HELP?Stupid Probably! Vista/Linux/Mac OS x/Core2Duo...

[keef247]

Right I'm thinking of getting one of these 529.99 dell laptops with 1.6 C2D mobile (whatever it is:$) with 1 GB ram x1400gfx etc... now I’ve ran a vista beta on a 512mb ram 1.7ghz machine AGES ago and it wasn't too bad for basic stuff but what about all this visual stuff as it comes with home premium (which I assume comes with all that jazz)
Is it really worth running?
Will the core2duo run it smooth with 1 GB ram or should I go for a 2 GB ram laptop to really be able to game/Photoshop whilst scanning for viruses and burning DVDs etc etc in vista...
Is it really worth it? I know it has the security where you authorise to install etc like Linux but bar that does anything seem to run on it nicely?
Is it buggy?
Do games run nicely on it? Or do they run slower to an equivalent XP spec machine?
Any compatibility problems I'm going to face with a Linksys ADSL2 gateway spec router?

And now for something complete different.
IS there a Linux 32/64bit dual core alternative to vista if you get me?
I mean I LOVE ubuntu but surely there’s the next best thing GUI wise and all I know you can download these theme kind of things for it that simulate vista etc but I don't really want just some ram lagging GUI... I want new features? Something that really makes Core2Duo noticeable?
What’s Linux hardware support like for it?
If I legally wanted to run Mac OS X tiger on it would it pickup all my hardware and benefits of this chip as its Intel supported on Mac now. Would it run faster than a Mac? (SORRY I'm unaware if this topic is illegal; if so please delete this section admin!)

this probably makes no sense but I’m very tired SORRY and I have so many questions to ask and it's probably all merged together: Oops:

Cheers for any insights
oh and how long will the battery last.someone please list some laptops that would be to speak for these tasks and how long they would last for hours wise.

[dave87]

Re Mac OSX, according to the license agreement its only to be used on apple supplied hardware, and the no reverse engineering section forbids it from being ported. That said, with the new Core based Macs, it is possible, but is in breach of the license agreement.

The laptop will be fine for basic desktop work, image/video editing (to an extent), but I wouldn't expect it to play the latest and greatest games. Gaming performance should be comparable to XP, maybe slightly slower in some titles, but on average, about the same. It will run Aero fine though

You shouldn't face any troubles with the gateway, as long as you are connecting via ethernet or wireless, and as long as there are drivers available for your NIC.

Linux isn't my specialty, so I'll pass on that bit. Hex?

Hope this helps,

Dave

[Colossous]

Hey duder,
I'm running vista on my server here and generally for browsing and normal duties and i've had no issues, it looks pretty and the gadgets are handy but its not exactly revolutionary !!
I did have problems with gaming cards however, i had to use beta drivers for my 7950 GX2 and an ATI X1900XTX just did'nt like vista at all !!
You really need 1gb ram as minimum, my server uses 55% of its 1gb just idling !! "gb would be more sensible.
Overall i'm not sure if its worth it just yet, there are issues to be resolved and i'm ok with it as i have 2 machines to use but i'm not so sure i would'nt stick with XP if i had the one !!
So there you are - clear as mud i suppose !!

[this_is_gav]

And there speaks a man who hasn't actually worked out Vista yet.

Vista caches things in the RAM. It's supposed to use as much as possible. As for the X1900XTX, my X1900XT worked fine straight out all the BETAs, RCs and now release that I threw at it, so not sure what's gone wrong there. nVs drivers have sucked badly though, and SLI cards (such as yours) in particular have been poorly supported.

[Colossous]

Well you're right in that i have'nt quite got to grips with it yet !! I did wonder to be honest if there was'nt a problem with the card itself allthough it had been fine on XP !!

[directhex]

vista will run your games slower on a lower-spec system (measuring memory in meg not gigs means it's pretty low spec)

and most linux distributions will do eye candy if you ask them to, including all the 3d cruft (see http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZD7QraljRfM for example)