Windows VISTA? Pros and Cons? Anyone?
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It goes on sale starting Tuesday. There have been tons of reviews in the past couple of months.
I think the general recommendation is to buy it as part of a new computer purchase. That assumes that the machine they are selling it on has the specifications that are capable of running it.
Upgrading an older machine to run Vista will likely require hardware upgrades such as more memory (2GB recommended) and a good graphics card.
I think the general recommendation is to buy it as part of a new computer purchase. That assumes that the machine they are selling it on has the specifications that are capable of running it.
Upgrading an older machine to run Vista will likely require hardware upgrades such as more memory (2GB recommended) and a good graphics card.
Do not be any hurry to get a Vista computer. Much current software will have problems installing and even running on Vista. I would wait at least a year until the software developers can adapt their programs to Vista. Right now is an excellent time to buy a Windows XP computer, especially notebooks, as the retailers are clearing out the inventory in anticipation of the Vista based machines coming down the pipe.
rhmahoney
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2005
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As ever, my advice is to buy a Mac, rated the best Windows computer around. Is Vista compatible, runs a wider spectrum of software than any PC. You can run Windows by dual booting (OSX or windows, but not both at same time) with Apple's bootcamp, or Windows in a virtual machine from 3 different vendors (runs both OSX & windows at same time). Besides, after a week, you won't bother booting up Windows again.
Chet18013
Well-known member
Following up on Russ's comments, you might find this interesting.
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1598157734
Chet18013
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1598157734
Chet18013
Well Vista is not compatible with a heck of a lot of programs including Anti Virus program, IM, and PSP. I would not recommend it until they get all the patches put in and the repairs and glitches repaired.
As for MAC, Utah Schools, City and State offices bought them some five or six years ago and are getting rid of them as quick as they can since they are not compatible with a lot of the standard systems, a lot of programming they were using also was not compatible, they are also near impossible to repair from what I have been told and in Utah there are only two qualified stores in the Entire state that can repair them. All this info was told to me by a Brother in Law who works for one of the City offices. And from a Sister in Law who works for the state of Utah School board.
As for MAC, Utah Schools, City and State offices bought them some five or six years ago and are getting rid of them as quick as they can since they are not compatible with a lot of the standard systems, a lot of programming they were using also was not compatible, they are also near impossible to repair from what I have been told and in Utah there are only two qualified stores in the Entire state that can repair them. All this info was told to me by a Brother in Law who works for one of the City offices. And from a Sister in Law who works for the state of Utah School board.
Black Max
Member
I frequently use PC World as a source of information and downloads. This article describes some of the immediate issues facing Vista.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,128669/article.html
Is there a compelling reason for you to make the switch? From what I understand there are a lot of "minor" , graphical improvements - but nothing of real substance. If you are currently running XP with SP2 and all the updates you should have a fairly stable system...a far cry from the Windows 95 days and the constant re-boots.
Price of the upgrade is also another issue $299 (Canadian $) will buy a lot of fuel or camping nights.
Unless you are the type who likes to be on the "bleeding edge" of technology, I would be inclined to wait for Vista Service Pack 1 at least.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,128669/article.html
Is there a compelling reason for you to make the switch? From what I understand there are a lot of "minor" , graphical improvements - but nothing of real substance. If you are currently running XP with SP2 and all the updates you should have a fairly stable system...a far cry from the Windows 95 days and the constant re-boots.
Price of the upgrade is also another issue $299 (Canadian $) will buy a lot of fuel or camping nights.
Unless you are the type who likes to be on the "bleeding edge" of technology, I would be inclined to wait for Vista Service Pack 1 at least.
slpdave
Member
I am building a new machine right now, it will have Vista installed. I Have many flavors of PC's in the house. Apple, Linux (testing Slackware now), MSoft for OS choices. I prefer Linux, but you have to be a geek to use it.
I am installing Vista so I can support it, I am a self employed, semi-retired IT guy who sells Real Estate in the family business. I have no love for MSoft or their market share but they dictate a large percentage of the game.
