I know this has been discussed several times, but it appears the threads have been purged.

I am in the market for a new computer. My current Sony Vaio desktop is getting old and slowing down a lot. I am in the market for a laptop and want to know the pros/cons of Vista vs. XP. For those who have Vista, do you like it? If so, why? If not, why?

No offense to the MAC owners, but I am not interested...I would like to know if Vista is worthwhile (don't even know if I can still get a new XP based 'puter anymore...).

As for brands, I'm pretty much stuck on HP. My dad works for them and I will have neverending support (along with the employee discount!).

What do ya'll have for laptops??

I can give one peice of advice regarding Vista, get a laptop with at least 2 GB of RAM. To run Vista reguires a minimum of 1 GB of RAM however running other applications with it will slow it down considerably.

Not a problem there if I got one...regardless of Vista or not, I would want a minimum of 2GB.

Anything else?

Pros?

Cons?

I have been running Vista with 2.5 GB RAM for over a year (CG Image 6.0 beta), and I would recommend maxing out your RAM, especially if you add MS Office 2007 which can take up some resources. I have no problem with Vista, I like it, but then I also like XP. To be safe, keep your copy of XP (hopefully you have the full install disc) just in case you don't like Vista.

Office 2007 is quite a bit different than 2003. Big learning curve on this. Vista, no so much.

Vista is a resource hog if you want all the cool looking features, but realize that some of your former programs won't work correctly with Vista. Until today, iTunes was one of those programs.

Some computer makers are still offering XP due to the fact that Microsoft isn't pulling the plug on support yet.

Of course now that Mac's are using Intel processors, you can buy a iBook and load XP onto it. Just don't look at Control Panel>Devices when you do.

The biggest issue I have with Vista is working with TMT/AOPS on a workstation. TMT/AOPS does not like Vista for some reason. Even ESD cant figure out why it does not work right.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ_Wehr:
I can give one piece of advice regarding Vista, get a laptop with at least 2 GB of RAM. To run Vista requires a minimum of 1 GB of RAM however running other applications with it will slow it down considerably.

I second that. Ask if the ram in the laptop is all in one buss or if you want to boost the ram, you have to chuck one or both simms to boost the mem up higher. Shared video ram also will pull more resources from your unit so if it has it's own video card, that's much better. My girls HP has one 2gb simm so I can boost hers up 2 more without having to toss a good simm, or both. Has built in video so it uses 256mb of mem. There are lots of ways to boost Vista's speed so once you get it.. google "making vista faster" or something like that. I have a desktop with 4gb ram running vista and one laptop. My other 2 desktops and laptop are on XP. I can't go to XP on my desktop because it's got the AMD live 64x2 5000+ chip in it and it was made for vista, along with the MB. I'm not about to spend a month trying to get it compatible. Besides.. just got a 512mb video card I'm putting in this week to use that extra 384mb my onboard video is using. It, to me, really drags down the machine.

quote:

Originally posted by CoccoC:
The biggest issue I have with Vista is working with TMT/AOPS on a workstation. TMT/AOPS does not like Vista for some reason. Even ESD cant figure out why it does not work right.

One word.. SECURITY. I've had more problems getting apps to work with vista and had to go in and turn off protected mode, changed program permissions. Not knowing what those programs do, I can speak about them, but I've had a hell of a time getting my old apps to work. Even "install as administrator" doesn't always fix it.

quote:

Originally posted by tc1uscg:

quote:

Originally posted by CoccoC:
The biggest issue I have with Vista is working with TMT/AOPS on a workstation. TMT/AOPS does not like Vista for some reason. Even ESD cant figure out why it does not work right.

One word.. SECURITY. I've had more problems getting apps to work with vista and had to go in and turn off protected mode, changed program permissions. Not knowing what those programs do, I can speak about them, but I've had a hell of a time getting my old apps to work. Even "install as administrator" doesn't always fix it.

Many in the office had ESD take Vista off the desktop for that reason. Nothing is worse then not meeting CDR's deadline, especially for and ENS!

Yep.. i hear that. Even if it's a legit excuse.. it doesn't always fly.