Windows XP Pro SP2 vs. Windows Vista Business

hello everyone,
so here's my situation: I just received my new laptop (M860TU), which I also ordered without an OS installed in order to save some money. Long story short, through various license agreements my university (Univ. of Waterloo) offers students various licences for many different programs, OS's, etc. etc. at no cost, and it's all 100% legit. The only problem with this is that it's pretty slim pickings when it comes down to the operating systems they offer. I'm faced with choosing between:

1) Windows XP Professional SP2 (32bit)
2) Windows Vista Business (32bit)

My system specs are:

M860TU
2.26Ghz P8400 FSB-1066
9800m GTS
2GB DDR3-1066
250Gb 7200rpm SATA-300

I will eventually be upgrading to 4Gb RAM. I would like to be able to take full advantage of my computers capabilities, and will be doing a fair amount of gaming on it.

My question to you (the pros) is: which one of those two operating systems should I choose in order to get the most out of my new laptop?

Thanks for your responses! Cheers!

 

vista runs amost as fast as XP, (very slim margin) and looks way better.

if you can get a 64bit lincense that would be a good idea.

 

Im still weary about Vista. Even though Vista SP1 has some of the bugs out of it, it still has a fair amount of bugs left that XP doesn't have. Go with XP 64-bit if you are going to upgrade the RAM to 4 GB. But be aware, having a Windows 64-bit OS, you are going to be hunting for drivers here and there.

 

They offer XP SP2 but not SP3? Lol.

 

I would recommend Vista Business.
(Also because I managed to mess up XP quite often and ended up reinstalling everything while that doesn't happend on Vista)

Overal Vista SP1 is a very good OS - yes it needs more resources than XP but your computer will manage that.

Then: XP support is going to be discontinued around next year I believe, Vista support will exist for longer so you can always bug Microsoft with a problem until they help.

PS: I have Vista SP1 on my laptop, hated Vista before I got my SZ, now I love it compared to XP.
You have to get used to it, but once you do you'll stay with it

 

Vista Biz.

But you won't be able to use a full 4 gb of RAM with either 32-bit OS. You'll end up with between 3 gb and 3.5 gb usable.

 

Another one for Vista Business, everytime I use either the family desktop, or my own old desktop back home, it just feels "dated."

Vista's also very smooth now, pretty reliable too.

 

One more vote for Vista because of stability and security. Up to date (from 2006) I am yet to experience a Vista Blue screen, but With XP Blue screens are inevitable . Some time back the general conception was : XP is faster than Vista for gaming, it may still be the case, but since I have not really looked in to it lately I don’t have a good idea about the current situation.

Finally I’d like to point out that finding XP drivers for all your components could be another challenge (main devices like gfx, network and sound will work, but things like FP scanner, web cam, card reader can have problems). If you are leaning towards XP then search and try to find all the drivers before you make your final decision.

 

I've had a ew bluescreens...

First - original Sony instal, Kaspersky 7 seemed to cause problems...

Then:
Windows Update messed up my camera drivers - so, switch on camera = bluescreen...

Since then I had some reinstals (recovery disk)
and I think I had 3 blue screens, randomly... and I don't know why but overal, it feels more stable than XP.

 

thank you all very much for your feedback! you have all been (as expected) very helpful. I have decided to go with Windows Vista Business, i'll let you all know how it goes.

Cheers!

 

Nice.

Good choice.

 

Vista looks better imo