Vista vs. XP Pro

So I just picked up a new HP 6646 after my old laptop completely crapped out on me and am really loving this machine so far.

I'm not THAT computer savvy, although I have quite a few years under my belt most of which is hrs spent on the laptop online and playing with photoshop. Although I'm not an expert, I do know my way around.

I've always heard how Vista is disliked, etc.
But, why is that exactly?

I have the opportunity to get a copy of XP pro.
Should I swicth?
If I was to switch the OS to XP Pro, could I do a custom install and keep/remove whichever programs I want that were included in the laptop?

Also, what are the best tweaks/settings to have my new laptop working as quick as it can, what should I remove, etc?
Are there any programs highly favored that I should DL? (Such as Firefox, etc.)

 

I love Vista, quick, nice to use, good features, rock solid (for me at least). Wouldnt go back to XP.

 

same won't go back to xp, only had 2 BSOD, one was me being stupid, and the other was caused by another application, not vista its self.

no issues yet!

LOVE the start search thing!

 

Vista rants are only by people who can't cope with the new features. I love vista. I can't go back to xp no matter what.

The much hated GUI is awesome, and when customized looks even better.

Sidebar is handy and barely takes up any ram, and i can use the computer all day long and stay under 800mb of ram usage.

You should pick vista, and downloading Firefox is a definite whether you stick with xp or go vista.

 

That is completely wrong, a ridiculous generalization. Vista does have issues, and simply because you haven't experienced them is no proof that they do not exist. I for one am an experienced computer user and have many reasons for not using Vista. By your reasoning, does that mean that I "can't cope with the new features?"

To the OP; don't rely on other people's opinions. Everybody has differnet expectations from their OS. Try Vista, and if it doesn't work out for you, try whatever else you want.

 

Alright, lets get down to the point. I'll change my stance here. I'll be a dude who hates vista now here's what i'd say:

Now hmmmm, lets see. Aero can be turned off and the default style set...there's googling for good gadgets...plus if he can't run those why not stick with xp. only get vista if you have at least 800mb of ram if you want all the fancy features.

He could just run compatibility mode for the games and everything runs slower because he don't have the right specs. there's program compatibility and most still work on vista.

I agree that it's all preference but i didn't think he was up for a dual boot. Heck, i don't want to dual boot and it should be easy for me. Too much hassle.

 

Vista is better because it's newer.

 

Couldn't agree more!

XP was/is OK. I only upgraded from Win2k on my desktop because I couldn't get a TV Tuner card to work.

So far, I'm very happy with Vista on my laptop.

It's like everything else....your mileage may vary!

If you want to do custom install and you don't have a Vista disk...get a copy of the Vista Anytime Upgrade disk (Compusa for $5/mailorder) and do a clean install (howto here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=120228).

 

Honestly I've really just been playing online and haven't really explore Vista entirely...I think that will come in time when I do various tasks, etc.

What's BSOD???

Can you explain the GUI and Sidebar?

Could you elaborate?

 

I would go with Vista since you are soliciting opinions. I never did like XP much, and you might as well become well schooled in using it now so you're not behind the curve later on when XP is phased out completely. IMHO, of course

 

Cobra a BSOD is a blue screen of death.

Also, the gui is aero which a lot of people say they hate because of the 120mb of ram it uses. Customizing includes changing some files but after that you can use custom themes.

In sidebar i have time and clock with system tools which even though i can access them via start menu they are faster to utilize. you can set vista to use default style which turns it classic if you need the ram.

Any more questions?

 

Ahhhhh, I got it
First thing I X'ed out was that sidebar thing.

How do I bring it back?
What's the difference with default style exactly and how do I set it so?

 

Just but "sidebar" in the windows search menu and open he program. Also calssic looks like win98, 2k.

 

I think you need to try out both OS's and then make a decision. It took me about 8 installs to get Vista to finally run properly on my laptop along with hours of driver searching and reinstalling; my desktop took one install and runs Vista perfectly.

Vista isn't perfect on every hardware combination yet so some people will have great experiences, and others will be dreadful.

I honestly can't say Vista "feels" better than XP. XP is so responsive, quick, gets me more battery life on my laptop, and it just works.. But I went with Vista because I just like it. I enjoy the challenge of making it work so go with what makes you happy!

 

Vista's Aero interface wasn't what made me abandon the OS; in fact I think that the GUI of an OS is very important, seeing as it is the interface that the OS uses to communicate with the user. I found Aero to be quite elegant and easy on the eyes.

 

Well OP, i would say it depends on your hardware. I have vista ultimate X64 on my desktop, it works fine, no major complaints. Personally i dont think thats good enough for being in development for like 5 years but hey could be worse. Heres what i noticed and liked about vista:

1. Indexing service, was great on the desktop, really sped up searching, useless on my laptop as it wont index my USB hard drive

2. Ctrl+Alt+Del never fails to bring up the task manager, ever.

3. It keeps all your games in a little folder called "games manager" and gives them prettier icons and a performance number giving you an idea how it will perform.

Thats it though, i never saw any other differences with vista. If you play games and have a geforce 8 series card definately stick with XP, if you play games at all i would still stick with XP, im not having a fantastic time on my laptop right now, and im gonna downgrade to XP shortly due to driver troubles.

 

I think so too, i just customized it a little to make it better for me.

 

General question: Where are the Parental Controls in Vista? Is it only available in certain versions?

 

Now i have mixed opinos on vista..I dual boot xp and vista but genrally i load up xp because.. Its faster at booting.. all my games get better FPS on it ect.. But if im showing my laptop to somone ill boot into vista to show off the nice eye candy.

 

I have used XP Pro since the release and at that time it ran slow becuase the hardware had not caught up to a reasonable price and people had the same complaint then. Vista is a ram hog, but in a year or two, as hardware becomes cheaper, I would imagine that it will be much better than XP. It really depends on what programs you want to run. I have Vista on my laptop which has ok specs, but I cant run my ram hungry programs like 3D Max, so I run it on my desktop which has XP becuase of the ram issues. Photoshop should run nicely on your Vista OS because it is not too bad on ram. Assuming that is the most ram hungry program you are running, and assuming that your computer has 1 gig ram, I would stick with Vista.

 

Well, I used the XP pro for a long while, it seems good. I had the Vista home premium for a very short while, so I had no time to notice anything, but I see it has got problems with Nero Burning Rom 6 and other programs. It also has got boring advising about lot of things.
Anyway, with my next notebook I think I will chooce Vista.
I would like to ask this: apparently the differences between Vista Buisiness and the Home Premium are just few features more, nothing about the solidity and stability of the OS. Is that so, or Vista Buiseness is more reliable and stable than the Home premium, as the Xp pro is for the home one?
ANother point: I made a copy of the Vista coming with a notebook I gave back. I have the key, and also the s/n of the notebook. I nevere registerd or activated it, but I do not know if LG did it in the fabric.
Should I be able to install it on a new Dell laptop, making it recognized as original by Microsoft?

 

I love Vista. It's so stable no matter what I do in it. I only had 1 BSOD after a year of using it. Turned out that the USN journal, a type of index, was shifted out of place. Ran checkdisk and was easily fixed. This is on my laptop ASUS G1S.