Vista vs. XP Professional (pros and cons)

Will anyone with Vista experience comment on things you like about Vista.

What does Vista do that XP can't (list advantages/improvements)?

Anything about XP Pro that is better than Vista (list disadvantages in Vista that XP doesn't share)?

 

Pros Vista:

Better security, DirectX 10, Aero.

Cons Vista:

Expensive, very demanding, will be pretty buggy until SP 1 I think.

Charlie

 

Is Aero just a visual thing (looks pretty) or does it actually do something for performance/usability?

Also, is Aero the primary reason for needing so much RAM and GPU memory? (For example, without Aero, does one not require as much RAM etc)?

 

One thing that I just found in Vista (RTM Ultimate version) is that you can resize partitions directly from Disk Manager. I was able to delete an existing logical partition and extend my primary partition onto the free space. There's also a shrink option, which I believe is non-destructive to the data, allowing you to free up space to create new partitions as required. I don't think you could do all this in XP.

 

Directx10 sounds great but what if your laptop vidcard doesnt support 10? Will there be any benefit whatsoever? Will a Go GeForce 7900 GTX support Dx10?

 

From the sounds of it that is the case, although I have heard that vista areo runs fine on an integrated GPU. Also does anyone know if MS will stop shipping updates and patches for Win XP when Vista is out?

 

Aero is not too demanding. All it needs is that the raphics card meet certain specifications(see MS website). It is not a RAM hog & Vista is not too much of a RAM hog either. Yes, it uses a more memory than Win XP but it is able to manage it better than XP. Just having free RAM by itself is a waste. You might want to read up on this blog straight from the horses mouth...
http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2006/11/20/windows-readyboost.aspx

 

MS will continue to patch up XP for a while to come even after Vista comes out, they were offering support for win98 till like 2002 I think they will do the same for XP.

 

Yeah i read xp will be supported into 2011 at least

 

I have Vista RTM for a week now and these are my observations. I got a Go7200 videocard, 1gb ram, AMD TX2 1.8Ghz

Pros:

DirextX 10. There's a noticable increase on volume
Readyboost. I tried it last night and it works, pagefiling is fast.
Aero. GUI looks better
Logging Off or Shutdown is much faster


Cons:

Battery life
Startup is slower
Office 2007 is slower (but not with Readyboost)


After I installed RTM Vista, WindowsUpdate updated my drivers (nvidia videocard, conexant, bluetooth, memory card reader). Then i went to HP site to update hp webcam, conexant hd audio. Went to manufacturing website to update lightscribe. I inserted a memory stick and it automatically updated the memory card driver.

Since it's only an RTM version, some drivers are still not yet available (expresscard)

 

What is RTM?

 

I heard Vista Bootup is much faster than XP

 

RTM - Release to Manufacturing

 

That's what I heard too... but after installing RTM, bootup and logging in is slower on my machine.

 

Are you sure you do not have a bunch of bloatware on it?

 

i know this is completely off-topic but i have no other choice, i can't find any threads regarding this, and i dont' want to start a whole new topic
i'm using XP Home, it runs normally until this afternoon when i decided to do an upgrade installation to XP pro
uhmm, this XP pro CD is not genuine, i know it's illegal and i'm not proud of it at all, but let's talk about that later. The problem is, my laptop can't turn off, hibernate or even stand by any more
i use the same CD on my desktop and it works perfectly (clean installation)
can anyone please tell me what the problem is and how to fix it??

 

Dude you got pwned by Microsoft!



I would turn off your computer by holding the power button for 10 seconds (or just unplug it from AC and battery), turn it back on, go into windows XP Pro safe mode, try to turn it off again. If this is successful, one of your XP Pro drivers or services is not ending when you run windows normally and thus the hanging shutdown. Find out which (may have to get creative here, use the task manager, check online for the list of services running, etc.).

If you can't, or this sounds too demanding, just go back to XP Home. Err I don't know if you can downgrade from Pro to Home, so you may have to 1) backup any important data on your comp and 2) reformat/reinstall Windows XP Home. That is all...

