Vista, how much better then XP??

I have a chance to pick up Vista for a incredible low price(not illegaly if
that's what you think lol, never would do that with a OS) and I wondered how
much better then XP is it? I have a less then month old Dell E520 now and
the only component I upgraded so far was throwing in a evga Geforce 7600GT
card so I believe driver wise everything should be supported by Vista but I
guess my real question is what would I gain and what will I lose? Right now
this PC is running very smooth and fast so with Vista will my performance go
up or down? I have a stock Dell E520 Pentium 4 3.06GHz(not duo) with 1 gig
ram... I know you might say why fix something that's broke but I'm sure you
guys love new Operating Systems, mostly when they're a big improvement over
their predecessor's like when Win98 and XP rolled out..

On Wed, 28 Feb 2007 09:48:41 -0500, "PaulT"
wrote:

I have a chance to pick up Vista for a incredible low price(not illegaly if
that's what you think lol, never would do that with a OS) and I wondered how
much better then XP is it? I have a less then month old Dell E520 now and
the only component I upgraded so far was throwing in a evga Geforce 7600GT
card so I believe driver wise everything should be supported by Vista but I
guess my real question is what would I gain and what will I lose? Right now
this PC is running very smooth and fast so with Vista will my performance go
up or down? I have a stock Dell E520 Pentium 4 3.06GHz(not duo) with 1 gig
ram... I know you might say why fix something that's broke but I'm sure you
guys love new Operating Systems, mostly when they're a big improvement over
their predecessor's like when Win98 and XP rolled out..


I don't have any experience with Vista but what I have read here and
on some web sites, is that it is slightly slower in performance when
compared to XP and not the preferred OS of choice right now. I
however think in a year or so, the reasons will diminish and Vista
will be an even choice or preferred then.

mostly when they're a big improvement over their predecessor's like when
Win98 and XP rolled out..

you would have thought so wouldn't you

i'd say...
pro:
you get a new os, looks fancy, new features etc

con:
your machine runs like a dog
buggy (so i hear, service pack should sort a lot of it)


i'm a power user
i see microsoft history as follows

dos, they bought it off a student and licenced it to IBM to run, ibm makes
big boo boo by thinking poeple pay money for hardware, not software....

windows 3, rippoff of apple mac's gui OS, stuck on top of dos

windows 95, same as 3, but more polished
windows 98, same as 95, but extra crap added (it was best to use win 95 B at
the time)

windows 2000, OMFG OWNAGE, they put directx support, among other stuff onto
NT4 with great results
windows XP (windows 2000 second edition, OS polished, extra bloaty features)
windows vista (windows 2000 third edition, extra bloaty features)

On Wed, 28 Feb 2007 09:48:41 -0500, "PaulT"
wrote:

I have a chance to pick up Vista for a incredible low price(not illegaly if
that's what you think lol, never would do that with a OS) and I wondered how
much better then XP is it?

I have a XP Desktop (P4) and Vista laptop. I really like Vista. There
are a lot of little things, for example Windows Explorer indents less,
and has other features that make it good for a laptop. I may end up
using the flip screen mode after all, now that I found out that
Windows key + Tab goes through it.

Having said that, if you only have one computer and want it to be
compatible with programs and drivers, right now XP is the OS of
choice. Programs like Palm desktop install, and drivers for printers,
have problems.

I recently learned that if a program isn't compatible with Aero glass,
it can be set so that when running the program the glass features of
Vista are turned off automatically, and then back on after the program
is closed. Very good.

I can't comment on performance because I have high specs for my
laptop. Everything runs very fast -- the OS and applications.

Something I am disappointed in is that the sleep function on Vista is
about as slow as on XP. I really would like a laptop in which I could
close the lid, have the PC go into sleep mode instantly, and open the
lid and have it instantly available. My assumption is that I
shouldn't be walking with the laptop while the computer's hard drive
is moving -- anyone know if this is true?

PaulT wrote:
I have a chance to pick up Vista for a incredible low price(not illegaly if
that's what you think lol, never would do that with a OS) and I wondered how
much better then XP is it? I have a less then month old Dell E520 now and
the only component I upgraded so far was throwing in a evga Geforce 7600GT
card so I believe driver wise everything should be supported by Vista but I
guess my real question is what would I gain and what will I lose? Right now
this PC is running very smooth and fast so with Vista will my performance go
up or down? I have a stock Dell E520 Pentium 4 3.06GHz(not duo) with 1 gig
ram... I know you might say why fix something that's broke but I'm sure you
guys love new Operating Systems, mostly when they're a big improvement over
their predecessor's like when Win98 and XP rolled out..


