs are faster in vista, you just actually have to have a decent comnputer to begin with. Vista handles memory 10x better than XP, and with ready boost its no contest.
 
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