So, Vista or XP. Which do you prefer?

I have to say Vista myself. I got to try it out in PC World recently, and came away very impressed. Graphically, it looks amazing, and the new features, while seemingly incremental, are nice to have. In particular, I fell in love with the Windows Search function. I guess the only thing to consider is that Vista Mk I may not yet be at the same level of performance that XP has reached since SP2, but that aside, I intend to post away for my Vista Home Premium upgrade next week, although I might keep an eye on the forum and guage when the best time to ditch XP is (ie. when experience-ruining bus are ironed out).

 

I'd get Vista, too bad aero doesn't run on my notebook.

There are a lot of advantages in comparison to XP (security, features, looks) whereas in my opinion the only disadvantage is that it takes a lot of resources which doesn't matter if you have a semi-powerful computer

 

My laptop will be 2Ghz Core 2 Duo, 2GB DDR2 RAM, 256MB ATI X1400 GPU, 160GB HD... No such power worries for me! Vista all the way most likely!

 

I'm surprised to say it, but I really like Vista. I was expecting a painful transition, but have enjoyed the move so far (except for the UAC, which I'll need to tweak).

 

I really like Vista also. I was able to do a clean install on Vista Upgrade on the first install instead of the two install to get a clean install from an upgrade DVD.

I'm reallying enjoying my experience so far and starting to get the hang of things but for the life of me, I can't figure out how to get Vista to turn off managing my wireless card like in XP. I hated how XP handled connecting to wireless connections and prefered to use 3rd party software.

if anyone figures out how to turn off Vista handling of Wireless connections and let you use your manufacturer utility then please let me know.

and lastly, let me say i was able to install Vista in 20 mins. that was my biggest surprised.

 

I'm a gamer. And I'm willing to take the performance hit for a month or two.

Vista is really too great to pass up. I'm installing Vista enterprise right now and i can't wait!

 

Vista for me. The OS just looks and feels more 2007 compared to the 2001 feel of XP, and that is important to me.

 

Would you say that because of that Aero feature, graphics cards need to do a lot more work to display all that eye candy for you, thus only making the already existing heat problem with graphics cards worse?

The reason i'm asking this is that currently my Nvidia Geforce Go 6150 temperature is between 68-72 C, when idle. Would updating to Vista and turning on that Aero feature increase the temperature of my graphics?

 

Im using XP64 with IE7 x64, WM 11 x64 and updated drivers on my Acer 5102. And everything seems to be running smoothly so i doubt i will upgrade to Vista anytime soon. X64 works perfectly fine if you can find the right drivers. It takes some trial and error. The only thing X64 will never have is DX10.

 

I went to Best Buy today and saw some computers with Vista, I tried it out quickly and found it to be very nice and responsive, too bad its too expensive.

 

I was super impressed with Vista when I tried it recently. On the surface, it may not appear much different to XP - and in many ways, it really isn't - but at the end of the day, the user experience is more intuitive, and that's really all there is too it, in my opinion. Of course, my particular mindset is governed by the fact that I'll only have to pay E30 or whatever it is for shipping in order to avail of an express upgrade. If I had to pay E250 at retail, maybe I wouldn't be quite as ready to give XP the boot.....

 

I will use Vista, but only because it has a better video renderer and I can use the full range of sampling rates with my Realtek HD audio in it. Otherwise, there are very few manifest advantages over XP.

 

Not at all.

I have been running vista for a week now, and havent seen any temperature change from my previous readings with my 7800GTX, I dought it would effect your 6150's tempurature that much.

 

Vista for me as well.

I have Ultimate (OEM) running on my Dell 6400 and I'm really enjoying it.

I had the chance to give the RTM a shot on a dual boot on this system and it just felt right. So, I ordered the OEM version after my trial period and had no problems kicking XP off the drive.

I usually don't adopt a new Windows so quickly, but I think Microsoft has done a great job with Vista. I'm actually pretty impressed....

 

How will a:
P4 2.3GHz
1GB Ram
Dell

run vista?

 

it would run vista decent

 

Agreed.

 

I like all the aforementioned features of Vista. It's far more responsive than critics say, provided you have a newer dual core system. Everything looks better, and after a couple of days of use it feels better too.

Couple of gripes:

1) I think MS overdid it with the whole permissions system. I'm the system administrator and primary user, yet when I try to run some javascripts that I wrote in Vista I still get permission denied errors. Turned off UAC but no luck, seems there's a second layer beneath the UAC that controls this. There is such a thing as too much security for an OS.

2) IE7. Not a big fan of IE, but it seems that MS has tied IE into Vista more tightly than ever. Very clever and wise of them. A lot of the internet-bound apps you'll be seeing actually make IE function calls. I've not tried uninstalling IE, perhaps a brave soul would like to experiment with that.