 

well, i did try everything i can, but it can't even start in safe mode, lolz
so i decided to use the recovery set to recover C drive (thanks to partition magic i have one more partition for backup)
this time the computer can't start by any way, lolz, even in safe mode
i almost smashed it, WTF?????
then i use the recovery set again, and it worked
took a total of 4 hours or so, i'll never use anything illegal again T___T

 

I think that Vista will be better for dealing with other mobile devices, something that will be particularly useful with laptops. One example that I can provide is that I installed Vista on my laptop (meager Dell M140, Pentium M 1.8, 1 GB) just for kicks. I use my Sprint Samsung A900 as a modem for internet access when out and about. On XP this requires loading the samsung drivers and then utilizing Sprint Connection manager as a front end to make the connection. On Vista, I just plugged the phone into a USB port and Vista loaded drivers for the phone. I could then set up a simple DUN connection and that was it. No special software needed to be loaded. As such, I could do it on any Vista machine anytime without having to load software.

Just one example, but for me that's pretty significant. I'm guessing that a lot of mobile devices will be easier to use under Vista without jumping through as many hoops as before.

 

Vista Pros/Cons:
Pro: beautiful, microsoft's games are actually pretty fun in it, nice effects, some games are actaully supported such as Dawn of War: Dark Crusade

Cons: uses way too much RAM!!!! a lot of drivers/softwares are not supported (for dell people that means Quickset doesn't work) - looking forward in the final version to be more compatible, Vista practically rearranged everything so it is pretty hard to find where the original applications are located at

for example: add/remove programs is no longer there it is renamed to something called programs...

 

The only REAL downside I see for Vista is it still has problem with a good number of Drivers. Most of the hardware Drivers from huge brandnamed products work, but alot of small or lesser know drivers don't.

EX: My Kensington Bluetooth USB Dongle Drivers ....Absolutly kills Vista after a restart. I tried it on RC1, 2, & RTM many times.


I say the only "REAL downside" because if you don't have 1.5GB+ RAM, then you need to upgrade or simple stick with XP until you get another pc. IMO


I do agree with azntiger1000. Vista rearranged alot of menus and even renamed some control panel options. But it doesn't take to long to get use to, and it's actually more detailed.

And Mobile Center is MUCH better than Active Sync.

Bootup and Shutdown is much faster, Maybe because with tight security and the UAC ....a bunch a registry is not created to slow things down.

Another downside is ofcourse Norton AntiVirus doesn't work (That really an Upside IMO)
and I had problems with AVG (only sometimes). But Avast works with Vista, XP and Linux Flawless. I Highly recommend Avast.

Updates are pretty good too, but does anybody know what Ultimate Extras will offer. Hopefully I will get the Updates same day they release to public.

 

They only cons that are glaring are either the massive RAm required, 1.5+GB for smooth performance, and the lack of driver support as of this moment.

 

I dunno. I've got it running on my laptop with only 1 GB and it's pretty snappy. As snappy as XP on the same laptop I'd say. No Aero though (integrated graphics) so maybe that makes a difference.

I do agree about the driver support though. I can't understand why there are so many common devices (like printers) that don't have driver support yet. I realize that Vista has just been released but I don't recall this type of issue when XP came out. Drivers were available from day one for most major components as I remember it.

 

Maybe it has to do with Microsoft not letting others inside the Kernel or something like that. I heard it's the reason that Norton doesn't work.

 

Vista works flawless with 1 G ram on my acer 5672. no driver problems, after install vista, go to windows updates, and get them from there, the missing ones, try with your xp ones.
Norton doesn't work (2007 is supposed to) because them AV hack in the kernel, and this is not possible with vista.

 

Very likely, considering the number of companies that seem to be lagging behind on their support for the OS.

But anyway, I've just discovered the best thing yet about Vista. Inkball. Man is that addictive or what?