Vista, or not to Vista
 

A bit off-topic from GasSaving...

My wife's laptop finally bit the dust... so we ordered a new one that comes with XP Media Center Edition '05 and a free Upgrade to Vista (the laptop should arrive today, as does Vista becoming available).

What's the scoop on it? I like the stability of XP and we don't need a fancy interface. If that's all it does and uses up resources, then forget it. If it's a more stable OS, then it comes down to how much operating resource it takes up. I'd hate for a new system to feel fast on XP, then "upgrade" to Vista to have it bog down for no good reason.

Specific Specs: Dell Inspiron E1505, Intel Dual Core T7200: 4MB/2.00GHz/667MHz (L2-cache/processor/FS-bus), 1GB DDR2/SD533 memory, 7200 RPM (80GB) HDD, etc. (I had to upgrade to the 256MB ATI X1400 video ;) ) The previous laptop lasted almost 4 years with daily use, so we hope to get the same out of this one.

Any thoughts??? (maybe wait to see what other Vistans experience)?

RH77

Mac OS X FTW, but yeah, I've heard bad things security wise about vista. *shrug*

rh77 -

Why be the guinea pig? Do you have to upgrade ASAP or can you wait? I'm in no hurry at all.

CarloSW2

I'd say wait. I still run windows 2000 on a work computer because some of my software won't run correctly on windows XP.

I used to have a technology addiction, where I needed to have all of the latest and greatest stuff.

I got over myself, however, and now I'm happy with 3 year old technology that works correctly.

I was just thinking about that very question: "I'd like to get a new PC/laptop but I don't want to be forced into being an "early adopter." I've learned through experience to put the first release of any software in the same category as a first year of a new model of car - it's best to wait for the bugs to get worked out first.

If your buying Windows operating systems you should expect a bad security issue. All your information is practically pasted in bold print on the internet. But hey, keep what you know if your scared of change. I want a Mac but Im not eligable for credit to get one.Dam

I don't know about resources, but I thought the vista could use up to four processors or something like that. I also thought some of the newer processors were really two processors in one and that vista could somehow take advantage of that to speed things up. But as you said if it uses a bunch more resources it would still likely be slower overall. And I don't think that laptop is one of the pro 2 or two cpu's in one. So I would vote to get the upgrade disks, so you have them and wait.

Once you get the laptop can you let us know what the power supply puts out and what the connector is (I built that same model on line last weekend). I am hoping for a standard round connector you can get at RadioShack, my last Dell had an odd flat plug that I couldn't find anywhere. I want to power it directly from my battery bank (anything from 0 to 28vdc) if I can.

Probably order the discs and wait
 

Well, the laptop came this afternoon :)

After about 4-hours of updating the OS and getting rid of crap, it was finally up and running. (I'm on the road, so I don't have the power specs on it).

SilveredWings -- I completely agree. It runs quickly, has everything we need, and as I think about it, we're probably lucky to not be forced to have Vista right now.

SVO- I'd like the flexibility of a MAC OS, but I only know how to repair IBM-Compatible desk- and laptops.

Matt, Cfg83- I remember being satisfied with Windows 95 when 98 version 1 came out. I was forced to purchase the bug-laiden new 98 at the time. Version 2 fixed a lot, but XP really corrected most items that Millenium/2000 inherited (but with lots of driver issues).

Brock - This actually has the Intel "Duo 2" dual-core processing unit (when I run a program that requires 100% processing power, like the Stanford University Gene Folding Project, it shows-up at 50% for Processors 1 and 2 respectively). Perhaps Vista can take advantage of each core and max them both out? That's not the primary purpose of this machine, however, as I have 6 older computers running the program for the Univeristy (some with Linux).

But alas, I'll order the discs and wait. Things are good for now and it doesn't sound like we're missing out on anything. Thanks all!

RH77

rh77 -

My circa 2003 Dell + Win XP Pro notebook PC is doing fine. It's slow but my PCs become encrusted with so many apps and files that I loathe doing an upgrade (migration is a female dog!). When I got the PC I used Partition Magic to make it into an triple-boot sytem - DOS, Win 98, or Win XP on different partitions. In case things went wrong, I could reboot back to Win 98, to a "safe" programming environment that allowed me to continue working. Over time I finished the transition to XP and today I almost never boot in the Win98 legacy development environment. If I were smart I would "back up" the Win 98 partition and reclaim the disk space for XP.

I *think* apps have to be programmed to take advantage of the extra CPUs (multiple threads). I would expect the gene folding program and Vista to do so (don't really know much about Vista).

CarloSW2

The other thing about technology is that it rarely pays to buy more than you need today in hopes of making full use of it someday. It only keeps getting cheaper. So as far as an OS goes (complementary copies aside), I figure cost'll go down when all the "first-kid-on-the-block" folks all have their copies and SP1 is downloadable.