[Jim]

have just installed Vista on my laptop to see what its like. It strikes me that its not that much better than Xp apart from being probably less stable and uses a lot more system resources.
Uncle told me its better and showed me all this showy graphics stuff but I've disabled all this anyway for increased performance.
Should I stick with Vista or go back to XP for the time?

[Bubba]

I've vowed never to install a new MS OS until it reaches SP2.

But XP works fine for me and if it ain't broke... not bothered about a graphically rich OS tbh but guess i'll upgrade in six months or so.

[GCW]

If you want a nice interface, get a Mac.
I use XP and am waiting before I even consider Vista.  From past experiences you'll need another 15 updates and plug ins before you can watch an MPEG without your hard drive catching fire.

But that's just me 

[dontfollowme]

I'm going to install it on a seperation partition so I can have a look at it. I'm not a power user but as my current XP installation is very bloated I thought I would give this a go.

Jim - have you had any issues with drivers on Vista?

[Jim]

none at all. It all seems to work fine, but I have a fairly new computer.
I got a performance version of vista off demonoid.
gonna put the performance version of XP back on for the time being incase of any possible software conflicts unless anyone can persuade me otherwise as I'm guessing no one on here has got vista on yet apart from uncle who is in Belgum

[Control freak]

Ive been using Vista for over a year now without any real issues. I run Vista Ultimate edition which is the top one but the main reason for this is the ability to use the admin tools that are available in this (that and I dont pay for it  ). It is resource intensive and I would recommend at least 2Gb for anyone that uses it for doing any sreious work - I routinely have 10 or 15 applications running and they eat up memory pretty quick. Remember on a laptop video memory is likely shared so this will eat into the available memory. The fancy graphcs whilst ok arent a necessity so probably worth turning them off as you have done if you dont have a fairly fast machine.

Having said that theres nothing wrong with XP and other than the fact I need to install .net3.0 on XP for work, there isnt really much that would sway me one way or the other.

[neil h]

I am using vista, fucking shit, the other day it locked me out of all my administration rights, couldnt do a thing, aparently microsoft said its a glitch, and I would have to buy a new copy and reinstall, In the end I took my computer back to the shop and got the whole computer changed. I been using vista for about 6 months and thought it was alright untill this happened, now not to sure

[slackline]

  but you could always try an alternative OS such as GNU/Linux.  Something like Ubuntu has excellent support for virtually all hardware (including ATI and nVidia graphics cards, although the later is better supported) and unless you have bleeding edge hardware will in all likelihood work with everything.  It has user friendly GUI's/wizards for installation as well for those unfamiliar with the process of installing.

If you wanted to try GNU/Linux out you could grab and burn an ISO of Knoppix which is a complete bootable distribution on CD/DVD that will allow you to try out the system without having to install anything.  Just burn the CD/DVD, reboot the computer and change your BIOS to boot from the CD/DVD.

A few useful statistics

	M$-Vista	GNU/Linux	Source
Cost	£79.98 (Upgrade) to £321.98	Free	Amazon.co.uk
Viruses	~140,000	30	Wikipedia

I was going to add more into the above table about the relative costs of Office software suites or Image processing software, but the majority of Open Source projects have now been ported to M$-windows (e.g. OpenOffice and GIMP).

The nice thing is that you won't ever get locked out of your system as you can always use something like Knoppix to regain control  .

[Bubba]

All windows software is free as well

[slackline]

All windows software is free as well

lol, I guess so, I guess it depends on your vendor 

Forgot to mention the one drawback to GNU/Linux is the lack of games, but you can always use something like WINE to run games, there are also a number of FPS games that are Open Source such as Alien Arena, Nexiuz (my favourite), and Tremulous to name a few.  Things like Unreal Tournament 2004 has ports for linux as well.  There is also the excellent TORCS but again this also has an M$ port available as well, and the more recent vdrift for those inspired by the recent Fast & Furious installment.

[Jim]

Having said that theres nothing wrong with XP and other than the fact I need to install .net3.0 on XP for work, there isnt really much that would sway me one way or the other.

what does vista need all the memory resources for tho? it doesn't really have any advantage over xp apart from using shed loads more memory I think

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

The definitive answer to this debate.... 


Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!

http://www.apple.com/imac/

I like this comparison too...



(oh yeah, and don't forget they run XP & Vista super fast too, or both if you ever feel the need  )

[GCW]

get a Mac.

Yeah, they are sweet.  And much more intuitive.  My next computer may be an Apple.

[unclesomebody]

Inevitably this is going to turn into mac vs pc, so I will offer this bit of FACT.

The "oh so sexy" new imac's are running fairly slow intel chips. They also run rather crap graphics cards. They will also set you back substantially more than a black box. But you do get a small footprint and osx. GREAT. Your small footprint means your hard drive will run hotter because there is less airflow. Your small footprint means you can't overclock your core2duo (which is widely regarded as the greatest overclocking chip ever). This means that a £300 dell will outperform your £1000 imac. How's that? oh but wait... there's good old osx. Guess what, you can run that on your black box too. So, if you have more money than sense, have no technical knowledge whatsoever, and think design is more important than function, check out http://www.apple.com/imac/

and ps. This is what my UGLY blackbox looks like.

[GCW]

 

[Monolith]

Inevitably this is going to turn into mac vs pc

If I had a penny for every one I've heard etc etc. Some of the completely unsubstantiated renditions of this tired old discussion I've heard beggar belief.

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

and ps. This is what my UGLY blackbox looks like.

I hate to nit PICK, but that ugly BOX is silver and I bet it sits on the floor under a DESK.

I never have and hopefully never will get involved in 'overcocking' of any type, officer.












ps: In reality I hate all computers most of the time, but it is fun trying to wind up PCheads, and Jim.

[Jim]

consider myself not wound up because I know uncle is right 

also his pc is beastly.... but not as beastly as mine will be very soon