Vista Home Premium or Ultimate

Making a labtop with 4 GB, which should I put in. Is it ultimate much better?

 

I just got Windows Vista Ultimate, and installed the x64 one. It is worth it.

I find it WAY better than the x86 Home Premium that I had earlier! I think it is faster in response time, and I know it is more secure.

So, if you can spend a bit more, get Vista Ultimate and install the x64 edition.

 

The best so far for me, is the Business... less microsoft junck than ultimate and home premium.

Ultimate just not justify its price, its full of useless junck... dreamscene that is one special ultimate only extra is one of that useless things...

Just my opinion...

 

I think you're nuts.

The only advantage you are seeing is in 64bit over 32-bit, and I would argue you probably are not seeing any real advantage there.

Ultra is Home premium with a few toys from the ultimate extras and the ability to hook up to domains.

Ultra is not inherently better than Home-it just has more "features"--they are the same basic OS. Think of it like a car. Two cars exactly the same except the "luxury package" has leather seats instead of vinyl. Do the leather seats make it faster? No.

 

Ultimate contains everything, but it's hundreds of dollars more than Home Premium. You get some fancy networking and "ultimate extras," but it's not worth it at all.

 

Definitely. Too bad Business costs more, because it's the lightest.

 

I use Ultimate... wouldn't change for the world. As Silas states, there is a performance increase if you go with X64 Ultimate even in 32bit programs which are running in X86 mode.

I will be the first to concede that Dreamscene is only Candy but, if you put the time into finding a decent background MPEG you like, your system will look great playing it while you work. It does not take up that much CPU to worry about. Further, the video stops while you are using a window/typing or whatnot fullscreen in the foreground. Its a nice toy.

The biggest advantage for me is the fact that only with Vista Ultimate do you get the "Complete PC Backup" option where you can back your whole system up onto disk or even flash if you have one large enough and restore it when you want to.

Formerly, the instability of XP would have made this a great addon but, I find X64 Vista Ultimate to be the most stable of all OS's I have ever used...

Aside from that, Ultimate comes with language packs and other toys but you lose a bit too, this with respect to the security program if you elect to go with X64. Bitlocker...I cannot get to work at all. This includes file/folder encryption which is not there in 64bit.

On the other hand, running a 64bit environment is a degree of virus and intruder protection in itself as most viruses are made for the 32 bit environment ( a former bragging point of the mac was this not)?

As for installation, you will need to be a bit patient. There is alot of help here but you may have to hunt down one or two drivers yourself and you will need to just sit back and ask yourself why if an installation or something doesnt quite work just right.

Installing X64 is like creating your own being in a way. You will build it from the bottom up putting all the pieces together then at the end of the day you will feel you have accomplished something, so you will make your backup set...only to find you will never need it because X64 is so stable.

See that...started out on the premium/Ultimate conversation then went to 86/64... Nice!

 

If you have 4GB RAM, you don't need Ultimate to get the 64bit version. There are 64bit versions of all of the other Vista's as well. It might be hard to get it from the factory that way though, so you'd have to install it yourself.

Otherwise, Ultimate is ice with complete pc backup and previous versions, but if you are paying full retail price (or anything more than $40-$50) for it, I don't think it's worth it.

 

Full price??? Yuk! Agreed there!

 

x64 is V8 and x86 is in-line 4.

 

It's more like:
x86 = in-line 4
x64 = in-line 4 with all-wheel drive

There's really not a huge difference between the two. x64 lets you use more RAM, and provides a few more stability options then x86. That's really about it.

 

Actually....this was a discussion within a thread way back and I went and dug up an article that I cannot find right now but....

I recall it stating that, even in X86 programs you may see a 10 to 15% performance increase while using a 64bit OS.

On the other hand, i would agree though that may be marginal...just enough to notice the difference.

 

one thing of note....

Ultimate is the complete version... everything else is windows Vista "minus".

You have to understand that the technical people make the OS as a complete package and the marketing people chop it up.

how this matters is that Microsoft has to install something to make sure you don't get the features you didn't pay for...

The "lightest" version of Vista is Ultimate with the junk turned off.
(yes you can turn most things Ultimate adds off)
The reason for this is that there a things that must be active in all other versions that cannot be turned off.

 

Yes, Ultimate is the best version of them all, but it's not worth the money if you're getting the retail version.

 

The "best" version is dependant on the user.

The difference is $60 on newegg from home premium to ultimate...
It's $20 on newegg from business to ultimate.

Either is worth my time by a long shot if I can not deal with one more Microsoft "you can have X and Z but not Y" intrusion program running.

I spend more than $60 on a good wine for a meal...
Less micrsoft intrusion is quite easily worth $60 to me...
(honestly for me it's $20 because I require the business portion)

Another thing... I buy the complete version and then do not feel beholden to anyone about using this OS however I choose.

 

Damn, I AGAIN missed the fact that x64 is present in EVERY version of Vista. Earlier, I thought it was only in Vista Ultimate. My mistake.

 

KernalPanic the best version = the one with most features. That's my point of view.

 

So how much trouble did you guys encounter in setting up a 64bit system?

I've Ultimate 64bit disk, but I'm reluctant to use it due to compatibility issues with 64bit systems.

 

None. And if I can do it, you can too!

 

It's the OEM edition. I think basic is like $100 and ultimate $180. It's the same price everywhere.


No proble,ms here either with it. Although I suggest it only to advanced users, as you have to do some thing to get some drivers to work. (like modying a file in the NF6 x64 drivers to support my NF4 desktop during beta 2). I had difficulties finding my AC'97 x64 drivers though but it was during beta again

 

The only problems I had was a small issue with itunes that was fixed with a patch, my palm tx doesn't work over USB (though bluetooth and wifi work), and i had to get different drivers for my razr.