Buying New PC - XP or Vista?

[Rock]

Hi Paula,
I have just worked out a brilliant solution to the Vista/XP quandary.
I will get a new computer with Vista AND keep the old one with XP. I just
have to find another 20 inches of tabletop in our bed room. It's not
quite as bad as keeping an old car when getting a new one as I once did.

Are there any family members you can get rid of? I mean there are
priorities.

 

[Cast-it Admin]

I have recently been in this same situation with buying a laptop - my advice
is; if you have plenty of time on your hands to get used to the quirks of
Vista, then fine go Vista. If you haven't, then stick with what you know.
Vista is full of oddities and has an array of annoyances....and even more
"nannying" than Tony Blair so to keep your sanity, keep XP.

Others have also commented on compatibility issues, not a problem for me
with a laptop, but, having said that I cannot use a 14 month old scanner on
the lappy as Vista won't install the drivers

Ron

 

[Leythos]

One may not need a computer either but have one anyway and find uses for it.
One size does not fit all.

No, but, as I didn't say it did and you keep thinking I did, vista, no
matter what you use it for, likes a FAST CPU, Big Video RAM card, and 2GB
RAM to be HAPPY. Yes, you can use it with less and more and even with
green eggs and ham.

 

[Leythos]

Hi Paula,
I have just worked out a brilliant solution to the Vista/XP
quandary.
I will get a new computer with Vista AND keep the old one with XP. I
just have to find another 20 inches of tabletop in our bed room. It's
not quite as bad as keeping an old car when getting a new one as I once
did. Phil

Put the new PC on the floor and use a KVM swith to allow BOTH to share the
same keyboard, monitor, mouse - I do that with 4 desktop computers in my
office.

 

[Frank\(FL\)]

I am planning on buying a new PC very soon (anytime between now and
this summer).

I am getting one from Dell, so I have the option of XP or Vista. I
mainly use my PC for e-mail, internet, photo and video editing, and
burning to CD & DVD.

I am curious how people like their new PCs with Vista on it. I am
concerned that there'll be problems with some of my old drivers for my
printer and other peripherals. I am also concerned about bugs in this
first release of Vista that will require major upgrades/problem fixes
in the upcoming months/years.

If Vista is more or less stable, I'll probably go with that. Any info
will help a lot.

Thanks,
Paula

There are too many (5) possibly more considering the OEM versions
of Vista to make any kind of statement. The last completely usable
operating system from Microsoft was Windows 2000 professional.

 

[mikeyhsd]

since vista is the program of the now and future.
I would recommend getting the vista pre-installed from the manufacturer.
it is then their responsibility to make sure the drivers work out of the box.
you will still have to perform driver updates. same with xp.

a lot of dell packages come with a printer, so that eliminates one problem.

make sure you get one that will be adequately powered for your usage.

do not believe the vista ready logo with 512mb of ram. get atleast 1gb and more if you can.

I would go with LCD monitor and a PLUG IN video card versus on the mother board video to insure you can drive the LCD digitally.

of course what I would pick for extra items is most likely different from what you would pick.



(e-mail address removed)



I am planning on buying a new PC very soon (anytime between now and
this summer).

I am getting one from Dell, so I have the option of XP or Vista. I
mainly use my PC for e-mail, internet, photo and video editing, and
burning to CD & DVD.

I am curious how people like their new PCs with Vista on it. I am
concerned that there'll be problems with some of my old drivers for my
printer and other peripherals. I am also concerned about bugs in this
first release of Vista that will require major upgrades/problem fixes
in the upcoming months/years.

If Vista is more or less stable, I'll probably go with that. Any info
will help a lot.

Thanks,
Paula

 

[Rock]

No, but, as I didn't say it did and you keep thinking I did, vista, no
matter what you use it for, likes a FAST CPU, Big Video RAM card, and 2GB
RAM to be HAPPY. Yes, you can use it with less and more and even with
green eggs and ham.

It's happy on this system with the specs I provided. It doesn't need the
monster machine you quoted the specs for. Will it run better on that, sure.
But what qualifies as "happy" depends on the use. Somehow you don't seem to
get that point.

 

[Rock]

I have recently been in this same situation with buying a laptop - my
advice is; if you have plenty of time on your hands to get used to the
quirks of Vista, then fine go Vista. If you haven't, then stick with what
you know. Vista is full of oddities and has an array of annoyances....and
even more "nannying" than Tony Blair so to keep your sanity, keep XP.

