Buying ASUS G1 by end of May. Will I have a choice between XP and Vista?

I was planning on getting an ASUS G1 at the end of May. I would like it with XP as I'm not impressed with Vista for these reasons:

-Another money grab for Microsoft
-NO directX 10 titles yet. I'm happy with DX9
-Lower battery life with Aero (average of 20 minutes from XP from what I've read)
-Higher RAM loading from Aero (taking precious gaming performance away)
-Lower frame rates in gaming (see above)
-I like XP just fine, I dont need the Mac OS wannabe
-Driver Upgrades are few and far between
-Applications not working (Virus, Spyware, Games, ect...)
-Lack of "real world" testing and performance. Time will tell how "wonderful" this Microsoft copy of Mac OS really is!
-Search Google on "resasons not to buy Vista"

Overall I'm not impressed and not surprised I'm not impressed.

What are your opinions or thoughts?

Can anyone speculate if I'll have a choice? If not then how hard it is it setup a dual OS (XP and VISTA) on my G1?

 

Dunno about vista being loaded as defult. Dual booting is easy.
Get partition magic, select your drive and slide the bar to make another partition at the end of the drive to make another partition. Then reboot and run xp setup selecting the drive you just made

 

the vista upgrade program, i believe ends some time in march. since the new shipments will begin shipping out with vista, you most likely won't be able to have a choice.

 

in may? i think you are stuck with vista like it or not unless you unistall it and install you own copy of xp...

 

Well there are places you can get the g1 from where you can order it without a preloaded OS I'm sure.

 

all the reason's you listed why you don't like vista are total ********. you have obviously never used Vista at all.

And there is not really anything Vista has copied from OSX that Apple didn't already borrow from other software developers.

get over what you have no clue about and just get it with Vista, and you will be perfectly happy.

Especially by May, there aren't really any problems with Vista right now, there definitely won't be in May.

 

Like others have said, very soon you won't have choice.

To each his own .....But I can guarantee you that if you dual boot XP and Vista, you will most likely log in to Vista more often.

 

I have never used Vista, correct. Thanks for all the advice everyone, sounds like I have FA to worry about. Circa86, sounds like you could be another Microsoft drone, but I do appreciate your advice. I have read much about Vista, and even expert reviews are mixed, thus why I made this thread.

 

You should really stick with your old opinion. DO NOT upgrade to vista. Doing so would only result in system instability. With regard to present technology, XP can do every Vista can. However, XP has been out for a number of years has thus far, received thousands updates. Vista hasn't exactly been used by the masses yet, so people are bound to find problems the developers and beta testers missed. Hackers will find backdoors and while developers scramble to patch it, a virus will already be in your system.


Things people often argue are benefits of Vista are usually:

Aero - yes, as I have stated as various times before, this is very cool. However, using a combination of WB, Topdesk, and a few other 3rd party software, you can achieve this easily- and without the shortened battery life and high system requirements.

DX10 support - no games on the market right now can support this. Even fewer graphics card can. Even if you have this support, you'll need to upgrade your graphic card to utilize it - almost impossible in a notebook

Run programs easily (type in the search bar) - pressing windows + r will open the run window, which basically does the same thing. Also there are 3rd party software (ie Google Desktop, Yahoo Search) which also gives you this function.

It's Free (for some people) - many people stated this before, but I'm going to reiterate this again. Viruses are free, do you want them too?

With some tweaking, as can be good as XP - that's saying I have to spend extra time to tweak the OS after I spend 1.5 hours installing it and 3 hours getting all the programs and settings on it. Sorry, but i'd to spend more time working on the OS (typing, browsing the net) than working for it (ie. tweaking).

64 bit support- tell me what consumer software actually uses 64 bit processing. Even if they do, the benefit will only show up in scientific calculations. Also there will be software problems with 64-bit processing.

It's "Safer" - Yes, out of the box, without any updates or anti-virus or anti-spyware, it will be safer than XP (, but that's like saying owing a billion dollars is better than owing a trillion - it's still horrbile). However, many restrictions are placed on the kernel and limit what you can install. Also, it will only allow to you install MS signed drivers (many of the newest are NOT). Besides, XP CAN BE AS SAME AS VISTA IF YOU UPDATE THE DEFINITIONS. If you have a reasonably set of protection, XP will be much safer than Vista with nothing at all. It all depends on if you take care of your system and exercise caution.

DRM - yes, it's NOT a myth. Vista is bundled with tons of DRM. They hinder everything you do. If you audio output is not certified (most are not, not even the SPIDF), then you are going to get significantly crippled sounds. You use a HDMI cable not certified by some technician in Seattle, video is going to work properly. Even if you legally bought you music (a rarity nowadays), you are going to have a cripple multi-media experience.

Just remember, DO NOT upgrade (using the word upgrade is misleading since it is a downgrade)




There are many reasons not to upgrade(i mean downgrade), but I'm getting tired of writing them.

 

I'm not sure how you would go about dual-booting, I've never seen the wisdom in two windows installs co-existing, but you should give Vista a try, atleast. You will get many differing opinions on wether or not to upgrade, but only you can make the final decision. If you already have a legit copy of XP, you might as well get the new version. Even if you don't use it for the next 12 months, by the time it becomes usable, you'll have a license, and wont have to buy it.

FWIW: I tried Vista. No thanks.

 

The vendors have already begun to get in the vista model. It also has a lightscribe drive. This model is starting out $100 more than the XP model. I just bought the XP model, because it looks like they are going to be phasing out the XP model as they get in the Vista model. I expect that price will come down a little, but who knows. Newegg was selling the XP model for $1749. Then they got in the Vista model for $1899 and at the same time they changed the XP version price to $1799.

I looked at every US website I could find looking for good prices, and I have not seen a single case where you could buy one without the OS.

I know nothing about Vista except that it looked pretty at CompUSA on the new models. I just ordered the XP G1 and will leave XP on it, until I see a reason to change to Vista.

 

sorry to sound kind of drony, I really am not, I use Windows and OSX every single day and love using both. and really prefer OSX for some things.

but like someone else said, if you dual boot, you will end up using Vista more I think.

I wouldn't worry too much about it, you will be perfectly happy with Vista I can almost assure you.

The G1 laptop should be updated by the End of May i would think, at least somehow.

 

Microsoft has already asked for beta testers for the first service pack for Vista(tenatively due mid-late summer), so I'm gonna go ahead and assume it has some problems.