is vista actually worth getting

[danroyle]

i've seen everyone talking about vista the last couple of months but would actually like to know is it worth gettting

i know it has dx10 but dx 10 games are a long way off so what is it actually gonna do in terms of benefiting me if i were to upgrade

pros and cons please all

[vinnyT]

Pro -Supposed to have a more secure core (sorry about the rhyming). Hopefully now companies will start to release 64-bit drivers and software.

Con -Uses more resources (alledgedly). Not all driver issues have been sorted yet.

Am I gonna up(??)grade, maybe in a year, at the moment xp does all I need.

[RedPutty]

I can't see any point in getting it.

[Parm]

I have Vista Ultimate and I love it but truth be told, I'm just a gadget freak. I had planned on not getting it straight away, told myself "there's just no need, I'll wait until I get a new PC later this year and get it with that". Alas, I couldn't contain myself. Come release day I was itching to play with it cause it's new and shiney and I placed my order with Scan (then spent the rest of the day chasing them up begging them to get it to me asap!).

I don't regret getting it at all mind you, my PC is just over 3 years old and it works perfectly with Vista. Not only that, everything feels smoother and faster. I'm having lots of fun playing with the new features and it is in my opinion the best Windows to date.

Should you go out and buy it though? In my opinion, no. Unless you're a gadget freak like me, there really isn't a need. Yes it is better than XP but XP still works and works very well. There are still some driver issues with Vista and many manufacturers are still bringing out new drivers, some of which people are still waiting for. I've been lucky in that respect, the only thing of mine that didn't work with Vista was my rather horrible logitech webcam that I picked up for dirt cheap a while back.

If you need a new PC, my advice would be to get it with Vista, that makes complete sense. If you're only thinking of upgrading your software then you don't 'need' Vista unless like me you really 'want' it.

[johnny02004976]

i'm with you on this one Parm, i'm very much a gadget freak so i've had to get it. Shame i have to wait until Tuesday to get paid

[Blitzen]

I got lucky and got Vista Ultimate through MSDN and work.

To be honest, it does look better and is a little more user friendly. On the other hand, i dont think its a big improvemnet on XP.

The driver issues that people are talking about is nonsense though, well for the 32-Bit version anyway as i have had zero problems.

Is it worth the money? Probably not.

Does it use more system resources? Definitely.
I would say 2gb is minimum or else your hard drives will spin constantly with the OS using the cache on them all the time. If you have a RAID array then striping them takes the resource needs down and makes for a good experience.

Oh...and you will need Nero Vista to burn things as the old Nero doesnt work correctly with Vista.

Basically, its really only Ultimate or Home Premium that are any good. Home BAsic is worse than XP.

The strange thing is, all the Viasta discs are the same. Its the Licence Key that determines hich OS the disc installs.

[Steve]

I have Vista Business Premium sat as an ISO on my PC and I haven't bothered to burn it yet.

Having seen it, I'd say it looks nice, but doesn't offer me anything over XP x64 Pro right now.

[daza]

I like it but don't see any really changes apart from it holding your hand security wise, I think I will install it on a different drive and keep my xp as my main OS.

[MSIC]

I would say 2gb is minimum or else your hard drives will spin constantly with the OS using the cache on them all the time.

Sorry mate, just had to point this out! I hope my hard drives dont stop spinning LOL. (I do understand what you meant though, sorry!)

Have bought the Home Basic version for my mum (not yet installed, currently uses Win2K in administrator mode hence my desire to stop her constantly re-installing spyware) but then upgraded her graphics card. Does anyone know how easy it is to upgrade from Basic to Premium to get all the graphic effects? The MS website was less than helpful.

[this_is_gav]

I don't agree with the opinion that it uses much more resources (x86). RAM usage is up, but that's due to the caching, which makes a hell of a difference to overall system usage after a few days (when it works out a pattern of how you work).

Hard drive usage is up if you leave indexing turned on - again, most of this is in the initial few days, and then after that it's all good and fast, and of course searches are much faster after that too.

System resources are more than XP, but very little more - 1gb RAM is fine here, and even with that startup time is much, much reduced over a similarly loaded XP. x64 will require more RAM for the same performance than x86 for equivalent performance though.

Very little that won't work. The biggest problem will likely be games with dodgy copy-protection methods - if there's no patches to sort it out, then you might be stuffed. Do a Google if there's any particular games you'd like to work to see if there's any others having issues.

Everything I use works here though on x32 - and my experience of XP x64 leads me to believe when I move to Vista on my main rig, that things will continue to work.

It's a little high maintenance at the moment, but overall, it's a very nice, smooth OS that's really slick to work with.

[michigantoga]

Yes! It runs smoothly. It has a few bugs, but if you have any Knowledge of Computing. Than it's nothing. Had to Update a few Programs. Alcohol 120, DVD Santa, Nero & Azurues. Actually three of them Vista recongnized & fixed the problem itself. Azurues I had to do so myself. It's very fast & responsive. I have four Gigs & with Vista seems like I have 8! It's worth it & in a couple of months will be even better!

[streetster]

I've got Vista Business x86 installed, but I'm back on XP as it seems to be much more responsive and everything i want to do just works without any faffing

[michigantoga]

Just go to the welcome center, click anytime upgrade. Then wolla! It's very easy & is worth it! Vista will get better & will be great. If you're not a PC Enthusiast, then stay with the little boys toys! Good luck to you on your upgrade.

[michigantoga]

I agree, most don't know what they're doing. In my expierence, it's better than any XP out. It's much faster & almost every Software Vendor is Upgrading Drivers at will. It's the future & It will be the best yet!

[streetster]

@michigantoga - are you replying to your own post? lol

[frazered]

just get stylexp and install a vista theme onto your xp install