Others have also commented on compatibility issues, not a problem for me
with a laptop, but, having said that I cannot use a 14 month old scanner
on the lappy as Vista won't install the drivers

Vista is a different OS. You cannot think of it as XP. those that do find
the oddities. Those that take it as a new OS make the paradigm shift see it
as something all it's own. Use one's experience with XP as a springboard,
not an anchor.

 

[JohnO]

Talking to Adobe (or Corel) is like talking to the oracle at Delphi.

True, but...their user forums are very good. Lots of good people with good
answers.

-John O

 

[Leythos]

It's happy on this system with the specs I provided. It doesn't need
the monster machine you quoted the specs for. Will it run better on
that, sure. But what qualifies as "happy" depends on the use. Somehow
you don't seem to get that point.

Seems you didn't read all of what was written and you've taken it on
yourself to "teach" me something.

Since the person didn't really state what they wanted, it's a good idea to
give them a basic machine that will be Happy with the OS it's running.
Yes, happy can mean many things to many people, buy, most people, not you
apparently, when they make an investment in NEW hardware, want it to run
reasonably fast, not a system that just marginally gets-by.

So, you can bitch/whine about my spec all you want, but it's not doing you
any good. The $5,100 was a laptop, and one that would run Photoshop quite
well. Yes, you can run Photoshop on a old P3 if you wanted, but who in
their left mind would try and buy a new P3 system.

Grow up, read the part about wanting to run PhotoShop, then learn what it
takes to happily run PhotoShop on a PC. Once you get enough information
you have two choices, shut-up or apologize for not knowing what you are
talking about.

 

[Phisherman]

I am planning on buying a new PC very soon (anytime between now and
this summer).

I am getting one from Dell, so I have the option of XP or Vista. I
mainly use my PC for e-mail, internet, photo and video editing, and
burning to CD & DVD.

I am curious how people like their new PCs with Vista on it. I am
concerned that there'll be problems with some of my old drivers for my
printer and other peripherals. I am also concerned about bugs in this
first release of Vista that will require major upgrades/problem fixes
in the upcoming months/years.

If Vista is more or less stable, I'll probably go with that. Any info
will help a lot.

Thanks,
Paula

Lots of issues with Vista. I have an expensive USB device that won't
work with Vista, or until the manufacturer decides to release a driver
that works. Linux has a recent surge in popularity and Dell is
pre-loading machines with it. All these and mentioned are stable,
including Windows 2000. Vista is expensive for what you get.

 

[Rock]

Seems you didn't read all of what was written and you've taken it on
yourself to "teach" me something.

Since the person didn't really state what they wanted, it's a good idea to
give them a basic machine that will be Happy with the OS it's running.
Yes, happy can mean many things to many people, buy, most people, not you
apparently, when they make an investment in NEW hardware, want it to run
reasonably fast, not a system that just marginally gets-by.

So, you can bitch/whine about my spec all you want, but it's not doing you
any good. The $5,100 was a laptop, and one that would run Photoshop quite
well. Yes, you can run Photoshop on a old P3 if you wanted, but who in
their left mind would try and buy a new P3 system.

Grow up, read the part about wanting to run PhotoShop, then learn what it
takes to happily run PhotoShop on a PC. Once you get enough information
you have two choices, shut-up or apologize for not knowing what you are
talking about.

Lol, you are funny. What's with all the sudden chest thumping? Hit a
nerve, have I? I would never try to teach you anything, you are so locked
to the apparent legitimacy of your thinking, it would be a waste of time.
Ever hear of the saying about trying to teach a pig to sing, you waste your
time and annoy the pig? Go have fun talking to yourself.

 

[Dave]

Lol, you are funny. What's with all the sudden chest thumping? Hit a
nerve, have I? I would never try to teach you anything, you are so locked
to the apparent legitimacy of your thinking, it would be a waste of time.
Ever hear of the saying about trying to teach a pig to sing, you waste
your time and annoy the pig? Go have fun talking to yourself.

Rock wants to run Vista (which one?), no problem. He does.

Leythos wants to run Vista (which one?) and Photoshop. He implies that
there's problem running the hardware that Rock used to attain that result.
Leythos says he needs a 5100 buckaroo laptop to do it.

I see 2 different things here. Neither identify which Vista. Rock doesn't
acknowledge Photoshop.

When ya'll decide to speak on the same terms and identify what those are,
please continue the "discussion"

 

[RedForeman]

If Vista is more or less stable, I'll probably go with that. Any info
will help a lot.

