What windows OS to buy for boot camp?

Hey guys, Im a windows user who wants to switch to mac os x. Ill need windows for the major im doing in college, computer science. I plan on using parallels or boot camp to do all my programming and such, along with playing games that are PC exclusive. Should I invest 250 bucks or whatever for vista ultimate, or get vista home premium or even XP? Thanks

 

I'd say there is no need to get Vista Ultimate. Its expensive and the Ultimate Extras are mostly silly, unnecessary things. If you go Vista, just get Home Premium or Business.

I'd say its pretty safe to get Vista now. SP1 is around the corner and that'll fix some things up. Make sure you check that your software works in Vista though.

 

As Sam said, go with Home Premium.

 

I'm actually happy with Basic... but if you can, get Home Premium. Take a look at the back of the boxes, they have a chart that compares the differences in each version. Most of the features you get in Ultimate are useless, except the "advanced business backup features" whatever that means.

 

whatever you do, don't buy vista basic.

my vote is xp pro 100%

 

I would say either XP Pro or Vista Home Premium. Look at the compatibility of the programs you want to use, see if they run well in Vista. If they do, then you will probably want to go that route, although I think Vista may end up similar to ME. Still it will be the MS OS going forward for at least the next two years.

 

XP pro. Best OS out there if you ask me...none of that vista crap 'round 'ere!

 

I would go with Fedora Core 8

Very good OS

I have it in Dual Boot

Works perfectly.

A+

 

But its not Windows!

 

Yeah, if you don't need all the Aero stuff glowing in your face, get XP Pro. It's the best!

 

If you are only using it in a VM for programing, or in bootcamp for games.....go XP all the way.

Gaming from what I have read (I only game on the 360) has problems with Vista, slower performance compared to XP, DX10 is a joke so far, older games
sometimes have compatibility problems etc.

I run Vista because I have to. I am a small business consultant and most small companies go with MS solutions, mostly Small Business Server 2003 and XP. However more and more companies are forced into Vista with the purchase of new computers. However I have seen a serious OS X movement among small businesses....hence I moved my self so I could support both. I need to change my sig....I now live in OS X...and VM Vista and XP to support them

So in short if you are not going to be doing programing that is specific to Vista....dont go there. Its slower than XP in bootcamp and in a VM. It will use up more resources than XP as well in a VM.

I run a XP fusion VM most of the time for IE (to test OWA and Sharepoint stuff) and for Vision 2007 that use a lot and I cant find a OS X replacement.
My XP VM has a single core and a 512megs of ram. It runs great and with unity those two apps work great. My Vista VM is given 1gig to make it run as smooth as XP. I dont even run AV software since I only ever browse with IE to a customers OWA site, or Sharepoint site.