 

I think XP is better for the here and now, once vista is better supported and patched with a service pack, u can change my vote to vista, no os is great at first it takes time.

 

Yes, for some purposes such as gaming you're better off with XP until Vista catches up. For general purpose usage, I'd recommend Vista just because...well...it looks and feels so darned good

 

i like Vista. but i got some issues with it with my dv2000t. theres a lag after the welcome screen like 20 sec. i can run aero just fine but i love the classic style. the aero style hurts my eyes so i use classic theme. i like it.
the best thing in VISTA is HoldEM. best game ever that came with OS.hahaha. Mediacenter is a MEMORY HOG

 

For the time being xp will work just fine for me as an OS, especially since its been proven that performance decreases unless upgrading to the 64 bit version, which is will inevitably do when the driver/program support becomes more stable.

 

I'll go to Vista when I get my Express Upgrade DVD from Dell sometime in 2010

 

I was in the Vista beta, and haven't used XP regularly on my home systems for quite awhile now. Using XP at work drives me nuts -- same with my one home system I have dual-booting for a few applications. Much of the Vista-bashing is from those who've never given Vista a chance. They read reviews that measure memory usage and game framerates, and decide they can't live with 3 less fps in some game. After giving it a shot, I've not met anyone who "prefers" XP on a system with good specs. I'm sure they exist, but there don't seem to be many.

As an aside, it's been interesting having Vista on my notebook since I got it in August. Using it at school, I always get questions about it, and a lot of people who just want to look at the interface. Now that Vista is out, though, EVERYONE wants to play with my notebook to see what its like. Then they all want to know if it will run on their machine.

The ONLY thing I can think of that I dislike about Vista is UAC. It is such a good idea, and the final version is actually considerably better than the early betas, but it's still too annoying to turn on. So I have it disabled until they do an update that makes it less intrusive. (Don't ask me if I really want to do something, then I ask me if I give Vista permission to accept my response to the previous guestion.) Other than that, everything about Vista is awesome.

 

If it wasn't for the fact i want to learn this new OS and have the latest and "greatest", i would probably still be using XP. It's the inner geek in me that led me to upgrade

I like the UI, but that will wear off after time the same way XP did. It feels snappy, but "feel" is subjective. No driver problems and all the programs i use on this machine are compatible, so that's a good thing. UAC is annoying, but for someone like my mother who just checks email and websites, it's a nice feature to have.

I'm pretty let down by the lack of features promised by Microsoft back when they first started talking about "Longhorn". I have to agree with many reviewers in the fact there is probably no real compelling reason to upgrade right now.

No this is not the "next ME". This OS has a completely new kernel which can be built on. Like it or not, this is going to take over as the next OS.

I don't see anything wrong with XP right now. Until a few really good dx10 titles are released, there is no reason to upgrade my desktop. I have found a happy medium between XP on my desktop, and Vista on my laptop to play around with and learn.

 

I have to say Vista all the way.

The UAC (contrary to some opinions here) was a much needed revision of the security model, and in all honesty if software is triggering it then that software, not Vista, is the problem. Let's be honest, why does any program that is casually used on a PC EVER need Admin rights? They don't. It's just poor coding.

Going on, the new UI is very nice indeed. The file search works very well, and everything comes across more logically organized. It's also nice to have a built in Calendar application. Performance wise my RTM Vista sings like a superstar speed wise on its machine (Core2Duo 2.16Ghz with 2GB RAM and 160GB HDD). I think what we are seeing performance wise is that Vista is faster than XP if there is more than one core but slower in single core scenarios (which is logical as Vista is code optimized for parallel processing).

 

I will take receipt of my new Vista Home Premium Core 2 Duo Inspiron 6400 with 2GB DDR2 RAM today or tomorrow (hopefully today!!!) and the first thing I intend on doing (as soon as it's possible!) is to establish superiority over those ****ed UAC's everybody is complaining about. I use Firefox, not IE, so I'm not worried about security much, and besides, that's what I have NIS2007 for. I do hear though that IE is more tightly integrated into the OS this time round, for example when apps make internet calls and suchlike, meaning IE will be a conduit into my system whether I like it or not. Any truth in this?

 

UAC reminds me how OSX is when you are installing new software. always asking for the admin password. that was the only annoying thing to OSX for me.

to answer your quesiton, i prefer Vista over XP even though i have driver issues with Vista, but I'm slowly working them out.

 

For Now Im with xp untill there are some new video card drivers and sp iuno and also i have 1gb atm will 1.5gbs in vista make quite a bit more dif compared to 1gb?
also i think ill get vista in a couple of months

 

I must be one of the few who don't mind UAC at all.

For the first time in Windows, it is possible to run a standard account at all times. I have my admin account and my standard account...I only use my Standard. I haven't had to go into the admin account for a couple of weeks now. Granted, i am pretty well finished installing software (inital system setup with UAC is a pain for sure).