Thanks,
Paula

New is great, but only if it's not Microsoft...
If it's Microsoft, wait until service pack 1 comes out, or you'll be
sadly disappointed...
If it's VISTA, then maybe waiting until SP2 atleast... ;-)

Like alot will say, new hardware and VISTA "might" be ok... but still
no guarantee...

the only thing guaranteed is XP and Linux....

PCLinuxOS is a great OS, and Mepis, and heck, I've been using DSL
(damn small linux) now for over a year and it rocks!! and better yet,
they're all free....

RedForeman..

 

[Og]

Dear Rock and Leythos:
I have lurked around these newsgroups long enough to know that you are both
knowledgeable people and you both provide plenty of useful advice.
You have both, however, kidnapped this thread and turned it into a personal
Chat-room.
Both of you well know that a Newsgroup is "NOT" a Chat-room.
Please take your joint hissy-fit to a place dedicated to hissy-fits.
Thank you,
Steve

 

[Rock]

Dear Rock and Leythos:
I have lurked around these newsgroups long enough to know that you are
both knowledgeable people and you both provide plenty of useful advice.
You have both, however, kidnapped this thread and turned it into a
personal Chat-room.
Both of you well know that a Newsgroup is "NOT" a Chat-room.
Please take your joint hissy-fit to a place dedicated to hissy-fits.
Thank you,

Point well taken Steve, I had no intention of offending anyone or hijacking
this thread, although the discussion was _mostly_ on topic, till the end. I
initially replied to the OP with an opinion, Leythos decided to reply to me
and make this some sort of personal issue. In any event, except for my
other reply to Dave, I'm finished with it.

 

[Rock]

Rock wants to run Vista (which one?), no problem. He does.

Leythos wants to run Vista (which one?) and Photoshop. He implies that
there's problem running the hardware that Rock used to attain that result.
Leythos says he needs a 5100 buckaroo laptop to do it.

I see 2 different things here. Neither identify which Vista. Rock
doesn't acknowledge Photoshop.

When ya'll decide to speak on the same terms and identify what those are,
please continue the "discussion"

Dave, I prefer not to make specific recommendations, I've never done that in
here, one reason being one size doesn't fit all. In my original reply to
the OP, I I tried to be clear in my opinion, but it's just that, an opinion.

It doesn't take a monster machine to run Vista. I have been doing it on
older hardware quite successfully. Sure the more power you have the better,
but what one person might need isn't what everyone needs. That said, when
purchasing new hardware always plan for the future, buy the best you can
afford, both in quality and capability. And don't buy just based on what
you are going to need now. But I don't think it's wise to buy what's at the
very top of the performance edge, either, because you pay a significant
premium for that. The best bang for the buck, in my experience, is the
level just below the top. And the last point was that for a new system, get
Vista, unless you have legacy software or hardware that won't run on it,
that you absolutely must have. In that event look at dual booting or
running two computers, one with XP and the new one with Vista.

 

[Rock]

Point taken. But, (big but), if two people disagree; they should know
what the other is actually disagreeing about. Rather, I see 2 people
grasping at the fog. To date, I don't know what you 2 are in disagreement
about. Neither do you or Leythos.

I agree, I don't know understand why it got to where it did.

 

[Og]

Been there. Been told the same thing by a disinterested third-party.
) Steve

 

[Dave]

Dave, I prefer not to make specific recommendations, I've never done that
in here, one reason being one size doesn't fit all. In my original reply
to the OP, I I tried to be clear in my opinion, but it's just that, an
opinion.

It doesn't take a monster machine to run Vista. I have been doing it on
older hardware quite successfully. Sure the more power you have the
better, but what one person might need isn't what everyone needs. That
said, when purchasing new hardware always plan for the future, buy the
best you can afford, both in quality and capability. And don't buy just
based on what you are going to need now. But I don't think it's wise to
buy what's at the very top of the performance edge, either, because you
pay a significant premium for that. The best bang for the buck, in my
experience, is the level just below the top. And the last point was that
for a new system, get Vista, unless you have legacy software or hardware
that won't run on it, that you absolutely must have. In that event look
at dual booting or running two computers, one with XP and the new one with
Vista.

Point taken. But, (big but), if two people disagree; they should know what
the other is actually disagreeing about. Rather, I see 2 people grasping at
the fog. To date, I don't know what you 2 are in disagreement about.
Neither do you or Leythos.