XP Pro or Vista Premium

  • Thread starter Thread starter rmo555
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rmo555

I want to purchase a new PC and realize that XP Pro is still rated far
better than Vista. However, I believe Vista will arguable someday be
the Windows OS of choice and would like some opinions on whether I
should get the new system with Vista or XP Pro. I have over 200 apps
and don't want to have to install them all twice (if I went with XP -
only then to switch to Vista).
 
There are many schools of thought on this.
My personal preference would be to get a machine with XP that has more than
enough enough horsepower to run Vista (I recommend at least double the
minimum stated hardware requirements).
Use XP until Vista is actually ready (personally I doubt it ever will be,
but I digress...) for daily use.
Then you can either dual boot or 'upgrade' to Vista.
 
Since there's a good possibility that 90% of your apps won't run under
Vista, I'd definitely recommend XP Pro.

Buddha
 
Stick with XP. Vista is not ready and has no significant advantages over XP,
and also has a huge number of disadvantages, particularly incompatibility
with lots of software and hardware, and problems with USB ports and drivers.
 
This approach only works if the app does not require access to a USB device.
But many of them do.

Wow, 200 Apps! And I thought I was a sofware nut case.

Since I got my first Vista from MSDN around Thanksgiving of 2006, I've done
five or six total rebuilds due to installing flaky apps. But I don't have
more than about 100 and I'm learning to live without some of them.

But the Virtual PC option is not all that satisfactory for other reasons. I
have a machine with two CPUs and 4 gig or RAM. Vista (32 bit) only
recognizes 2 Gig of RAM and I can't get my V PC to find more than 768 Meg
for a guest. That runs a little bit slow for my taste.

Vista 64 bit does recognize the whole 4 Gig of RAM but almost nothing else
will install correctly on that. So I have (on another duplicate machine)
Windows Server 2008 where I can run a couple of guests and get reasonable
performance. But that's Virtual Server not Virtual PC. (But without Hyper-V
because my machines are AMD.)
 
But, guys, Vista is FUN! And it has some really super features.

I take lots of digital photographs with an obscenely expensive camera AND I
have hundreds invested in advanced photo processing software. Even so,
"Windows Photo Gallery" that comes with Vista can often do a beter fixup on
one of my pictures than any of my vast collection of processing software
can.

It's quite amazing, really.

There are other 'neat' thinks about Vista so despite all the time I've
wasted on it, I'm keeping Vista. (I've also had to scrap some expensive
hardware becuase there will never be compatible drivers.)
 
I want to purchase a new PC and realize that XP Pro is still rated far
better than Vista.
Click to expand...


That depends entirely on who is doing the rating. Personally I
disagree with that viewpoint, and prefer Vista.

I think the answer to your question is clear cut. If you're buying a
new computer, get it with Vista. It works fine, and it's the platform
for future growth. It makes no sense to buy yesterday's operating
system.

On the other hand, if you were asking whether to upgrade an existing
XP computer to Vista, I would advise you to do so only if you needed
to.

If you do get Vista, be aware that it has much greater hardware
requirements than XP. If you get a machine with a minimal
configuration, you will undoubtedly be disappointed in its
performance. In particular, be sure to get at least 2GB of RAM.
 
Rich T said:
Stick with XP. Vista is not ready and has no significant advantages over
XP, and also has a huge number of disadvantages, particularly
incompatibility with lots of software and hardware, and problems with USB
ports and drivers.
Click to expand...
In my opinion, that is bad advice. Windows Vista on a new computer has few
problems with drivers. A year and a half after delivery of the product, the
drivers are available for most devices. There are several significant
advantages when installed on a new computer. Just be aware; it takes more
resources, it protects from unauthorized program installation; its ease of
access facility is superior, its instant search is a blessing; and further
it will be support long past XP.

Understanding that you are going to buy new, I suggest that you download the
Windows Upgrade Advisor and run it. It will be provide an easy-to-understand
report of all known system, device and program compatibility issues, and
recommend ways to resolve them.

You may find that your peripherals have no issues.
 
The latest issue of PC magazine has an interesting article on the subject.
Various test results are discussed.

-B
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
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