VAIO and Windows Vista

I downloaded and installed the newest Vista from the Microsoft beta testing program. Here are some early comments:

(My VAIO is a FS-70B - 1.73GHz, 7200RPM 80GB, 128 GF6200 TC, 1GB Ram).

1. Vista uses a heap lot of RAM. Running light apps. like IE7, MSN, and adobe downloader, I am using 777MB of RAM. I am not using the Aero interface btw.

2. Norton Internet Security 2006 DOES NOT WORK with Vista. However there is a free trial antivirus by Etrust that you can download.

3. Microsoft is offering a free beta of Office 2007 Pro. Fully functional as far as I know.

4. There are plenty of drivers missing. I have one unknown device (i think its the memory stick reader). The microsoft driver for the Geforce Go 6200 TC shows only 32MB of integrated RAM. If anyone knows how to fix this problem please reply. If i revert to the Sony XP driver it shows 128MB. Both driver do not have Aero as an option.

5. I have the Japanese keyboard layout and there is a significant lag when typing. The system commonly fails to register some keys especially when you are typing fast. This cold very well be amemory problem or related with the support. I ant say fo sure (EXAMPLE JUST NOW WITH THE TYPOS!!!!)

6. I cannot find any Sony released drivers or support as yet.

 

office 2007 is excellent, but I would enjoy an option for classic menus rather than the ribbon, or at least customization of ribbon. Mind you, I've only played around with it for a bit.

As for Vista, situations like yours just make me more hesitant to install the beta..

 

Koiking, Vista on my SZ acted the same way as yours. My specs are 1.83Ghz Duo core and 1GB Ram with a 128MB 7400.

It also showed 32MB for my card which was really weird. Though I still noticed that Vista needs a LOT of work to be done.

With the way its looking, Im pretty sure I am going to stick with XP till the last day possible.

 

with the amount of RAM vista uses, GFGo TC series might soon become void unless 2GB becomes a standard.

i have also found there are heaps of applications that do not support Vista. it would be wise to keep XP pro until Vista gets an equivalent SP1 or SP2 and much more support.

if you are still having that 32MB display problem. i would recommend you revert back to the Sony XP drivers.

its strange that when using my original XP home on a 4200 RPM HDD, i get 53FPS on CS source. running a fresh copy of vista with a 7200RPM HDD and no norton, no background crap can only get 43FPS.

the nVidia tab is still missing from my VISTA display properties. the OS also keeps detecting 2 monitors, 1 generic PnP and 1 generic non-PnP. the non-PnP can be updated to my Sony monitor driver but the generic PnP cannot.

i've posted it on the vista newsgroups but they have yet to reply. it might be a huge mistake on the side of microsoft if multiple people are having the same problem with their beta driver.

if anyone is considering upgrading to VISTA. i would not recommend a clean install unless you have a backup HDD. there are so many compatibility and bug issues that your productivity may be severly hindered.

just a few extra notes:

IE7 is a firefox clone more or less with the tabbed windows. its quite a decent upgrade.

there is a built-in anti-spyware called Windows Defender but how well it works is yet to be seen. possibly good bye to adaware

from what i have found out. the MMC storage snap in DOES NOT work well. i could not do any partitioning or adddressing with it.

microsoft was nice enough to finally update the in-built games

 

Vista uses such great amounts of RAM because it is still a beta and not optimised. The XP beta's used rediculous ram aswell.

 

not only that, but vista has a new technology called superfetch, which preloads your most used applications into your memory and helps load programs and files faster. so technically, the high ram usage is kind of misleading, since it is actually helping your computer perform tasks better

read more about it here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/features/foreveryone/performance.mspx