Vista & T61

Which version of Vista seems to be creating all the problems?
I was going to order my T61 with the Vista home premium.
Will I have problems with it? Should I just order the XP
and not worry about it? I believe they will eventually
correct all the bugs and I hate to go with XP when there
is a newer OP system out there. Please advise as I want to
order my computer today before the current sale ends.



Thank you

Kimberlee - USA

 

My vista Home Premium worked fine from day 1.
I reinstalled it just to get rid of bloatware.
not a single BSOD or erros w/drivers.

 

I would spend a little more time reading the forums before you take the plunge with Vista. Do a search and yoo will see that most all of the T61 problems/complaints are on Vista machines with Turbo Memory being another common denominator.

Personally, you could not pay me to put Vista on a new T61. At least not until SP1 is out and IF it brings any significant improvement. I'll keep my comments to that for now before I turn this into a Vista rant.

 

I'm with you Gianni. Having the most cutting-edge OS and talking about how turbo memory is supposed to make things faster doesn't mean much without program compatibility and when all you can see is blue.

 

I actually like vista and have been using it for a while now. Very similar to XP with some extra eye candy and tools. Choosing vista over xp shouldnt have anything to do with the problems that you see a few have on these boards. Many chose based on past experience. Like... some want to wait for service packs while others want it now because its going to be the future and they might as well get used to it, and others want it because they like it better. Some might have never even used it, they just make the judgement that they have been making for every OS. You all think vista has problems, I used to use ME and that froze just about every 30 minutes. Vista is a breeze compared to that. I've seriously never had a single problem with vista. And when it looks like its about to freeze, it isolates the situation and the rest of the processes stay intact. Better error handling than xp IMHO.

 

Muhahahahaha

And to think right before I saw this thread I said to myself "damnit I hate vista so much but I'm too lazy to format to xp". I've had nothing but problems. It's also slower. It doesn't offer anything over XP besides some eye candy. Oh ya and it's incompatible and causes quirks with many programs. My logitech vista drivers decided to take a nose dive and stop working. Gee how nice. Probably not Vista's fault but it's just a taste of the many problems you may have in the future.

 

Well maybe for you, but I'm saying my experience has been good. Never had any compatibility issues or problems finding drivers. You can go on and on about how much you hate it but it works for me and the performance is still there. I just want people to know its not all bad out there in vista land. All everyone says on forums is vista is bad, reminds me of the ppl that say linux is the best and windowz sucks. Some just say it to be cool while others hold the truth. In the end, the whole country will eventually be running vista might as well get used to it.

 

For being a new release of Windows, Vista is by and large a pretty solid OS in its current state. Granted, some people are having/will have some problems with it (a lot of it can be traced back to immature drivers btw), however this isn't really a new thing. There has never really been a flawless initial release of Windows and some of the things you're hearing about Vista now are in the same vein as what happened when XP first came out.

I personally haven't had any major problems with Vista. The initial, small amount of frustration I had at first was just a result of not knowing why Vista did a few things differently. A little bit of research cleared that up for me, but doing that wasn't necessary to be able to use the OS effectively.

I would say if you don't mind using something that's very familiar and yet just a little bit different at the same time, then Vista should work well for you in it's current state. Just make sure that any specific applications you have to be able to run, work on Vista. This is pretty much always true when switching to a new release of Windows, as while MS usually does a pretty good job of making older stuff compatible there is still going to be that small handful of apps that just don't work.

Hope this helps!

 

Yes, people just troll to much about Vista. I haven't had a single issue with it. Just don't get Turbo Memory until Intel fixes it and everything should be fine.

 

FreezerBurn.

Glad to hear your Vista experience has been good so far, maybe there is hope. Although with all the issues, and they are more than those compared to previous versions, I'm not holding my breath. It may be jumping to conclusions to buy into the notion that:

I for one am not convinced it is the future. Microsoft is already talking about the next OS. XP could easily bridge this gap for most people. And the problems for Vista seem to be growing. That being said, somebody has to finish the beta testing...I hope your experience continues to be positive.

