Vista vs. XP for Pelicans

s_wilwerding · s_wilwerding's Garage

I'm trading up laptops, as my old one is a few years on now. On the new one, the only option when ordering it was Vista, though support tells me that I can buy XP and install it and that all the drivers are available for XP.

I've always used XP, and have been pretty happy with it, and I've heard a lot of horror stories about Vista. What are the Board's opinions? Should I keep Vista, or go out and buy a copy of XP?

Mule · 08-25-2008, 09:46 AM

Some learning curve, but Vista is fine. Mine is rock solid.

Don Plumley · Don Plumley's Garage

I have read that you have downgrade rights from Microsoft. You can use an old XP Pro install disk and kill Vista. More articles here and here.

So if you choose to downgrade, by no means should you have to buy a new copy of XP (which are no longer available anyway).

Rot 911 · 08-25-2008, 09:54 AM

I have Vista and it works ok. I just upgraded to 4 gig of ram and it runs much faster. It is just that there are sooooo many applications running that I have no idea what they are.

imcarthur · imcarthur's Garage

I bought Vista in Jan & downgraded. The SN does work backwards. I never install Vista, just used the SN to authorize XP.

Ian

Jim727 · 08-25-2008, 09:57 AM

What Don said (except vista -> XP is an upgrade).

Friends don't let friends use vista.

Mule · 08-25-2008, 09:57 AM

You can get charged for drivers though.

s_wilwerding · s_wilwerding's Garage

Those downgrade articles say that you have to have Vista Ultimate to downgrade. Unfortunately, my laptop only comes with Vista Home Premium. Ian, for your SN to work, did you have Vista Ultimate.

As to the question about drivers, XP and Vista drivers are available for free on Dell's website.

Jim727 · 08-25-2008, 10:05 AM

http://www.driverskit.com/

imcarthur · imcarthur's Garage

Vista Business is what I bought.

Ian

Jim727 · 08-25-2008, 10:11 AM

Fwiw, I stopped buying new laptops and went to refurbs. You can get hosed if you hook up with the wrong company, but IBM offers refurbs and I've had great results from Eritech - https://www.eritech.com/results.php?category=Notebook

Refurbs aren't for everyone, but you can save a substantial amount by going that route.

Jim

MRM · 08-25-2008, 10:20 AM

You can still get XP in new and refurbished computers through authorized Microsoft vendors. The advantages of XP Pro include that it is very stable, you are already familiar with it, and it doesn't take nearly the memory of Vista.

My computer guy hooked me up with a top of the line Lenovo with XP Pro, duo core, lots of memory, extra graphics card, and some other bells and whistles for an even $1,000. He says Microsoft is still selling XP for another 5 years and will support it for years after that. It's just that the big box retailers and manufacturers aren't selling XP any more. My guy will ship anywhere. His prices are hard to beat and he's technically excellent. I'd be happy to email his contact infor to you.

JavaBrewer · JavaBrewer's Garage

My Lenovo is pretty recent and is loaded with XP SP3. No issues.
My MIL has a Sony laptop with Vista Home Premium. It came with 1GB of RAM and was a dog. Upgrading to 2 GB RAM really opened it up. No issues after 9 months.

Visually the Vista OS is stunning. Better than Mac OS 10.5 IMO.

Mule · 08-25-2008, 10:48 AM

Heretic!

JavaBrewer · JavaBrewer's Garage

Not to turn this into a Mac bash thread but I'm very disappointed with my detour into the world of Mac. It doesn't do anything better or easier than the XP box it replaced. The aluminum (Power Mac) case is sure drop dead sexy but I'm just not happy with iTunes and the iLife apps. I hope to get this thing restored back to factory and on Craigs list in time for the holidays.

gr8fl4porsche · gr8fl4porsche's Garage

Go with Vista. You will likely love it. It has some very nice little features that give it the edge over XP. The only 'real' downsides that I have heard are complaints about network transfer speeds and some compatability issues with private software vendors. Most have been resolved. Vista runs every piece of software that I have thrown at it - usually a little better than XP.

Never could understand the bad wrap it has. People have a little computer issue and blame it on the OS. I once heard someone say they hated Vista because it wouldn't connect to the internet.

For me, Vista has been rock solid. Itunes actually works well these days. It took Apple about a dozen updates before I could use my Ipod and Vista in perfect harmony. All is well now.

Mule · 08-25-2008, 11:19 AM

5% of computer users disagree! And 95% don't.

id10t · 08-25-2008, 11:42 AM

www.ubuntu.com

Just Switch.

Owain · 08-25-2008, 12:43 PM

I bought a new laptop recently and it came with Vista Home Sometingorother. It always seemed to have trouble connecting to gmail and sometimes google. Sometimes it was slow to connect and sometimes it wouldn't connect at all. I did a quick search and found that many people were having the same problem and that it seemed to be a Vista issue and was as-yet unfixed.

I installed Ubuntu and haven't looked back.

Scott at Pelican Parts · Scott at Pelican Parts's Garage

I have XP at work and Vista at home. They both work fine for me. If you have a powerful machine with a lot of RAM, and you turn off the nanny user permissions nag, Vista works great. I've never had a problem with it.