Just bought new comp, vista question

I just bought a new laptop, that comes with vista 64 business edition already installed.... I hear bad things about vista, have never used it though (had XP). Would i be wise to uninstall and put xp in once i get my computer?

One other thing is, i got 4GB of RAM... and i heard only 64 bit vista supports this? Not XP at all?

 

No, just use Vista and make sure you have SP1 on it. And it is correct that only 64 bit OSes can use the entire 4GB. You'd have to use XP 64 bit.

 

And you (not you personally) wonder why Microsoft is trying to get Windows 7 out ASAP.

I've never seen an OS get so much flak *even* after it has addressed many issues. It's unfortunate that Vista has gotten such a bad wrap; so much so it makes users believe they need to revert back to XP.

With that said, stick with Vista. It will make full use of your hardware. If after a few weeks you really don't like it (it's not THAT much different) than go back to XP.

And this response was not to bash you in any way, just more of a "wow, amazing what some bad press" will do to a product. It's hard to dig out of that.

 

haha yea thanks for the info. Yea i dont know, i have never tried vista.. so i will use it and see how it is. I have no idea what the complaints are on it either.

 

Be patient for the first couple of days until you learn what's different and it'll be fine. I use Vista Home Preemium (64-bit) and I reckon it a perfectly good O/S.

 

Yea , use it for some weeks before you decide to switch back to XP , in first few days it might look sluggish but its indexes and learns what apps u use most for SuperFetch

 

That's because people just think it is bad because someone said it was bad because someone else said it was bad. It's a vicious cycle which hurts a perfectly fine OS.

 

Just give it a try. I like Vista enough that I wouldn't want to have to use XP again. Other people don't like Vista. There have been thousands of threads here debating Vista already. Whatever... forget everything you heard, and try it out for a few weeks. If you don't like it, you can still downgrade for no more than it would've cost you to downgrade the day you got the system.

 

Use vista, it is a good OS, once you get use to it, hopefully you will never want to look back, there's no way i'd go back to vista now.

One thing I have noticed, regarding the XP Vs Vista war that goes on, a lot more people are coming around to Vista since SP1 has come out. Shows the OS has come a long long way since it's first launch.

 

I wouldn't downgrade if I were you. 6 years a long time and perhaps its really getting boring *Ui and everything..

Don't get me wrong, i love XP for those years, but its time *for me to move on.

 

Yes.

Not quite. It is more correct to say that only a 64-bit PC OS can reference the 4GB as one continuous address space. (Even this is not ENTIRELY true, but I don't want to start an arguement). Even in a 32-bit OS, that memory is available for Aps that know how to find it (like a RAM Drive).

Even running 64-bit, MS limits the maximum memory you can access based on which version of Vista you buy.

 

How is that not entirely true? If you have 4GB of RAM you won't be able to use all of it due to the system using the memory addressing space for other devices like video memory. And don't even start about using PAE because that does not apply here.

 

True but pretty much irrelevant. You can't make use of the full 4 gb with a 32-bit OS except with specially-written software, which is almost nonexistent.

Also true but irrelevant right now. Even Vista Home Basic 64-bit allows 8 gb of RAM. Few laptops have hardware that can take more than that right now.

 

With your spec, you will regret if you downgrade to XP.

 

I've been a die-hard Mac user for over 5 yrs. I'd be the first to try to convince people that Mac is the way to go. I just recently purchased an XPS M1530 running 32bit Vista Home Premier and I couldn't be happier. I fell into the same trap before making the XPS purchase; heard the rumors and started believing that I was destined to crash and burn with Vista. I say give it a chance and form your own opinion. I think you will be pleased.

 

I just submitted a reply saying how pleased I am with Vista and that you should give it a try before switching to xp, but the difference is that I'm using Home Premium on 32bit and you are using 64 Business edition.

You must have a good reason for deciding to go with the business edition; more concerned "running a business" than creating video, working with photos, multi-media, etc..

In your case, I think odds are good that you may become frustrated with Vista when you find that some of your peripherals such as your printer, fax, and some of your business software is not compatible with the 64bit system.

I think most of the Vista bashing came from a lack of information; the capabilities/compatibility of 32 vs 64; vista basic vs premium vs business

 

I'm running Vista Business 64-bit too, and it rocks. The vast majority of apps that are compatible with 32-bit Vista are compatible with 64-bit Vista too. Unless you have some ancient hardware around and you need compatibility with that, I'd recommend 64-bit.

And everything photo-related in Premium is also in Business, so don't worry about that. Yeah, Vista Business is missing some of the video creation and recording stuff, but... who cares? And if you're not creating or recording video, Business edition has some potentially useful stuff, like Previous Versions (automatic file versioning), Remote Desktop server, and Complete PC Backup. Not to mention the abiliity to log on to a windows domain, if you have a need for that.

 

Well, actually the only video editing related thing that I can really think of is High-Def support in Movie Maker, but come on, how often would you really need a HD home video done?

 

My bad. I didn't realize that "OS" meant Microsoft OSs only.

I would agree with other recommendations that you give Vista 64 a chance first. While I cannot speak to the stability of Vista on your specific model of laptop, I've been rather pleased with it on mine.

 

Don't worry about incompatibilities. If your peripherals are made by a reputable company, they should be x64 compatible.

Btw, what's so bad about using a 32-bit OS if you only have 4GB of RAM? Losing 1GB of RAM isn't that bad...

 

That's a waste of hardware my friend.

 

Windows Vista x64 is actually pretty stable for me. Windows XP x64 from what I heard is having problems with some drivers and stuff.