Having an XP desktop and Vista notebook. Any problems?

My Inspiron E1505 with Windows XP Media Center 2005 is on its last legs. I've been planning on getting a desktop for the past 6-7 months, and because I had heard nothing but terrible things about upgrading to Vista, I've been planning on building an XP based desktop. However, mobility comes first, and I'm probably going to be getting something like a Dell M1530 from the Dell Outlet before I get that desktop. Since it's a Dell, it'll have to come with Vista. A few months down the road thereafter, I plan on getting a desktop, too. I'm just wondering:

1.) It's been many months since I made the decision to build an XP desktop. However, judging by the Seinfeld commercials, Microsoft seems to be pushing Vista pretty hard now. So I'm wondering if Vista has finally emerged as the best Windows OS.

2.) If it's still a smart decision to choose XP over Vista, am I going to be facing compatibility issues when switching files between computers? I'm going to be doing video editing, quick photo touch ups, and excel spreadsheets.

 

1) IMO .Vista is still not the best OS.

2) You shouldn't run into any serious issues; at least any that cannot be resolved simply. If you plan on transferring files over the network then you'll just need to download and install this on the XP machine so the .Vista machine can see it.

 

1. With the release of SP1 and hardware vendors finally learning how to write proper Vista drivers, its ready for primetime. People don't seem to remember when XP was first released, there were driver and compatibility issues, which were eventually fixed.

 

Indeed. When XP first came out you had to run "compatibility mode" on all your old favorite programs and the system was always pretty unstable, also with it's new "hip" default theme, pretty slow on average systems back then.

Everyone needs to give Vista a chance, this is just how it goes. I've worked with every windows OS extensively back to 3.1 and just be thank full Vista isn't like Windows ME.