Pro's and Con's of Windows XP vs Windows 98

[Guest]

What are the advantages and disadvantages if any of having Windows XP over
Windows 98 on a Laptop computer (Dell Inspiron 7500 computer).

 

[George]

What are the advantages and disadvantages if any of having Windows XP over
Windows 98 on a Laptop computer (Dell Inspiron 7500 computer).

I have recently converted from 98 to XP, there is absolutely no comparison.
If your system is capable of handling XP then do not even consider 98.

Main advantge is stability. If you mind the frequent crashes of 98 and
instability then go for xp every single time. It is like comparing tin with
gold.

 

[R. McCarty]

Support for 98 is discontinued - No more security patches, etc...
Windows NT 4.0 support just ended at the start of the new year.
Windows ME & 2000 are also on the discontinued list.

The newest Adobe Reader isn't available for any 9x product. This
is the just of first of many applications that will soon provide no
support for 9x/ME.

Upgrade only after running XP Advisor and verify with Dell that
your specific model will run XP. If your memory is less than 256
XP may not be advisable and you may be forced to stay with 9X.
That being said Notebook memory is not too expensive and a
upgrade may be worth the cost to extend your Notebooks life a
little longer.

 

[Guest]

My God. This question has been beatin to hell and back - thousands of times
since Windows XP was released. Just turn on a computer that has been
purchased in the last three years and find out for yourself.

Such ignorance.

 

[George]

My God. This question has been beatin to hell and back - thousands of
times
since Windows XP was released. Just turn on a computer that has been
purchased in the last three years and find out for yourself.

Such ignorance.

:

Then what would be the point of a newsgroup for new people who benefit from
the experience of others. The idea is to save her from having to do what you
have suggested.

 

[Guest]

Thank you George, for your knowledge and support concerning my question
because it really is the reason that we have these discussion groups. New and
current users should be free and feel free to ask what question about they
dont know or understand. It's the choice of the reader if he/she wants to
answer it. So I just want to say thanks to all those people that answer
other peoples questions in a helpful Not Rude Mannor.

 

[Sam]

Thank you George, for your knowledge and support concerning my question
because it really is the reason that we have these discussion groups. New
and
current users should be free and feel free to ask what question about they
dont know or understand. It's the choice of the reader if he/she wants to
answer it. So I just want to say thanks to all those people that answer
other peoples questions in a helpful Not Rude Mannor.

"George" wrote:

Indeed, no need to thank me, I am sure that 99% of the people who come here
and post here all know and realise that the entire purpose of a newsgroup is
to share knowledge and one of the main and most significant benefits is that
people can save time, and save others time, maybe next time you will post
something that can help others.

Best of luck with your decision and please dont' take any notice of rude
trouble makers.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

What are the advantages and disadvantages if any of having Windows XP over
Windows 98 on a Laptop computer (Dell Inspiron 7500 computer).

Would you rather drive a Lexus or a Yugo?

Compare Windows XP Professional to Prior Versions of Windows
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/evaluation/whyupgrade/default.mspx

However, on a machine that old, Win98 might well be the better choice,
if you can't get Win2K.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

 

[Al Smith]

What are the advantages and disadvantages if any of having Windows XP over

Windows 98 on a Laptop computer (Dell Inspiron 7500 computer).

They boil down to one thing -- Windows 98 is the operating system
of the past, and Windows XP is the operating system of the
present. With every day that goes by, W98 becomes more and more a
part of history. The question is not if to make the switch, it's when.

Other than that, Windows XP is more stable, and won't crash as
much. The NTFS file system has no file size limit (practically
speaking), which is nice. You can turn off most of the eye-candy
Fisher-Price crap that is on by default and make it into a serious
operating system, by reverting to "classic" look. In fact, when
you turn off about 80% of what runs in XP by default, you get a
passably usable OS.

The other side of the coin is that Windows XP is much more prone
to security problems and runs programs more slowly -- some stuff
that runs fine under Windows 98 will wallow like a beached whale
under Windows XP. For example, when I first made the switch on an
older machine, PC games that played fine under 98 were too slow to
play under XP, even though they did run; DVD movies that played
fine under 98 wouldn't play smoothly under XP, using the same
software and hardware.

It's your decision, but eventually it will be made for you. Tick,
tick, tick...

 

[Ron Martell]

What are the advantages and disadvantages if any of having Windows XP over
Windows 98 on a Laptop computer (Dell Inspiron 7500 computer).

With the Inspiron 7500 there would be mostly disadvantages. This is a
fairly old computer model.

The specs that I have found indicate that it has, at best, a 500 mhz
Pentium III CPU and that it could have as little as 64 mb of RAM.
The hard drive would likely be in the 15 to 20 gb range which could be
adequate, but that, and the 15 inch display, are about the only
components that would be adequate for Windows XP.

If the machine has the maximum 512 mb of RAM installed then it might
provide a reasonable level of performance with Windows XP but with
anything less than this it will be disappointing and you are better
off sticking with Windows 98.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

 

[Steve N.]

Support for 98 is discontinued - No more security patches, etc...

The normal support life page at MS is out of date. MS has extended
support for 98/ME until June 30, 2006:

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean1

Windows NT 4.0 support just ended at the start of the new year.
Windows ME & 2000 are also on the discontinued list.

I'd expect support for 2000 to be extended like 98/ME was due to the
large user base.

Steve

 

[R. McCarty]

Thanks, Wasn't aware that 98/ME got a reprieve until next year.
Always pays to double-check on things like that.