 

I wouldn't call it trolling.
Vista offers nothing but a pretty shell (and endless problems).

 

Until you name some of those problems, there's little reason for anyone to not consider even your statement as trollish. And to write Vista off as a skin upgrade is an act of complete ignorance.

Don't know exactly how new your are to the computing world, but just because a company talks about an upcoming product doesn't mean that the product is coming out tomorrow. Discussions of Longhorn (code name for Vista) began only months after Windows XP came out. And look how long it has been since then before Vista finally was released.





Do either of you own a computer with Vista installed? Just wondering.

 

Lower battery times with Vista is going to be the no1 reason for me to go back to XP, the eventual compatibility issues and not finding hardware for my older hardware will play their role as well. MS is offering a downgrade program for those who have OEM Vista Business/Ultimate to XP Pro. More details here :

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=543

http://download.microsoft.com/downl...cbd-699b0c164182/royaltyoemreferencesheet.pdf

PS. Fortunately all the software I use for my research exists for Linux as well, Ubuntu or SLED will do the job better than Vista or XP for me

 

I had a great post somewhere of all of the reasons I hate vista. I had like 10. Unfortunately I can't find it and I'm too lazy to retype it all. I have sitting in front of me a Vista Business machine and to my right I have a windows xp pro machine. Both have roughly the same specs. The performance difference is NIGHT AND DAY. The vista machine is EXTREMELY sluggish compared to the XP machine. In tests of raw processing power they're very close but for the quickness it's all XP. Vista is just downright slow compared to it. The Vista machine even has a slight advantage with a faster processor, and a 7200RPM hard drive (vs. 5400). Both machines have 2GB.

The XP machine is currently using 78MB of RAM and has 18 processes running. The Vista machine is currently using 582MB and has 42 processes running. Tell me something isn't wrong here. I've heard the complaints about the lazy people who say "Oh well going from 2000 to XP was the same thing". UHHH NO. I made that transition and it WAS NOT like this.

Vista may be a "solid" operating system but that doesn't mean anything. It's a solid step backwards. It offers nothing of value over XP. The only thing it has caused me is headaches. It's great if you're the average user that doesn't do much on your computer and all of your programs work and all of your drivers are just spiffy. Some of us use are computer for more than just like word processing and browsing.

So you know if Vista works well for you great, but it's not in the least a desirable or good operating system. It has been 6 months since its release. 6 months. We're still seeing some of the same problems that were present at launch. There are very few tech journalists and power users who will tell you that Vista is a good operating system or even a step in the right direction.

Is it great for your grandma who opens word once a month, uses firefox once a day, and checks her email in the morning? Ya. For the rest it's not.

 

Just curious, did you turn off aero and all the other effects and extra features of vista like security announcements, firewall, etc...?

 

Vista is running with aero on a Geforce GO 6600 which benches right about the NVS 140M. My vista graphics index I think is 3.7 and 3.9. I used vlite to slim down the vista build and removed most unnecessary services and programs. Same goes for XP only using nlite.

With windows classic in vista the interface is a little bit more responsive but things like locking and bringing up the task manager take about 3 seconds in vista but are almost instantaneous in XP.

 

We have a bunch of new T61's at IBM, all running Windows XP flawlessly. Some of the T61's have poor build & lcd issues, but that's a different story.

If you get Vista, you could reduce your laptop's compatibility at work. It is the policy of IBM Corp (the world's largest IT company), and most other Fortune 500 companies, to continue using Windows XPP instead of Vista.

We'll see if Vista follows the path of Windows ME into technical oblivion. It appears to be headed down the path of Windows 98 at least.

Get XPP and wait for the second edition of vista.

 

I suspect that things will be much better after SP1. This happens everytime a new OS comes along. The day will come when everyone says"Stick with Vista, it is so much better than ??? (whatever the next OS will be called).

