Vista, is it worth it?

[Sugaree]

I've found a desktop that I am saving my money for. It has Vista and I want to know if Vista is REALLY worth it. I want professional opinions on this, none of the "OMGZ0RZ, Vista teh suckz0rz". I want good advice on this. Can anyone enlighten me on this, because I'm quite lost.

[Dagenadriel]

It all depends on the specs of the desktop and what you intend to do with it. If it has less than 3GB of RAM, Vista is probably going to experience more slowdowns than XP.

If you are looking to do word processing, DVD's etc. get Vista, if you are looking to game, try to find XP.

[lamboman43]

But, Vista supports DX 10 for gaming. And the DX 10 hacks for XP are as buggy as the Amazon Rainforest.

[Lady_Chaos]

It's well worth it. There are a few things I do not like about it, but overall its pretty awesome, customizing the colors around your screens and the start bar, little add-on's to put in the side bar, an awesome low-power mode, a search box in the start menu, loads of little goodies. I'd say go for it! (oh, and if you get vista ultimate, you can have movies as your desktop...)

[lamboman43]

Just dont get mad about all the "are you sure" pop ups and the bugs.

[pcd31]

Just dont get mad about all the "are you sure" pop ups and the bugs.

You can disable those pretty easily. It's in the user accounts applet in the control panel. I've been running Vista since it came out and I can honestly say that I love it. It's not slow for me at all and none of my programs ever crash.

[The Batman]

Just try it out and if you don't like it get XP

[Mzor203]

It really depends on what you want to do, and again how powerful the computer is. Now, the other part of this is, if you have a good computer, you can run Vista just fine, but running XP on it, which is a lot more lightweight than Vista, will be quite awesome. Really, with Vista the only good I have found is that it has a very cool look. If you really want that, you can do a few simple things to get a pretty good replica of what Vista looks like.

So, if you want the cool look without the hassle, get Vista. But, my comp with XP loads up much faster than the one we have with Vista, and the system specs are pretty close, so in the long run I would recommend XP, as there's really no reason why not to use it, and it runs better IMO.

[Dagenadriel]

But, Vista supports DX 10 for gaming. And the DX 10 hacks for XP are as buggy as the Amazon Rainforest.

Yes it can, but using XP for gaming is like suddenly having another GB of RAM, its a lot faster.

[Aηdy]

Vista is very good. I'd never run it without 4gb RAM though. I've upgraded my computer and laptop to 4gb RAM and they are both very much quicker.

[Cloud Spinner]

mines vista and its just very strict coz it'll always ask you if youre sure or what..and some other programs arnt running properly with vista.. just like with me..i have problem with my msn coz my vista wont accept it and i still have to download an .exe.. behind all those things vista is still good i think...and probably my pc crashes bcoz of virus

[Aηdy]

You can disable UAC, it's a stupid thing for people who have no clue on what they're doing tbh.

[Truth]

.......

[Aηdy]

What sort of restrictions?

[Antares]

Vista treats you like a 2 year old. It gets annoying sometimes, but I like Vista. I had XP since dec. and now I have vista and I dont have many complaints.
So i say get it

[Sugaree]

Thanks a lot guys :) The desktop I'm going to buy has a maximum 4GB of RAM, so I think I should be fine. Could I possibly upgrade it another gig if I wanted to?

[Mzor203]

No, is pretty much the answer. Upgrading RAM is complicated, and most likely your motherboard is only going to be able to support 4 GB of RAM. Plus, the process of upgrading would require work to make sure you don't waste you money for nothing.

Oh yeah, plus virus scans seem to run about 3,000 times slower on Vista. Plus Vista decides to crash and have to go through a whole system startup repair thing, as I have just discovered.

Not trying to change you mind (well maybe I am), but really, XP with 4GB of RAM and a decent processor is beyond excellent. Is it coincidence that all the problems we've ever had in this house are with Vista? I think not.

[Leprachaun]

i'm not the greatest with computers but i got a laptop for christmas with vista and i really like it. i find some things simpler and easier to use.

[Aηdy]

I did used to hate vista. But ever since SP1, and a decent computer I've never had a problem. It very rarely crashes.

[Lady_Chaos]

The other thing about Vista is that you really need the 64 bit in order to run iTunes. I had to install 4 different versions of windows recently. I had windows xp but I wanted to access all 4 gigs of my memory so I got windows xp 64 bit but then iTunes didn't work so then I got Vista but I still needed all of my memory and iTunes STILL didn't work so then I got Vista Ultimate and now everything runs smoothly... except for the occasional crash or two...

[Aηdy]

You dont need 64 bit to run iTunes..

