Planning on getting a Z: had some questions

1. If I bought a Z with the following configuration (2. 53 GHz, 4 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD) how smoothly do you think Vista Business will run?

2. If I decided to, is it better to downgrade Vista Business to XP or do a clean install after Vista was completely removed?

3. What is 'Fresh Start?'

 

1. Should run great!

2. I've always heard a clean install was best (but I've never done it myself).

3. Sony removes (or just doesn't add) all the crapware.

 

Thanks! What have been the major/main complaints of Vista? Is it that you need a pretty powerful computer to run it smoothly?

 

I'm also planning to get a Z with similar spec (although 320GB HDD rather than SSD, because the latter isn't available in current European models).
I would guess that Vista will run just fine with those specs. Obviously I can't confirm this until I get mine, but Vista likes lots of memory and 4GB is plenty - actually about 0.7GB more than is accessible by a 32bit OS. So as it stands I'm hoping I can satisfy my XP requirements using virtual machines (either VMware or MS Virtual PC) and I won't have to bother with a 'downgrade'.

When I was looking towards the TZ as my next machine, I was definitely planning to put XP on it, but that's because the ULV processor and relatively slow HDD (and relatively low max ram of 2GB) all meant that Vista wouldn't be as fast as I'd like...

As I said in the other thread, I think downgrading Vista to XP effectively means a fresh install - as far as I know there's no downgrade mechanism apart from installing XP from scratch.

I might look to do a clean install of Vista though (using the license provided with the Z), as we don't have CTO in Europe either and that means no Fresh Start option...

 

That's one problem with it. Basically, Vista has an (optional) fancy new user interface called Aero which looks very pretty but requires a lot more power to run it smoothly. The usability improvements are debatable but it's certainly prettier.

Unlike the move from 98 to XP, there isn't really that much great new functionality in Vista. And a lot of people have gotten used to tweaking XP exactly how they want it.

Combine the above with the initial problems with certain common operations (like network transfers being very slow before SP1 fixed the problem) and driver availability frustrating many users of legacy hardware... and you've got a pretty unattractive prospect for many people.

Oh, and some of the new security features in Vista, e.g. User Account Control (UAC) and Digital Rights Management (DRM) are arguably more of a PITA than a benefit. For instance UAC does an important job in preventing new programs from silently assuming Admin rights, but the prompts that pop up can be annoying after a while. DRM is only of benefit to content producers and not content consumers. DRM is evil IMHO.

 

Like me. I'm quite happy with XP.

 

Same here.

 

Hey, let's say we cloned our current laptop (with XP) then put that image on the new Sony laptop. What would happen?

 

if i get a vaio Z CTO and chose vista business, will i get in the box a win xpp downgrade CD?

 

If you are lucky it will boot completely and then be very slow due to wrong drivers (that of you old laptop) being installed...

But it would be funny to see if it actually works xD

 

Most probably it will not work as your hardware configuration has changed. This would cause most (useful) programs and xp itself that require activation to stop functioning altogether or bombard you with messages asking you to reinstall or reactivate the program. This then negates the point of trying to install an existing image.

Then again this is only my opinion - everything may work swimmingly

 

Why is CTO bad? Just an opinion I see floating around here...

 

Hmm, not sure where you're getting that idea but, CTO systems are the ones Sony lets you configure yourself (Customized to Order). The only drawback is that you have to wait for Sony to build the system before it is shipped.

 

I think some people don't like how CTO's involve human hands to build, whereas preconfig's involve machines. I guess machines are better?