Which is recommended-Vista Basic vs XP Pro for complete newbie to computers?

[MSIC]

PS Don't really think you are a baby, just having fun with the smilies

[Betty_Swallocks]

The laptop is very basic and I was surprised it actually came with Vista Home Basic on it (It's a Fujitsu Siemens V5535 if anyone is interested - - Intel Celeron M 550 & SiS Mirage 3+ Graphics, 64 MB shared memory).
Besides the issue it takes forever to load the OS, and then any apps that you want to use after that, for an impatient person that is quite a) Frustrating and b) Dangerous.

To be honest if your budget is limiting you to a laptop of that spec then I'm sorry to say that you can't afford a laptop. That spec of machine will be so frustratingly slow to use in XP let alone Vista that you'll find it gathering dust rather than being used. Especially as you suggest that she isn't particularly patient.

If your budget is that limited then you should accept the fact that she won't be mobile and get a desktop.

Or perhaps one of those tiny Asus jobbies. They run Linux and are getting very good reviews for a machine of that price.

[X10]

To be honest if your budget is limiting you to a laptop of that spec then I'm sorry to say that you can't afford a laptop. That spec of machine will be so frustratingly slow to use in XP let alone Vista that you'll find it gathering dust rather than being used. Especially as you suggest that she isn't particularly patient.

If your budget is that limited then you should accept the fact that she won't be mobile and get a desktop.

Or perhaps one of those tiny Asus jobbies. They run Linux and are getting very good reviews for a machine of that price.

Perhaps, but the laptop has already been bought, so it's not an option.

She's been using it okay so far, so perhaps I'll leave Vista on there, we'll see how it goes (when I actually have to help to install something or fix a problem).

X10