Windows Vista?

[mapolley07 10+ year member]

I will be buying a laptop for school within the next month or so, and I am debating whether to stick with Windows XP or to go ahead and get Vista Home Premium. I have gotten mixed reviews about Vista.

I have heard there are a lot of compatibility issues with Vista, as well as annoying security alerts every time you start a program. Also Vista lacks a "Run" command or a Command prompt, and diagnostics are pretty well impossible without calling Microsoft.

I also have heard that Vista is nice and easy to use, and generally runs faster than XP. I like the looks of Vista, and the features such as Media Center are really nice, but I haven't had much chance to use it for more than a few minutes at the store.

I've been using XP for a few years now, and I know the pros and cons of XP. Basically I want to know how well people like Vista and whether or not people have been having trouble with it.

Thanks,

Matthew

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[Jameseypoo 5,000+ posts]

Stick with xp.

 

[mapolley07 10+ year member]

I've had some people tell me to stick with XP and upgrade to Vista in a year or two, and I've had other people tell me to go ahead and bump up to Vista now. What I need is an in-depth evaluation from someone who has used Vista quite a bit so I know whether or not it is worth it for me to get Vista.

 

[Kawasaki STX-R 10+ year member]

run both, i did (only cause my new comp came with vista)

ended up getting rid of vista last weekend

 

[DaGh0st 5,000+ posts]

My roommate just got a new laptop with vista....I hate it. you cant do much without a little security thing poping up asking you questions. XP for sure.

 

[2002XLT 5,000+ posts]

vista pisses me off, i just got my mom a new comp and vista came with it, you have to "allow" it to do everything and its annoying, especially for my mom who sucks with computers, she just wants it to do what she asks. I havent gotten to play with it for more then a few hours when i set it up, but **** i was pissed by the time i was through..

on the plus side, it is prettttyyy.. lol

 

[J31Rob 5,000+ posts]

Stick to XP.

 

[dvrmstrng 5,000+ posts]

just run windows XP with a vista theme on it....

 

[mapolley07 10+ year member]

Yeah, I have heard there is no way to get those stupid security warnings to stop popping up. I really don't want to dual boot, because I don't need to and I'd rather not waste the hard drive space. I was thinking of buying a laptop with XP Pro and then maybe getting Vista in a year or two.

 

[InhumanAcura 5,000+ posts]

im using vista hp..besides the security bs everytime you start the thing, its cool by me. My Mom also uses it on hers and she's about as computer illiterate as you can get..she calls the computer a modem, lol

 

[Pl8er 5,000+ posts]

Funny thing is I just quit googling for help on a vista problem and decided to stop over here

So far I have installed Vista Ultimate on two of my machines. My AMD64 3000+ with 1.5gb ram and 240 RAID 0 runs it fine, no problems....just a bit slower than XP due to AERO being on.

My main rig Dual core X2 4800 with 2gb ram and a raptor drive runs FAST...but I have an access denied error to my second hard drive (300gb) I'm working on getting that fixed (thinking its a permissions problem but I have addressed this already) and I think I will be happy after that.

XP will be faster for you, but I really like the layout and security of Vista. Not to mention it is a smarter OS, IMO.

 

[phantom240 5,000+ posts]

Vista = gay

/thread

 

[wesl56 10+ year member]

Vista = gay/thread

x2

i played with it about a year ago just to see if it was any better than xp... my god ive never had so many problems with a computer... it was a nasty experience

 

[bug splat 10+ year member]

I like vista once I got to know it. For all of you who are b!tching about the security popup why don't you just turn it off? Google is your friend. Vista does some cool stuff that XP will not. I have installed about 8 machines with Vista some on domains and some without and I have yet to run into software compatibility issues. Everything from games to special accounting software that the MFG told me "WILL NOT" run on Vista worked just fine. Yes, its different and takes some getting used. Everyone that I moved over to vista did not like it at first but after a couple weeks that loved it.

I say go with Vista.

 

[nosaj070 10+ year member]

x2
i played with it about a year ago just to see if it was any better than xp... my god ive never had so many problems with a computer... it was a nasty experience

Just to chime in here, you were playing with a relatively early beta then, no kidding its going to have problems. None the less, Vista truly is not a good OS. Overall I do not consider it stable yet, yes it works great on some peoples systems (Usually with very high powered, mainstream hardware), but in every case I've seen it there have been a fair share of problems.

I upgraded my media center to vista because I thought the UI was better, I was wrong. Certain aspects were improved visually, and in an organizational sense, but the program crashed constantly, had a hell of a time with DRM, etc. I ditched it after the computer was no longer useable about three weeks later. I'll give MS the benefit of the doubt, I cracked it, and it was a homebuilt computer (Albiet very well built).

Parents bought a new Dell without first consulting me. Vista sucks on it, constant errors, got a BSOD on boot a few times. Checked out all the hardware, none of it is bad, the problems are software. Thing runs slow, networking and file sharing is an absolute nightmare. Who in the living hell needs a face clock as a widget on their desktop? (I know you can take it off, regardless its stupid) Not to mention the mini-picture frame, are you joking MS?

The bottom line is it that Vista is no where near ready for widespread use yet, truthfully since it is built on the same platform windows has been built on for an awful long time I don't see it ever really being great. Maybe in a few years once they have worked out some of the bugs and hardware is fast enough to not struggle with it I'd say go for it. But currently I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole.

My advice to you would be to Buy a Mac. If you don't want to own a superior computer, get XP. You are a student, you can get MS software dirt cheap through the school (I can download all MS operating systems for free legally). THen go ahead and get vista in the future ideally SP1 or 2.

Good luck with the purchase.