Vista Z61t...thoughts?

I've been reading this...
http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/microsoft/vista/upgrade.html

Does that mean I can either get a free upgrade, minus shipping, if I have XP pro, or I'll get a free upgrade, minus shipping, w/ mail-in-rebate, if I have XP home? I just ordered a Z61t w/ XP home. Is there any reason to get XP pro since both get the free upgrade. Is it even worth it to get the upgrade when the time comes? My understanding is it's FREE right? I want to get this cleared up and make sure I don't need to add something to my order to be eligible for this. Thanks.

 

If you purchase your PC with XP Pro you get a free copy of Vista Business from Lenovo.

If you purchase your PC with XP Home you can purchase Vista Home Premium yourself and get a mail in rebate of the purchase price from Lenovo.

Vista should be substantially better than XP and will most likely be a very worthy upgrade. Just make sure you order your machine with 512mb of RAM or more or you will NOT be eligible for the upgrade since machines with <512mb of RAM aren't Vista capable. I originally placed an order with 256mb of RAM, planning to throw that away and purchase my own 2GB RAM but realized that the machine would not qualify for the upgrade since it wouldn't be a "Vista Capable" machine in the state that it left the factory. This was confirmed by a Lenovo rep when I asked him about it.

 

XP Home will give you the option of Vista Home Basic or Premium while XP Pro gives you Vista Business. The advantage of XP Pro and Vista Business is the added networking features such as being able to join a domain but most home users do not need these features. XP Home Premium would probably be your best choice since it is like Windows MCE.

 

Vista basic and Vista premium, is that my choice? Does that depend on my system configuration? What is this talk about "Aero"? Will all utilized true 64 bit processing? Here are some of my specs, please give a heads up if they are a potential problem:

T7200 Proc
1 GB Ram
DVD/CD-RW, not DVD recorder
Intel built in wireless
Fingerprint scanner
Integrated graphics (the 945 or whatever it's called for the Z61t)

Thank you.

 

Aero is the new graphical interface you can enable. I'm not sure if Vista basic even supports Aero or not. You should be able to get whichever version you want since you're suppost to just go to the store and buy a copy and then send in the mail-in-rebate. You will have to get a 64-bit version of Vista to utilize 64-bit. Most users will be getting the 32-bit version since 64-bit still isn't very beneficial and provides more issues with drivers.

 

Vista Basic does not have the Aero feature.

If you want the eye candy you'll have to get Vista Premium or up.

 

I know there are some graphical constraints in terms of what features you get. Since I have the built in video card, will that keep me from using the features of the Premium version?

 

If you have the Intel GMA 950 you can run Aero. No other integrated video will handle it I believe. Your experience won't be as smooth as it is for those with discrete graphics cards in any case.

 

I pretty much don't have a choice in terms of graphics since the Z61t can only have the integrated video option. Oh well.

 

Yes but at least it is the one that can run Aero

 

Sounds good. Aero seems like it'll be a pretty cool interface. So it's Lenovo who's offering the mail in rebate for the purchase price of a retail version of Vista?

When I get my laptop (config w/ XP home), hopefully within a month, AND vista comes out, I simply go to the store, buy a retail version of either Vista Home basic or Vista Home Premium, and mail it in to get the full purchase price rebated by lenovo? I just want this all cleared up before I find out down the road that only part is rebated or something.

It also seems like the 64-bit version might have some driver/software compatibility issues. Should I just be considering the 32-bit version at this point?

Thanks for all the help.