Should I a purchase a new laptop with Vista or XP Home?

Hey guys. Im looking to pick up a new lappy here in a couple of days but im confused on what to do with some of my options. One is the OS. I can either get Vista Business or XP Home through Dell. Ive been hearing horror stories though with people using Vista as of late seeing as it has problems with old apps and slowing down machines while playing games. XP Home i know would be tested and true for me, Figuring i can upgrade to Vista at a later date. But ive had a couple people just say go ahead and get Vista and wait it out as it will surely get better. Any thoughts?

 

I didn't even know you could get Windows XP anymore. Seems like all the laptops i looked at recently only had Vista on them. I'm not a fan of committing to anything new on computers until it's been around for awhile and some bugs have been fixed. I would go with XP and see if they offer a free upgrade to Vista in the future.

 

I'd wait a bit before getting Vista, at least until they have a major update or Service Pack or something.

 

Microsoft have extended XP support until 2009 btw, with another 5 yr extended support kicking in after that (see below for relevance)

Unless you want to buy now as it will mean you won't have driver issues from upgrading yourself, or because there won't be a free upgrade deal, you can safely wait it out for a service pack for them to iron out the kinks. I myself am hoping to skip Vista!

Edit: *gasp*! A mod not on Vista! And I thought the team were all taking a bullet for their people!

 

Go for the tried and true XP.

 

I can't use Vista alone so I have both

 

if you can have both better...

 

First thing is you need to say what you do with the laptop - how you will use it. In general I would say after my two days of Vista Business so far, that XP is a better choice and you aint misssing anything in Vista, but I dont know what you actually do with your unit.

 

Im gonna mostly be doing gaming and movies

 

Vista's still fresh from the oven. Although it's hot, but the recipe is new. Those who taste it find it both bitter and sweet, but are still willing to purchase them. We might have to wait for them to improve the recipe.

Whereas XP's recipe is proven with many common ingredients, and it has worked for many bakers. It's sweet and is still pretty much the default choice for consumers.



edit: Forgot to type this. Check the compatibilities of all the games and software you're going to run before purchasing your laptop. This way you can make a better decision on either Vista or XP.

 

Right now, while Vista is shiny and new (and a lot of extra features that could provide value)...it is a little problematic and temperamental at times. If you want stability, get XP. Upgrade to Vista later.

 

Depends on the specs of the laptop.

 

Yes and no. There is a lot of hype about "latest specs" and Core2Duo to run Vista, but the truth is that most of that isnt necessary. Pentium M/Centrino was in fact a very advanced chip for its time. 32 bit Core2Duo is not that far off from it and certainly these older machines can run Vista if you give them the RAM.

You can run Vista on most machines - just turn off the resource-hogging eye candy and services, so that it doesnt overly tax the integrated video processorr. That 1.6Ghz S6231 you have for example, I owned it and it could run Vista just fine with 1GB of RAM, if you set it up.

And if the Machine is a CoreDuo instead of Core2Duo, man its not even an issue, period.

 

skagen is on point

IMO so far, vista is xp with a new gui and some user enhancements and I like it. Bring it back to classic and its hard to tell the difference(minus UAC) unless you start looking under the hood.

I tricked a friend with the classic look, "hey look at my new vista"...he says, "it looks like w98". I switched users to vista in full effects and the look in his eyes was like santa just showed up.

 

Well if you're gaming I would definitely advise you to choose XP.

 

Hmmm well now it seems that Dell has taken off the option to pick up XP Home. It was on there before where it said customize with XP or Vista.

 

I dont advise gettin XP home cuz although you might get a free upgrade to Vista , it may only be Vista home basic which is the useless version without any value added. Vista Business is a lot better value there.

 

It comes with Vista Home Premium. That pretty decent?

 

The question is, do you want to run Vista and other applications, or just Vista? You need a beefier computer to just run vista and still get the same level of performance out of your applications that you get on XP. Not to mention all the DRM and other crap that comes with Vista. It's not worth the shiny effects to me. I vote for XP (especially considering the other posts about people's problems with Vista in this forum)

 

Remember that you can always get the shinny effects through 3rd party software in XP

 

Not really. There has to be a deeper level of support (especially in Windows) of the graphical goodies. You can get transparencies in Windows XP, but that's it. No graphically-accelerated goodies like the live Window previews, fast switching, etc.

 

I would go for Vista---I did and have not regretted it one minute. Although I'm comparing apples to oranges because I bought a new computer with Vista installed, I find it more stable than I did my XP Pro. Check out the apps you already have, and if they have updates which support Vista, I would go for it. Besides, if you plan to upgrade to Vista anyway, IMO it's less headache to start out with Vista installed than to upgrade from XP.

BTW, most of the posts I've read complaining about Vista have come from people who upgraded from XP to Vista, not as much from people who bought a computer with Vista installed.

Bill

 

This is quite true - and has been the case for all versions of Windows. Clean install beats the "upgrade". Microsoft sells these upgrades for sucka prices, then the people who bite either end up having to buy the thing for real - or pirate it. Even XP Home to XP Pro upgrading was awful, never mind trying to overlay Vista on XP.

You'll find complaints on all sides. I for one got Vista on a new laptop and I have some problems with things I dont like. Other things are fine. Its both really.

 

so let me ask you guys a question. Im hearing some bad things about vista now and i got a 1705 on the way with Vista Premium installed. How much of a pain would it be to put XP Pro on that thing? Ive done reinstalls and formats hundreds of times on normal desktops but not lappys. Suggestions?

 

Before you format, make sure you can get XP drivers from Dell.
My Asus G1 will be here tomorrow (YIPPIE!!) and I have already D/L'ed the drivers for XP from Asus as I am planning on formatting and putting XP on it.

 

People who said Vista is a resource hog and need advanced hardware certainly dont know the issue they are talking about. I agree with some poster here that the amount of RAM is the key and of course, the drivers.

I am using my lappy with Core Duo and 2GB RAM. My other lappy Lenovo Y400 is equipped with Core Duo 1,6Ghz and 1,5GB RAM. Vista certainly runs fast and stable on both machines, using it mostly for Office productivity with MS Office 2007 and occasional DVD viewing and internet browsing.

I am starting to repeat myself, as my previous post in other threads, that Vista, on some applications, launch faster than when it was in XP.

 

For a laptop, I would definitely recommend Windows XP. With all the snazzy new graphical innovations behind Vista, I'm certain it will be a drain on battery life. Plus, I have never had major issues with XP crashing, especially if I have the latest antivirus updated (not firewall)