9261:XP or Vista

I am looking to get it early next year or when my funds permit it. Which OS do you recommend? I am leaning to XP Pro, since I expect to do some gaming, 3D animation work and numerical simulations on it.

 

Next year, Vista SP1 will be released so it should be ok

 

Even with Vista SP1, will it perform as well as XP Pro SP2 for the 32 or 64 bit versions?

 

SP1 will improve Vista on compatibility, performance and stability but we can't predict exactly how big the changes will be

 

Long term the 64-bit OS will dominate.

The best answer is BOTH. I ordered mine with Vista-64 and will dual boot it with XP Pro.

 

Wait until SP1 for Vista comes out and see what kind of improvements it provides. Then decide.

 

Chaz, that sounds reasonable, if SP1 is released before early next year. Has anyone had greater success with the 64 bit version versus the 32 bit in running apps and games?

 

The problem with the "wait" plan is you'll have to buy Vista later. Which is ok if you have XP now (so no OS load on laptop). But if you're going to buy XP on your new laptop then you will be paying twice: now for XP and later for Vista.

Buying Vista on your own will likely be more expensive than buying with your laptop. Although you will be able to get the upgrade version instead of the full version.

You can always apply SP1 when it comes out regardless of when you buy/install vista.

If you own XP already then buy your lappy with Vista and either replace the OS with XP or dual boot.

 

So far, Vista 32 still seems to be better than Vista 64 for gaming, but driver support is improving little by little. The biggest problem is backwards compatibility, so if you're interested in older games, Vista 32 will run them better.

 

I have an older app I will be running on it. Also I am concerned that even the 32 bit version will run everything well by early next year.
Eventually I would want to go to 64 bit Vista.

 

If you want 4+ gb of ram and DX10, Vista x64 (ultimate - obviously).

If not, Windows XP.

 

Why for 64 bit, Vista ultimate versus Vista Business(which is sort of XP Pro)?

 

Well keep this in mind.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycle/default.mspx

XP pro will not be licenced after June 30 next year for oem and retail.

Translation... You won't be able to buy it once shelf stock runs out at that time.
Four years after that (if I understand this correctly) you won't be able to register a license either (even if you already own it) So better validate and then ghost it before then. Of course that would be 2012 so if they don't have Vista squared away by then we'll all be using macs or linux anyhow.

Note: i would have sworn I read in PC mag something significant about Jan 2008 in regard to xp being sold but can't remember what it was...maybe someone else remembers.

 

I am tending to XP Pro now, with maybe a dual boot or just Vista in the future. When will there be (stable) SLI support in Vista?

 

SLI works in Vista 64 now. See other posts in these forms.

 

I must have forgotten those posts. Until one of my major apps performs well under Vista, I will have to stick with XP.

 

Initially, MS was going to stop selling XP in January 2008; however, they just announced that they will continue selling XP through June of 2008. Chaz posted a news item on the extension here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=2524879

On the point of this topic itself, I would continue running XP until the point at which either (a) MS no longer provides security updates (which won't happen for several years - you can find the lifecycle for XP on the MS website) or (b) the programs I'm running or want to run no longer function as well on XP as on Vista. If you're just buying a new system I would imagine that the best solution would be to get both Vista and XP installed in a dual-boot configuration, with Vista tucked away on a smaller partition until such time as you want to switch over. Some of the Clevo resellers will pre-install in dual boot configuration, and as far as I can tell, buying both OSes from them is cheaper than buying each one individually.

 

I will have to investigate the option for dual boot when I am closer to buying the notebook.
For dual boot, everyone recommends XP Pro/Vista 64 business or Ultimate?

 

I plan to dual boot Vista 64 Business with XP Pro. I found an excellent article on the net detailing the procedure. I posted it in this topic here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=168824

I can't try it until my 9261 arrives, but I downloaded all the tools referenced.

 

I will have to look at your post and see if there is any variation if XP Pro is there first.
I hope you get your 9261 soon.

 

I almost did them all. After quickly dismissing Windows 1.0 and 2.0, I really used the 3.x versions. Windows 95 was a real break, 98SE a good improvement. I skipped ME and went to 2000Pro and from there to XP which had two succesfull Service packs.

I have been running Vista Ultimate for almost one year now. In dual boot mode, but I very seldom go back to XP. XP is history for me. Vista runs nicer and faster on current (2003) laptop.

My new Sager will run Vista Ultimate 64bit. If necessary I will mount a third hard drive to run XP in dual boot mode. Vista SP1 is already being beta-tested. It will become even better!

 

I have been running vista x64 on my D901C since I got it. I actually installed XP to compare performance between Vista x64 and XP SP2 for SLI specifically [obviously for gaming]. On Vista the score was about 9200 and in XP the score was about 9500. Personally, I could not see taking up the extra space to have two OSes just for that small of a margin when it came to those 3dmark scores. I also installed Oblivion and other such games in Vista and they run very smoothly.

Also, my x64 install has been rock-solid and stable. The only problem I've ever had with Vista can be directly attributed to driver problems and my own ignorance.

My older Dell 9100 had Vista and XP dual boot and I VERY rarely went back into XP. I think the only time I went into XP was to burn CDs and to play a few games that I had installed in XP [I just never had gotten around to install burning software for some reason].

Since you have a 64 bit processor and probably plan on maxing out the ram, I would go with Vista x64 and be done with it.