Vista or XP?

[james1411]

Hello all,

 

I have just been down to my local pc retailer and purchased a new pc. When i asked which operating system i could have, they told me to stay with Windows xp because a lot of their customers were unhappy with Windows vista. I have never used Vista before so i am not sure which one to choose:confused: Can anyone give me some advice on which operating system to have installed?

[Guest Wolfeymole]

A very good sly move on the part of the store rep.

 

One day, and that day won't be far off, MS will pull all support for XP and then you'll have to go to Vista.

 

I just hope it wasn't PC World you visited as in my opinion I wouldn't allow them to advise me on a mouse mat.

 

Get Vista James, ok it has it's foibles like all operating systems but it's still a good OS.

[Tootech]

Hi James,

 

You'll open a can of worms asking this question :D

 

Here goes with my opinion.............

 

Depends what you want to use it for.Vista has far superior multimedia ability - Media Centre works well, plays DVD's etc much better than XP.

 

Vista is also more secure - there are issues with both, but it seems moreso with XP.

 

The Vista interface and eye candy are perhaps more pleasing than the dated XP interface.

 

Downsides - Vista does need a much more powerful PC to run well - perhaps not so much of an issue now as it was a year ago.

 

Network data transfer rates are way down in Vista - not so good if you move big files over a network, otherwise no big deal.

 

Vista reputedly is soon to be replaced also - rumour has it that at the end of this year Windows 7 will be around - If Microsoft want rid of it so soon there must be good reason.

 

XP will be supported until 2014, way past the sell by date of any PC you buy now, so support is not an issue.

 

Personally I still prefer XP due to its speed, lack of nag screens, and ease of repair.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Well I'm not convinced that Vista will be replaced for quite a while yet for the simple reason that big industries are still on XP and systems administrators won't adopt a new system that is over and above a system that they are not already running, ie Vista.

[Jelly Bean]

Just to input a little.

 

I do miss XP to a point.

 

But I run Vista Ultimate 64 bit and have not had any issues with it.

 

Granted Vista does take a little more getting used to than XP and needs that extra setup proccess.

 

I find my machine runs great

 

Granted I do keep my computer updated and clean so maybe that could be part of the running smooth continualy.

 

I would rather Vista now than XP.

 

However I do not think I will be moving to Windows 7 any time soon.

[malcomhfc]

If i were you i wouldn't of got a pc just now. Wait for windows 7 :D

 

But id choose windows xp. Most of the pc's im my house run vista excluding my parents mac. Mines runs xp. 1 of the laptop has had more problems in a year than this pc has had in its 5 years life time :)

[Cobra]

I'm an XP holdout since I'm unwilling to add another category of O/S SNAFU's to my problems. I'll wait for that task until Windows 7 arrives. In the mean time XP Pro continues to do everything I ask.

[shrimply]

Speaking purely as home user I have to say that I find Vista a lot better to use. I have it on my laptop and initially I did have some problems but after upgrading to 2GB and SP1 was installed its really smooth. I haven't had any great problems in comparison.

 

Going back to XP now I find it a lot less easy to navigate, and it just generally feels a lot clumsier in my opinion.

 

I'm one of the outnumbered Vista fans, but I'd never choose a computer with XP on it now. Everything can be done a lot quicker in vista once you've found your way around and as a plus it looks and feels a whole lot better quality.

[Jelly Bean]

I bought a new Samsung NC10 netbook running XP.Within a few days I installed Vista Ultimate 32 bit and upgraded the RAM to 2 gigg DDR2.

 

Running great.I am sticking with Vista.

[Sir Trews]

Hey there james!

 

Long time XP user and would still recommend it.

 

In getting my new laptop, I wasn't sure which way I wanted to go, but took the Vista Home Premium 32bit and it's really been on the mark. Other than it not 'seeing' the 4g OCZ RAM upgrade I put in it, it's been great.

I wouldn't touch Win7 with a dead dell :p

Be well!

Oh, hey. don't I know a bunch of you guyz? :rolleyes:

[Plastic Nev]

Still running XP here for now and will be as far into the future to the point when Windows 7 is fully de bugged, by that time this old clunker from 2004 will probably be worn out and ready for retirement, and something to supersede windows 7 will be in beta no doubt. However I intend leaping over Vista and not bothering with it unless 7 proves to be more of a turkey than millennium did.

[KenB]

Hi,

 

Just to add my twopenny worth

 

I have both XP and Vista ( I also have 98 on a dual boot but that is another issue :) )

When I moved from XP to Vista I did find it a little awkward to find my way around.

This would be expected with a new OS.

I don't have any issues with either OS.

 

Just one thing to think about:

If you are being offered a choice of XP or Vista take a look at the installed RAM.

XP runs well with 1GB however Vista would require 3GB to perform as well.

[Jelly Bean]

I run Vista Ultimate 32 bit on a single core Intel 2.8 GHZ with one gig RAM and it runs smooth.

 

Although I am running Vista Ultimate 64 bit with a dual 3.0 GHZ with 4 gig DDR2.

 

My netbook is Intel 1.6 GHZ with hyper threading and 2 gig DDR2 and again runs great.

 

I agree any new OS takes a little time to get used to.

[KenB]

I agree - Vista will run on 1Gb RAM but I would suggest that this is a bare minimum and you would not consider running it on anything less.

Similarly you would not consider running XP on anything less than 512MB.

 

I suggested that XP runs well on 1GB and to achieve a similar performance with Vista you would not expect to achieve that with 1GB RAM but would need to have 3GB.

If you have 1GB RAM with Vista the equivalent for XP would be 512MB.

 

Just my thoughts - I don't expect everybody to agree :)

[Bugsy]

Hi James.

 

Well, you asked the question - and got the answers!

 

Reading between the lines of the posts above, I get the feeling that if you consider getting the max performance out of your machine is the major issue, and possibly the ability to 'tweak' your system to your heart's content, then XP is for you.

 

However, since you asked the question in the first place, I suspect you are actually pretty much like me - you want a machine that'll do all the 'usual' everyday stuff (ripping, burning, photo editing, DTP, t'net, etc etc) with ease and with the nicest possible interface. In which case, I think you'll prefer Vista by a large margin - taking into account the provisos above of min RAM, etc.

 

I've recently bought a new computer and, after 5 years with XP, I was a bit apprehensive about the new system's Vista; comments like those above made me nervous. However, I find - with 'only' 2 Gb RAM - it fires up and runs very briskly indeed, and it's soooo much 'nicer' to use.

 

Vista's Parental Controls are a boon with me having a 6 and 7 year old child. I discovered that Media Centre operates, directly, the tiny Pinnacle USB DVB tuner I plugged in and with some style (I got rid of the original manufacturer's software...), and it's all just so much more stylish!

 

DVD burning software built in (I had to use 3rd party stuff on my old machine) and lots of neat little features I keep coming across.

 

As long as your system is powerful enough - and it's pretty much bound to be - then I'm sure you'll much prefer Vista.

 

Perhaps state your new system's spec on here for the pros to confirm?

 

(Take any 'advice' from PC World with a cynical pinch of salt.)