Vista does eat RAM though. I currently only have Firefox, MSN, AIM and iTunes open and I am using 2.07GB RAM.

[triplethreat40]

my vista is lightning fast. the system is really bugged out, but for me the speed is by far worth it. it really depends what you will be using the computer for.

[Sugaree]

I'll mainly be using the computer for burning DVDs/CDs, MSN, Internet, and iTunes. Will this really eat up the RAM that much? If so then I'll probably make a switch back to XP if I need to.

[Dagenadriel]

I'll mainly be using the computer for burning DVDs/CDs, MSN, Internet, and iTunes. Will this really eat up the RAM that much? If so then I'll probably make a switch back to XP if I need to.
I'd say for that, Vista would be perfectly fine. If you really hate it for some reason, just downgrade.

[Sugaree]

Ok then. Thanks a lot for the help you guys have given. It's nice to be given professional opinions on this.

[The Batman]

If your going to be doing all that than I would definately get vista it's a lot faster when burning cd's and dvd's imo.

[Lady_Chaos]

You dont need 64 bit to run iTunes..


Well, my iTunes didn't work untill I got 64 bit. :/

[Talia]

I never understood why so many people don't like vista. My new computer came with vista and I've never really had a problem with it. I play a bunch of games on my computer with very little problems, but I just found out my computer has only a few MB shy of 1 GB of RAM. That seems absurdly low compared to what I've heard people say they have on their systems o.o It makes me wonder how my computer would be with more RAM.

[Bryan B]

Vista: Looks Better and ... ... but slower and not compatible with somethings and...
XP: Faster , great performance and is more compatible than Vista.

[Kiros]

Vista: Looks Better and ... ... but slower and not compatible with somethings and...
XP: Faster , great performance and is more compatible than Vista.

And but and and!

Hmm... My opinion on Vista is neutral. I haven't used it extensively. I know things are a bit different, but it's newer than XP. I don't think that Microsoft would have spent so much time, effort, and money on it if they didn't think they were making an improvement.

[Sugaree]

Ok then. I have two more questions. How does Vista, compared to with XP, work with programs like Bittorrent, and how would a downgrade to XP effect the computer at all?

[Commander Thor]

Ok then. I have two more questions. How does Vista, compared to with XP, work with programs like Bittorrent, and how would a downgrade to XP effect the computer at all?

P2P applications work about the same IMO. I havn't noticed a decrease in performance with Vista over XP, but then again, I havn't noticed an increase in performance either.

A downgrade to XP wouldn't affect the hardware at all, but since it's a newer system, you'll have to go through all the trouble of finding & downloading all of the drivers for your system.

[Mzor203]

A downgrade to XP wouldn't affect the hardware at all, but since it's a newer system, you'll have to go through all the trouble of finding & downloading all of the drivers for your system.

Depending on where you get it from, the drivers might be included though.

Are you going to build this yourself or order it all pre-made? Because if you order one with Vista already installed, downgrading to XP could be a bit of a hassle if you aren't tech-savvy, or don't have access to someone who is. When I built my system though, the drivers came with the motherboard, and installing XP or Vista was as easy as popping a few disks in. Though again, building one is a bit tricky. (Though you can get a much better system for a lot cheaper this way. Though if you don't have an OS install CD around that adds some cash onto the price.)

If you're going to buy a newer system, you're pretty much going to be stuck with Vista, so your only choice for XP is to downgrade. So, I guess I would just deal with Vista if you don't want a bunch of trouble. But, I warn you, today my mom's laptop pretty much completely died earlier today, to the point where we had to do a clean wipe and reinstall. We have seven computers in this house. The only two that have ever given us problems are those with Vista on them.

[Sugaree]

I'm getting it pre-made. I'm buying it from Dell.com. Is it possible that I could take it to a store like Best Buy or contact Dell if I want Vista to be downgraded to XP?

[Commander Thor]

I'm getting it pre-made. I'm buying it from Dell.com. Is it possible that I could take it to a store like Best Buy or contact Dell if I want Vista to be downgraded to XP?

Dell will preinstall XP Pro on your system if you get the Vista BONUS package on your desktop (If available). http://www.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/winxp_inspndt?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=anavml

And I know from a friend that Best Buy/Geek Squad does not have any more copies of XP to install on systems.

[Sugaree]

Unfortunately I don't have that bonus available on the comp I'm saving for. I know that we still have a few copies of XP Home in my house. My dad insists on keeping them because of Vista. He's taken Vista off of his new laptop and got XP on it.


Ok, I think that answers all of my questions. Thanks a lot for your help.