Your New Dell: XP or Vista or Other

I doubt it. Microsoft are pushing Vista hard, there are already a few games that are "Vista Only" so they are not shy about screwing over XP users to try and force them to upgrade.

When DX10 games start rolling out that might be the only compelling reason for people to buy Vista. I think this thread has shown that there are not many compelling reasons to upgrade at the moment, but that would be the first really big one for a lot of users.

You never know though maybe MS will think about their users before the bottom line for once..... nah.

Also there is this: MS Blog on DX10

 

Wow...I just checked out that link. I never saw the comparisions before between DX9 and 10 in that much depth till now. I also read that part about DX10 being exclusive to Vista...which leaves me with one hope atm: that vista gets to be on par w/ xp if not better in due time in terms of performance (at least for gaming).

 

The best thing I have read about DX10 is that hardware makers are required to support every feature of DX10 before they get the DX10 compatible logo. When I tried to develop for DX in University the biggest pain in the ass was checking for and handling the capabilities of the graphics cards. Every time I used a new feature I had to check to see if the graphics card could do it. Pain in the ass.

 

Ouch...well hopefully DX10 will make programmers' lives easier then (so they can focus more on efficiency of course )

 

Windows 2000 is in extended support until at least 2010. With another service pack for Windows XP coming out next year, if I understand the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy, XP will be supported until at least 2013. So you'd be fine support-wise with XP.

I'm getting Vista. I figure why not at least try it if it's the default from Dell? And since I'll have plenty of RAM and for what I use a lot Vista has better performance than XP, I don't think I'll be turning back, either.

Firefox over IE. I only use IE when websites are incompatible with Firefox/Opera or I used IE for an earlier incompatible site and haven't quit IE yet.

And I'd like to know what the 1% other person is getting...Free DOS?

 

I got my Dell shipped w/ XP Pro but bought Vista Ultimate from my school for $50. It will ship today, and I'm still making the final call what to do.

If I wish to run a clean install of Vista and take out XP, what steps must I take? Should I download all Vista drivers from dell.com first? I think the laptop should come with all of the old XP drivers in case I do want to roll back...

 

I've actually played games on vista and I've seen the difference. If you don't have 2gb of memory...you're screwed.

 

Yeah same...I've played games on Vista and even with 2 GB of ram there's still a significant hit to the FPS.

 

I would imagine that might be due more to non-optimized drivers than Vista its self? Although I expect that Vistas overhead might hit it alittle too.

 

I am running XP Professional on my desktop (and plan to until at least Vista SP1), so I'm giving Vista Ultimate a try on my new M1330 to see how I like it.

 

Vista SP1 is coming out this month actually...mid-July I think

 

No, Vista SP1 isn't coming out until Server 2008 release...however there will be a beta made available to professionals in about 2 weeks

 

In that blog post where she said that SP1 beta is coming out this month, she also said that the final release is expected for November.

 

That's exactly what I just said...

 

You said when Server 2008 is released. Not everyone knows when Server 08 is coming out, I know I did not.

 

Server 2008 has an expected ship date of November, 2007.