I tried all the release candidates and liked the appearance of Vista,
but I found it slower than XP, required more memory, an upgraded video
card and there weren't and still aren't, drivers for all my hardware.
Printers and scanners seem to be the most problems. Software can also be
a problem. Download and run the Upgrade Advisor to find your potential
trouble spots. I'm sticking with XP at least until the first service pack.

save your money and buy yourself something that works or bank it and make
some interest until
a lot of other device manufactures catch up with drivers. If you really want
it, put in a separate drive
to test it. A clean install is the way to go.
"PaulT" wrote in message
...
I have a chance to pick up Vista for a incredible low price(not illegaly if
that's what you think lol, never would do that with a OS) and I wondered
how much better then XP is it? I have a less then month old Dell E520 now
and the only component I upgraded so far was throwing in a evga Geforce
7600GT card so I believe driver wise everything should be supported by
Vista but I guess my real question is what would I gain and what will I
lose? Right now this PC is running very smooth and fast so with Vista will
my performance go up or down? I have a stock Dell E520 Pentium 4
3.06GHz(not duo) with 1 gig ram... I know you might say why fix something
that's broke but I'm sure you guys love new Operating Systems, mostly when
they're a big improvement over their predecessor's like when Win98 and XP
rolled out..

Thanks guys, sounds like I', going to stay with XP Pro Media(sorry didn't
mention that's the OS I am running, which according to my system info is XP
Pro with Media Center) until at least the first Service Pack is release..

Journey, great point about tha palm, never thought about it but I do have my
wife's Dell Axim X5 running through this our main PC(Dell E520)...Glad I
asked you guys, your advise is always very sound!!

"BigJim" wrote in message
...
save your money and buy yourself something that works or bank it and make
some interest until
a lot of other device manufactures catch up with drivers. If you really
want it, put in a separate drive
to test it. A clean install is the way to go.
"PaulT" wrote in message
...
I have a chance to pick up Vista for a incredible low price(not illegaly
if that's what you think lol, never would do that with a OS) and I
wondered how much better then XP is it? I have a less then month old Dell
E520 now and the only component I upgraded so far was throwing in a evga
Geforce 7600GT card so I believe driver wise everything should be
supported by Vista but I guess my real question is what would I gain and
what will I lose? Right now this PC is running very smooth and fast so
with Vista will my performance go up or down? I have a stock Dell E520
Pentium 4 3.06GHz(not duo) with 1 gig ram... I know you might say why fix
something that's broke but I'm sure you guys love new Operating Systems,
mostly when they're a big improvement over their predecessor's like when
Win98 and XP rolled out..

On Wed, 28 Feb 2007 09:58:40 -0600, journey wrote:

My assumption is that I
shouldn't be walking with the laptop while the computer's hard drive
is moving -- anyone know if this is true?

By this I meant during the time that Windows is going to sleep mode
(10-15 seconds). I already know the answer -- no, to be safe I
shouldn't be walking around with it even during that short period of
time.

You stated that "I have a chance to pick up Vista for a incredible low
price" ... if that's true, and if the price is incredible enough, and if
the price will go away (and that might happen without your knowledge and
without warning), buy it without regard to whether or not you plan to
use it. For example, some people at some academic institutions may have
a chance to get some edition of Vista for $30 or $40. When deals like
that come along, you shouldn't ask to many questions. Something about
gift horses ......


PaulT wrote:
Thanks guys, sounds like I', going to stay with XP Pro Media(sorry didn't
mention that's the OS I am running, which according to my system info is XP
Pro with Media Center) until at least the first Service Pack is release..

Journey, great point about tha palm, never thought about it but I do have my
wife's Dell Axim X5 running through this our main PC(Dell E520)...Glad I
asked you guys, your advise is always very sound!!

"BigJim" wrote in message
...
save your money and buy yourself something that works or bank it and make
some interest until
a lot of other device manufactures catch up with drivers. If you really
want it, put in a separate drive
to test it. A clean install is the way to go.
"PaulT" wrote in message
...
I have a chance to pick up Vista for a incredible low price(not illegaly
if that's what you think lol, never would do that with a OS) and I
wondered how much better then XP is it? I have a less then month old Dell
E520 now and the only component I upgraded so far was throwing in a evga
Geforce 7600GT card so I believe driver wise everything should be
supported by Vista but I guess my real question is what would I gain and
what will I lose? Right now this PC is running very smooth and fast so
with Vista will my performance go up or down? I have a stock Dell E520
Pentium 4 3.06GHz(not duo) with 1 gig ram... I know you might say why fix
something that's broke but I'm sure you guys love new Operating Systems,
mostly when they're a big improvement over their predecessor's like when
Win98 and XP rolled out..

"Walking around" isn't a problem ... at any time. The drives are all
rated for 100G's or more these days.


journey wrote:
On Wed, 28 Feb 2007 09:58:40 -0600, journey wrote:

My assumption is that I
shouldn't be walking with the laptop while the computer's hard drive
is moving -- anyone know if this is true?

By this I meant during the time that Windows is going to sleep mode
(10-15 seconds). I already know the answer -- no, to be safe I
shouldn't be walking around with it even during that short period of
time.