vista or xp

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Guest

My computer with windows ME died over the weekend. I've had it for about 6
years. So , I thought about getting a new. I saw in the paper obout the new
Windows Vista. Should I buy the new Vista or get the XP.
 
If you live near a Best Buy store, pay a visit to it tomorrow and
you can purchase a very nice computer system with Windows Vista
already installed.

Example:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...oryId=pcmcat103700050050&id=pcmprd66700050008

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

My computer with windows ME died over the weekend. I've had it for about 6
years. So , I thought about getting a new. I saw in the paper obout the new
Windows Vista. Should I buy the new Vista or get the XP.
 
Depends on your programs. No operating system is inherently right or wrong.
How you use a computer and what things you already own that you are not in a
position to replace makes the difference.

This is a good time to clean house so I suggest you buy a system bundle.
That way you can be certain that the monitor, printer, minor peripherals,
and computer all work together nicely. Whether you choose XP or Vista, you
will have some hardware driver issues changing from ME so I suggest avoiding
those issues by getting a system with matched components.

All of the new, exciting stuff coming out from now on will be optimized for
Vista. That is an important consideration in my book. If your important
sofware will run OK on Vista, then I see no good reason to buy an XP
machine.

I suggest you consider a computer with at least 1GB of ram and Vista Home
Premium preinstalled. If your budget permits, make that 2GB of ram. A lot
has changed since ME as I am sure you know. The scale of everything has
grown amazingly.
 
Thank you. As of right now I have no "important software". We use it for
games, downlaoding on to MP3 players, and possibly camera software, and of
course homework. Though I do plan on getting Family tree software. If the
software says it can be used on XP, should it run on the vista? I hate to get
the XP and then have it become obsolete right away like the ME.
 
LV said:
Thank you. As of right now I have no "important software". We use it for
games, downlaoding on to MP3 players, and possibly camera software, and of
course homework. Though I do plan on getting Family tree software. If the
software says it can be used on XP, should it run on the vista? I hate to get
the XP and then have it become obsolete right away like the ME.
Click to expand...

XP isn't going anywhere anytime soon. A lot of big businesses are still
using Windows 2000. I think you'll find XP to be less intrusive, use
less resources and not put you through as many "anti-piracy" hoops as
Vista. You can get away with 512MB of RAM with XP. With Vista, you'll
need at least one gig, preferably two.

Alias, who's waiting at least until Vista has SP2 to buy it.
 
LV said:
Thank you. As of right now I have no "important software". We use it for
games, downlaoding on to MP3 players, and possibly camera software, and of
course homework. Though I do plan on getting Family tree software. If the
software says it can be used on XP, should it run on the vista? I hate to get
the XP and then have it become obsolete right away like the ME.
Click to expand...

Well, XP will be supported till 2014, so an XP box won't be truly
'obsolete' until that time. VISTA IS the new baby, so it will be
getting most of the attention from now on. It IS brand new, however, so
it is likely to have many problems that need to be worked out over time.

Personally, if I had a choice, I would wait for VISTA until Service Pack
1, which is already on a fast track due to some early problems in VISTA.
I WOULD buy a box that I was sure was powerful enough to use VISTA
when I chose to move to it. That would entail an upgrade in your
future, tho, which may be a pain for you. Depends on your tolerance for
change...
 
Alias said:
XP isn't going anywhere anytime soon. A lot of big businesses are still
using Windows 2000. I think you'll find XP to be less intrusive, use less
resources and not put you through as many "anti-piracy" hoops as Vista.
You can get away with 512MB of RAM with XP. With Vista, you'll need at
least one gig, preferably two.

Alias, who's waiting at least until Vista has SP2 to buy it.
Click to expand...


Hand in the air! For me SP1 is good enough - but not before.
 
CybrGuy said:
Well, XP will be supported till 2014, so an XP box won't be truly
'obsolete' until that time. VISTA IS the new baby, so it will be getting
most of the attention from now on. It IS brand new, however, so it is
likely to have many problems that need to be worked out over time.

Personally, if I had a choice, I would wait for VISTA until Service Pack
1, which is already on a fast track due to some early problems in VISTA. I
WOULD buy a box that I was sure was powerful enough to use VISTA when I
chose to move to it. That would entail an upgrade in your future, tho,
which may be a pain for you. Depends on your tolerance for change...
Click to expand...

I second this - provided you run a good antivirus and a software firewall.
And, go on to say the time to upgrade is when some software you want won't
run on XP.
 
Go with Vista. What you described is Vista Home Premium to a tee. Your
family tree software should run fine, but check the website for it. If it
is a 32bit program that has no special hardware requirements it should be OK
but check. You have some options even if it does not run right on Vista.
You can run it in a WinME virtual machine right on your Vista desktop using
Virtual PC 2007. VPC is free. You may not be familiar with it if you have
only been using ME. VPC does not run on ME. You do need a copy of WinME to
install ME in a virtual machine just like you do a real computer. There is
a virtual pc newsgroup to help you at microsoft.public.virtualpc

Now to the next question: Should you buy a machine with Vista x86 or x64?
You might just be positioned to move directly to 64bit computing. It costs
the same. Get this purchase right and you could be set for the next six
years.
 
Nothing is obsolete that is still doing the job you need done. But having
said that, why buy a new machine with an old OS when you can buy it with the
latest for the same price?
 
Well, XP will be supported till 2014, so an XP box won't be truly
'obsolete' until that time. VISTA IS the new baby, so it will be getting
most of the attention from now on. It IS brand new, however, so it is
likely to have many problems that need to be worked out over time.

Personally, if I had a choice, I would wait for VISTA until Service Pack
1, which is already on a fast track due to some early problems in VISTA. I
WOULD buy a box that I was sure was powerful enough to use VISTA when I
chose to move to it. That would entail an upgrade in your future, tho,
which may be a pain for you. Depends on your tolerance for change...
Click to expand...

SP1 for Vista is not on a fast track because of problems. Vista was RTM in
November. SP1 is planned for when Longhorn releases at the SP1 level. This
has been the plan all along. That is planned for later in 2007 so it's
about a year from the original release which is consistent with XP's release
and SP1.
 
There is no debate here...
Buy a system with Vista, and don't listen to the people saying 'Use XP', no
matter what their messed up reasoning or agenda might be.

Additionally, if you get XP now, you will have to pay to upgrade to Vista
later, and you most certainly will want to.

Go with Vista Home Premium, and make sure the computer has 1GB of RAM. It is
really simple beyond that. There are no programs or major applications that
do not work on Vista, and if you have 1GB of RAM Vista will run faster than
XP.
 
Well,XPwill be supported till 2014, so anXPbox won't be truly
'obsolete' until that time. VISTA IS the new baby, so it will be
getting most of the attention from now on. It IS brand new, however, so
it is likely to have many problems that need to be worked out over time.

Personally, if I had a choice, I would wait for VISTA until Service Pack
1, which is already on a fast track due to some early problems in VISTA.
I WOULD buy a box that I was sure was powerful enough to use VISTA
when I chose to move to it. That would entail an upgrade in your
future, tho, which may be a pain for you. Depends on your tolerance for
change...- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

Did you get the 2014 date directly from Microsoft? This is the first
time that I have seen anything!

Thanks,
Joel
 
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