Vista Home Premium on the XPS 1530

How do you guys like Vista on the 1530? Mine will have 4GB ram so I shouldn't have any speed issues. I have heard a lot of bad things about it, but that could just be stupid people. I am planning on just throwing Ubuntu right on it, but maybe I won't. The big thing for me is security...I can't stand viruses and spyware. Is Vista more secure than XP?

 

You don't need 4 GB of ram. 3 most. Save the money. Funny things can happen from 3.5-4 GB of ram. Not accessing it all, etc. I know others know more.

 

Vista isn't a bad as the general anti-MS sentiment would have you believe. It is however a resource hog, and just like every iteration of Windows before it, is vulnerable to security threats.

I'd suggest dual-booting with uBuntu. Vista SP1 will hopefully resolve alot of the performance and security issues when it makes it out of RC stages.

 

In my experience Vista hasn't been nearly as bad as some people make it out to be. It is true that it's inherently more secure than XP due to the User Account Control system, though still not as secure as Linux. It is still a definite improvement over XP. In fact after using Vista on my laptop I'm considering buying it for my gaming desktop. (I tried XP on the laptop and after installing the latest updates for both operating systems, there was hardly any performance difference between the two regardless of what people say)

 

Hmmm maybe I will give Vista a shot then...I am just really worried about security, that is the major reason for switching to Ubuntu

 

It is true your operating system won't see all 4 gigs of Ram. "Funny Things" won't happen though.

Yes, Vista is more secure than XP. For one, look at the Security updates. In it's first year, Vista has had far far fewer Security updates than XP in it's first year. Even compare the amount of Security patches released for Vista this year (it's first year) compared to the number of XP Security patches released. The Vast majority of computer geeks out there will agree.

People's gripes with Vista has rarely been its security. It has been it's size (it is a resource hog compared to XP) and lack of compelling features that attract users to upgrade from XP.

 

If you run an antivirus program, and don't browse the internet while logged in as the Administrator then there really isn't a reason to be constantly worried about security. If you're really concerned then use Firefox or Opera instead of IE7.

 

Vista isn't a resouce hog. That's one of the biggest misconceptions about the OS. If you turn off all of its caching features (IE Vista Basic), it won't require nearly as much memory as perceived.

There are some REALLY good articles on the intrawebz regarding Vista and how it presents memory utilization. It answers questions like, "why do I only have 4MB of RAM free?"

Also, Vista does a REALLY good job handling 4GB. Microsoft has KB articles detailing how 32bit Vista can handle memory above 4GB so long as the BIOS recognizes it. The fact that Vista doesn't properly report 4096MB (3582MB) does not mean that it doesn't use it. The error is due to the 32bit architecture inherent in x86 CPUs.

Staying behind a NAT firewall, using up-to-date virus software, and even using Windows' firewall and malicious software utilities will keep you reasonably secure. Just remember, nobody can secure your PC against yourself.

 

Well, actually: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929580, use the /pae switch to address >= 4GB RAM.

Vista was written with many new security features, some of which might take some getting used to. Also, Vista offers Protected Mode for IE7, meaning that it runs in a sandbox (isolated from the operating system in a sense), so it actually provides an additional layer of security yet to be seen in Opera or Firefox. Protected Mode for Firefox is currently targetted for v4.0.

 

With SP1, Windows Vista will report the amount of system memory installed rather than report the amount of system memory available to the OS. Therefore 32-bit systems equipped with 4GB of RAM will report all 4BG in many places throughout the OS, such as the System Control Panel. However, this behavior is dependent on having a compatible BIOS, so not all users may notice this change.

 

Yup the PAE switch... has to be enabled with another switch. From what I understand, Vista enables this by default and it can be enabled in XP as well (XP CAN support UP TO 4GB). I explained this in another thread but it basically overcomes the x86 limitation by isolataing areas of the RAM for different uses. Like with 4GB, 3GB might go to the OS for caching, etc. and 1GB will be dedicated for any application. And I think that is adjustable although not really recommended.

There's some really good info on that PAE through MS.

 

Any idea what they mean by "compatible BIOS" short of a BIOS that can recognize xxx RAM?

 

Most bios don't detect 4GB unless you use a MEMORY REMAP feature. You have to research the particular bios and if they have this setting.

 

Hmm. Well any BIOS that I've seen that reports 4096 tells me that the BIOS would recognize that amount. I have a mobo for a P4 that can recognize 4GB but I've never tried it.