In my opinion, wait a few months to go to Vista, let people like me who have to get it get the bugs out first.
David
I am installing Vista so I can support it, I am a self employed, semi-retired IT guy who sells Real Estate in the family business. I have no love for MSoft or their market share but they dictate a large percentage of the game.
In my opinion, wait a few months to go to Vista, let people like me who have to get it get the bugs out first.
David
B
Bill42
Guest
If you use Windows 2000 or XP now, probably a good idea to hold off on Vista for quite awhile.
tweak
Well-known member
I got a new laptop with vista on it and it SUX!!! Wont work with my sierra air card and lots of other thigs including my delorme topo 3D program. The US Govt has even banned it from there computers. Sorry Mr Gates, gotta tell it like it is!
John From Detroit
Well-known member
As it happens I hold SYSOP status in that portion of compuserve which is run by WUGNET. Though I do not hang in the windows support forum I do in a few other areas of WUGNET WUGNET is the Windows User Group Network and belongs to Larry McJunkin if I've not mis-typed his name. WUGNET itself is not part of Compuserve any more but the forums still are.
100% of the comments I've seen on vista (and that includes those above) were all from people who wished they had stuck with XP or one of the older versions. Not one poster said "It's great" all have said It sucks. 100%.
My suggestion is don't upgrade lessen you have no choice.
100% of the comments I've seen on vista (and that includes those above) were all from people who wished they had stuck with XP or one of the older versions. Not one poster said "It's great" all have said It sucks. 100%.
My suggestion is don't upgrade lessen you have no choice.
Bob Buchanan
Well-known member
John In Detroit said:
John -- that's pretty much my situation. As a developer I must be able to make sure my SW works OK w/Vista -- and for the most part, it does. But there are a few issues. So my help desk person on one of his computers and myself on one of mine have done the upgrade -- both to the vanilla "basic" package. The experience was probably somewhere between frustrating and maddening.
My help desk person is a pretty heavy duty hardware and networking guy -- and it took him a total of 16 hours to complete his upgrade. He came away from the experience mumbling to himself. From this I knew I was in trouble.Prior to running the upgrade (in my case on an XP Home machine), I followed the suggestion to run the on-line assessment program from the MS site. It informed me that I only had one issue to keep me from upgrading -- then gave me a list of the problems I would need to address "after" the upgrade. Seems I didn't have enough free disk space on my C: drive boot partition. So I increased the size of that partition and tried again. BTW, you do need at least 1g of RAM and 2g is suggested, and 10g free space on your boot drive.
Now things began to move along -- until the 1st reboot. I then got the blue screen of death. A reboot at that point "can" be had back to the XP desktop to try to figure out what is wrong from just the blue screen w/no error messages -- just hex addresses. I then began the chore of going to various websites to download the latest drivers from the SW I was told initially that might cause problems "after" I did the upgrade. It takes about 1/2 hour or so to get to the 1st reboot to find out if a certain new driver fixes the problem -- so by 3AM I was still getting the blue screen over and over after each 1/2 hour of waiting for it to possibly appear.
Will not bore you with more detail -- other to mention I finally found a Vista compliant firmware upgrade to the BIOS on my motherboard. Burning in a new BIOS is always a fun thing to do on a completely up and running operative XP machine that before the attempt to upgrade ran just fine.
Anyway, that was the glitch Vista didn't like -- and I was then able to complete the upgrade. Actually, it's not complete because I am still trying to figure out some of the small glitches in certain SW that need to be upgraded themselves now. But I am booting to Vista now.But John -- OTOH, just as with each upgrade to Windows, if SW is to increase it's abilities, the hardware it runs on must do the same. I recall going to Windows from DOS kicking and screaming -- and it was almost as bad when XP hit the shelves. Now that I have this puppy up and running, my love of computer toys is kicking back in and I am having fun with the new stuff. So far I am just playing with sound and graphics -- but even that alone makes Vista much nicer than XP. My only disappointment so far (to demonstrate my level of computer genius) is that a right click on a card in solitaire "only" moves that card up to the stacks -- and "I" have to find any others that will go as well. However, when a card is moved from a stack on the bottom, I don't have to click the next card to turn it over.