I tried to find some information about what people were saaying when XP was released. It sounds like the same song and dance...

http://labmice.techtarget.com/FAQ/winxpfaq.htm (at the bottom of the page you'll find):

"The general user response based on feedback and newsgroup postings is mixed. On a CNET forum, over 7,000 users where evenly split on their reviews of XP Home Edition. 54% liked it, 46% hated it. XP Professional faired a little better with 68% positive and 32% negative user reviews We spent a few days reading hundreds of these complaints, and noticed that a majority aren't really legitimate issues with XP. People expect the operating system to stay stable no matter how poorly third party software is written. They expect XP to be 100% compatible with cheap or out of date hardware, and blame Microsoft for the lack of drivers. They expect all programs written for Windows 95/98/Me to work on XP. And if they buy a new system with Windows XP preloaded on it, and it crashes, they blame Microsoft and not the OEM's crappy hardware configuration. These are the same issues that have been raised for every Windows release since Win95. While being completely crash proof regardless of the abuse the operating system is subjected to is a lofty goal for any operating system, it's a bit unrealistic. Windows XP is certainly not perfect, it's not crash proof, and it's not compatible with every piece of hardware and software. But it is a vast improvement over Win95/98/Me and Windows NT 4.0 in terms of ease of use, security, stability, and performance. XP Professional is also on par with Windows 2000 Professional in these areas, but easier to use. If you're concerned about compatibility with your old software or hardware, you may wish to consider dual booting Windows XP with your older operating system, using VMWare, using a swappable hard drive bay, or simply keeping your old PC up and running for a while and running Windows XP on a new PC."

Don't get me wrong. I don't blame people for waiting at least until SP1 comes along, but Vista (Longhorn) has been in development since XP was released. These issues are not alll Microsoft's fault. I partially blame it on procrastination of software and hardware developers to come out with proper drivers before the OS is released. These hardware/software develpers have access to the OS way ahead of the release, but it seems they are always scrambling after the release of a new OS.

Again, Vista has been in development for years, it's not going away anytime soon.

 

Possibly so, but the question is what to do now?

If we concede she needs to wait for SP1 (or SP2 or Vista Second Edition), what does she do now?

Get an XP preload now and upgrade later, or a Vista Business/Ultimate preload and do the free "upgrade" to XPP. Hassle.

Too bad you can no longer buy XPP and get a free Vista upgrade coupon for later.

 

Well, I don't know what the right answer is for her.

For me, I'll get Vista now and let my system update itself when SP1 arrives. Unless you are on the techno savvy side and don't mind installing a new OS, I'd say that most people who get XP now will just never upgrade to Vista. They'll just wait until next time to buy a PC. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

It took Microsoft 11 months to come up with SP1 for XP. They plan on coming up with SP1 a little faster this time (for what that's worth. MS rarely meets their own deadlines). But I suspect that SP1 will be available before the years end and I'll get by with Vista until then.

Something else to consider is the possibility that SP1 could actually bring a few more problems when it is first released. Remember the horror stories when XP released SP2. The web was full of people saying "turn off auto update don't let your PC install SP2." Because it brought more incompatibilities until the developers could catch up again.

I know I'm not coming up with the answers... just some insight to help people decide what is best for them. There are good arguments for both sides.

 

If she gets Vista Business or Ultimate, she can convert to XPP for free, and revert to Vista later again free.

There's a link at MS about that. I haven't done the Vista-to-XPP "downgrade" so I don't know how it goes. I remember there was something similar for Win98 and Win95; that conversion did not go well because it left a lot of baggage. In the end, we had to eventually reformat and do a clean install of Win99 SE to run well.

 

My Vista experience in Z is smooth so far. Sometimes i just cannot comprehend why so many people are complaining about this new OS.

My experience from XP to Vista is very good. You just have to make sure that all drivers are available and all programs that you use are Vista compatible.

 

Not a single issue with Home Premium yet. I don't know what a lot of people are doing to get the BSOD but I haven't seen that thing since 2002......and I hope to keep it that way. A lot of my stuff are latest items though, so I really have no need to get drivers that only work for XP and I think that really is the issue with people.