Buy now or wait for Vista?

[Guest]

I am looking into buying a new Media Center PC and am wondering if I should
wait for Vista to be released? Is it better to buy a Media Center PC with MCE
pre-installed by the company or is it better tp buy the CD-ROM when it comes
out and installing it over my Media Center 2005 edition? I have always bought
my computers with everything installed right from the factory so I do not
know if it makes a difference installing the OS myself. Should I wait? Thanks.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

You'll have to wait until late 2006
before Vista becomes available.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

Get Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Advanced Security Technologies:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxp/choose.mspx

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:

| I am looking into buying a new Media Center PC and am wondering if I should
| wait for Vista to be released? Is it better to buy a Media Center PC with MCE
| pre-installed by the company or is it better tp buy the CD-ROM when it comes
| out and installing it over my Media Center 2005 edition? I have always bought
| my computers with everything installed right from the factory so I do not
| know if it makes a difference installing the OS myself. Should I wait? Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Yes, I know. What I want to know is- Is it a big difference if I install the
Vista OS over the existing MCE 2005 OS rather than waiting so Vista is the
original and only operating system installed (For example: It's kind of like
installing Windows XP Pro over a computer running XP Home- should I just wait
to buy XP Pro on a brand new computer instead of installing it over an
existing operating system)?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Yes, I know. What I want to know is- Is it a big difference if I
install the Vista OS over the existing MCE 2005 OS rather than
waiting so Vista is the original and only operating system installed
(For example: It's kind of like installing Windows XP Pro over a
computer running XP Home- should I just wait to buy XP Pro on a brand
new computer instead of installing it over an existing operating
system)?

You could clean install in any of the cases you have listed - you could even
ghost the system before you did so that if you didn't like or couldn't do
something, you could revert back quickly. I don't see the issue here. Get
what you can now - improve later.

 

[Chelsea]

I think you should consider how the hardware available now is likely to
compare with what will be available in 18 months time. If you are anything
like me you will have seen clock speeds shoot upwards in the last few years,
without a really impressive increase in application speeds. The latest
versions of Office, Macromedia MX and Adobe CS2 if anything feel slower on a
3GHz machine than their predecessors. That is partly down to application
bloat and less emphasis from the developers on performance optimisation, but
it also reflects that doing everything in sequence, one program routine
after another, produces a performance bottleneck. The situation is now
changing as Intel and AMD are now concentating their energies on dual core
processors, that is processors capable with carrying out parallel
processing-more than one program sequence at a time. Hyperthreading was the
start of this generation of processors and end users should see really
significant gains from their hardware as software is updated to support dual
core. Windows Vista should support dual core by default and should therefore
easily outperform XP even on entry level systems costing a few hundred
pounds. With all that in mind anyone who has a reasonable system right now,
as defined by something which lets them run apps adequately well, would in
my opinion be advised to wait for the next generation of Windows. However MS
never ships anything on time, so if you wait be prepared for irritating
postponements as the release date slips. Bill Gates said he was betting the
farm on XP, the stakes will be even higher with Vista because of Linux
erroding market share, so anyone who waits will certainly need patience.

Chelsea

 

[Guest]

Thank you for all your help. I think I am just going to wait for Vista.

 

[Kerry Brown]

I am looking into buying a new Media Center PC and am wondering if I should
wait for Vista to be released? Is it better to buy a Media Center PC with
MCE
pre-installed by the company or is it better tp buy the CD-ROM when it
comes
out and installing it over my Media Center 2005 edition? I have always
bought
my computers with everything installed right from the factory so I do not
know if it makes a difference installing the OS myself. Should I wait?
Thanks.

Why not wait until the update for Vista is out? I am sure it will be much
better than Vista, having many more features including a direct to brain
interface.

Seriously, computers and software are in a constant state of flux. If you
wait until something better comes out you will be waiting forever. Determine
what your needs are. Determine what your wants are. If something is
available now that fulfills your needs consider buying it. If it fulfills
your needs and some of your wants jump in with both feet.

Kerry