With normal day-to-day maintence, Typing in my admin password to execute something it really nothing major to me.

 

definately Vista for me. the graphics are better and more fun. love it

 

i love vista
its great

 

I used vista for a few days, i've a powerfull machine to run it, but i went back to XP, don't care much about aero. Probably in a few months i'll change, not now.

 

I got vista business for free, but I went back to XP because vista's drivers and incompatibility simply aren't up to my standards yet, runs fine on my new laptop though

 

Same as johnwc723

Anyway, found this an interesting read: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,129126-page,1-c,vistalonghorn/article.html

 

I'm on the "I'll switch to Vista when SP1 or SP2 is released" boat.

I think Vista is great in every way save driver incompatability and some poor resource management. I'm tempted to dual boot, but just like my clothes, I'll end up just using one of them and never boot into the other; and at this stage, XP is my best fitting pair of jeans.

 

I would like to switch to Vista, and I think my HP dv2000t will run fine (I bought it in the summer of '06), and according to the Windows website it will run okay. But, it also said that my notebook was most compatable with the basic version and I would probably rather just go ahead and get the home premium. Have any other hp dv2000t's converted to vista and had any problems?

 

I started using vista because it was forces upon me but i've liked it ever since. I like the GUI the most but besides that, since my computer can run it fine, i love it.

 

If XP is working fine for you, I wouldn't spend money to switch to, or even dual boot, Vista. Software incompatibilities and poor drivers are still rampant with Vista, even with SP1 beta. Among the largest software compatibility issues I had was with Halo 1 PC, a 2003 game from Microsoft. It's running fine with XP now. I can see if they're a bit lax with other companies' games, but if they don't even have their own games running fine...

In terms of whether to get Home Premium if you do get Vista, the most important question is which video card do you have? An nVIDIA GeForce 6100, 6150, or 7150 will struggle with Aero and make Home Premium not worth it. An Intel GMA 950 or X3100 should be fine, as should an ATI card, even integrated, except possibly the 1100 series (not sure on it but 1200 works). Lower Intel ones I'm not sure of, GMA 900 I'd probably go with Basic. Any dedicated card will be fine.

Also make sure you have at least 1 GB of RAM, preferably 1.5 GB. Vista really does use a lot more RAM than XP.

On the original topic, though, I much prefer XP. Vista had problems throughout the whole five months I ran it, both with compatibility and stability, and XP never had those problems. I switched back to XP two days ago and it's running like a dream. It's like getting a whole new laptop the performance increase is so great. Everything runs first try (and subsequent ones!), no crashes, no more CPU whine...it just works!

 

don't actually have vista, but have used it numerous times, and i really don't understand why people hate it so lol. it is very usable, even on my friend's acer w/ a celeron-M 1.6ghz and intel gma950. battery life is...decent. not better than xp though, but that's all that xp really has going for it

 

I have Vista 64 on my laptop and I love it. No issues at all. Just be sure to have at least 1 GB of RAM and you'll be fine.

 

Well I have total virtual memory of 2.00 GB and 1.00 GB of RAM (T2500 @ 2.00 GHz) on my computer with a NVIDIA GeForce Go 7200. It looks like, from what you said Apollo13, that my hp dv200t is fine for Vista except for the NVIDIA graphics card. Hmm...I guess I could upgrade (?) if I do switch to Vista within the next couple of months because I think that it makes more sense to get home premium than basic if you do make the switch to Vista (given that home basic doesn't have Aero and whatever else that you think of when you think of Vista). What do you think?

Oh, and I think I'll wait a little while before upgrading because (as someone said) some of my programs and free applications (IrfanView, etc.) may or may not be compatible with Vista yet.

 

i couldnt stand Vista at 32 bit, sigh there were so many registry problems running applications. I had to remove the registry files, delete the file themselfs, and then redownload them and re-add them to the registry. It got to the point that i couldnt run my applications anymore. So i went back to XP SP3 it seems alot more stable and dosnt eat my resources which i like. I do have vista recovery partion saved so if when vista becomes "better" i will go back to business

 

I'm just not sure about my NVIDIA graphics card...

 

Recently I bought a Wacom Tablet and It activated a number of amazing things in Vista to control the laptop. It activated the tablet PC features and I am very impressed. I can copy, paste, go up and down and write directly on screen, all withot using the keyboard. I felt in love with Vista for a second time....

 

Vista 32-bit.

 

I'm an XP guy. Been using it for years. Nothing wrong with Windows Vista, just more use to XP.

 

I think ill stick to xp, vista came pre-installed but i dont need any fancy functions like enhanced encyption or bit locker. Its true i dont like how XP looks but i already changed my design and I find it run smoother. And if i watned a vista experence i can just apply a vista theme with glass.

@ Ceenote the X1400 can run aero glass my X1450 can