Vista Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) Support and Capabilities

[NIV Consulting]

I have a dual-processor (2 CPU's) machine, in which I am seriously
considering upgrading from Windows XP Professional (what I am
currently using) to Vista. Does anyone know about Vista's Symmetric
Multiprocessing (SMP) support and capabilities (ability to support and
work on dual-processor machines)?. I am specifically asking about
this because I have read that only Windows XP Professional supports
SMP, while the other versions of XP (Home, Media Center, etc) do not
support SMP. In other words, which Vista version best supports SMP-
Basic, Home, Business, Enterprise, Ultimate? I need to make sure that
I use the correct version of Vista that supports SMP.

 

[babaloo]

All flavors of XP and Vista support multiprocessors.
Alas precious little software is multithreaded.
The sad truth is that there is no cogent reason to upgrade to Vista from XP
Pro.
There is no software than runs on Vista that does not run on XP and much
vital software, along with hardware drivers, that run on XP but not Vista.
Vista is for those stuck with it, because it came preinstalled on a new
computer, or for the adventurous/mascohistic.
It is insane to "upgrade" to Vista. If you must experiment then install
Vista as a dual boot option.

 

[Jimmy Brush]

I have a dual-processor (2 CPU's) machine, in which I am seriously
considering upgrading from Windows XP Professional (what I am
currently using) to Vista. Does anyone know about Vista's Symmetric
Multiprocessing (SMP) support and capabilities (ability to support and
work on dual-processor machines)?. I am specifically asking about
this because I have read that only Windows XP Professional supports
SMP, while the other versions of XP (Home, Media Center, etc) do not
support SMP. In other words, which Vista version best supports SMP-
Basic, Home, Business, Enterprise, Ultimate? I need to make sure that
I use the correct version of Vista that supports SMP.

Hello,

You'll need to get the business line in order to take advantage of both
CPU's (business, enterprise, or ultimate)

Note that the home versions will support multiple logical processors
(dual-core and hyperthreading).

 

[Robert Moir]

All flavors of XP and Vista support multiprocessors.

Total hogwash. Multiprocessor is not the same as multicore.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/choosing2.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/systemrequirements.mspx

Alas precious little software is multithreaded.

Used to be true. I'd say a fair amount is these days.

The sad truth is that there is no cogent reason to upgrade to Vista from
XP Pro.

There aren't many reasons, I agree there, but if you hit one of those
reasons then you do need to upgrade.

There is no software than runs on Vista that does not run on XP and much

Halo 2 doesn't exist on your planet?
Now it might be a pile of crud, I certainly wouldn't give it house room
myself, but it exists. So much for "no software". And again, you know the
number of things that require vista, whether for real reasons or whether for
artificial ones (like Halo2) is only ever going to increase, right?

I can't argue with your overall point of view about being cautious over
Vista, but you appear to have pulled most of the "facts" you use to support
your post out of your, uh, ear.

 

[XS11E]

There aren't many reasons, I agree there, but if you hit one of
those reasons then you do need to upgrade.

One reason that's seldom mentioned is that people need to realize that
Vista is going to be THE os and there's advantages to getting familiar
with it ASAP. I like the idea of dual booting between XP and Vista, it
makes the learning curve easier and you can take as long as you like to
learn Vista and become familiar with it.

I've been dual booting all during the beta and since Vista went RTM.
I'm still not ready to delete the XP partition and go Vista all the way
but that's a money issue for me, I don't want to spend the bucks for a
Vista compatible version of Nero. My Nero is the free version that
came with my DVD burner and Nero doesn't allow much discount to upgrade
that version. :-(