The desktop "Sidebar" is a nice feature as well -- and the "gadgets" that can placed there to enhance one's desktop are nice. Am running some benchmarks on SW loops in my programs to check out the increased speeds that have been advertised -- so we shall see what internal stuff has been added and/or improved. Am also checking out the security stuff and networking features. Would like to have gotten into the remote desktop improvements, but my Home Basic Vista OEM DVD from Fry's at $99. was all I could afford this week.
It is for sure best to go to Vista as part of a new machine that already has it installed. OR, if you must upgrade -- go to the vendor of your mobo and get the latest Vista approved Bios firmware. Unfortunately, I found this out "after" searching the web after my first blue screen. BTW, Google keywords such as "Vista and Blue Screen of Death" if you want to find tons of stuff posted by those trying to find out why Vista will not install on their computers . . .
Sigh.... I wore out my HP laptop. Was going to cross country in my RV and had been using my laptop with Windows S&T with GPS. Went out and bought a new Toshiba with Vista. Now, the only thing I use the laptop for is the S&T and AOL dial-up. I couldn't get AOL to work, was told to ignore the AOL VR (Vista ready) and contact AOL with the info on the new machine for a specific CD. Then I loaded S&T 2006. Seemed to work for a while, but when I intentionally went off route, it died. It didn't lock up, but instead restarted the program repeatedly. Was told by the Geek squad that Microsoft would not support S&T 2006 since 2007 was out. Returned the computer and had to pay an $85 "restocking fee". I can't find a new computer with windows XP.
Art
Art
I needed a new laptop and it came with Vista. I have now spent three weeks dealing with new machine and Vista issues and now have everything running with one exception involving an old piece of hardware.
If you do not need Vista now I am sure it will be easier to switch after everyone gets their software compatible as Ned says.
If you do not need Vista now I am sure it will be easier to switch after everyone gets their software compatible as Ned says.
Bob Buchanan
Well-known member
Ned said:
Have thought of that, Ned. Thanks for pointing me toward VMWare. Have been waiting until hard drive update time. The prices are very good right now at Fry's on 300 Sata's, but my problem is the time it takes to do the drill of conversion. I "did" get an external 250g for $49.00 last week at the grand opening of the new Fry's in Roseville, CA.
BTW, the new Fry's in Roseville (just a bit off of 80 at Eureka Road) is a grand toy store -- for sure. Chatting with the fellow that sold me the OEM Vista was told that it is even larger than the store in LV. Visually it looks at least as big. Great grand opening specials -- such as 2g flash cards for $9.99. The theme of this store is Railroads -- of course. A locomotive is breaking through the wall over the front entrance -- and tracks are through out the store in the form of floor tile.
And just one block away is the remains of the Roseville CompUSA that recently closed it's doors.
Bob Buchanan
Well-known member
Have attached a screen shot of my recently upgraded PC to Vista Home Basic desktop. It's still a little messy as I don't have the icons categorized in folders as yet -- but if you haven't seen a Vista machine on display, this will give you an idea of new look it has. Pretty much the same actually -- just more backgrounds to choose from -- plus the Sidebar and Gadgets on the sidebar.
All of the gadgets I have placed (in just messing around so far) are dynamic. For example, the little picture in the lower right is a slide show, the meters on the left are showing my CPU and RAM usage, and the headlines rotate up to 40 or 50 at a time and change as new things happen. X number of gadgets come with the package plus one can download more the MS website -- or they allow the user to develop their own gadgets.
Anyway, FWIW . . .
All of the gadgets I have placed (in just messing around so far) are dynamic. For example, the little picture in the lower right is a slide show, the meters on the left are showing my CPU and RAM usage, and the headlines rotate up to 40 or 50 at a time and change as new things happen. X number of gadgets come with the package plus one can download more the MS website -- or they allow the user to develop their own gadgets.
Anyway, FWIW . . .
