windows vs xp

Im using my laptop mostly to listen to music, play poker, and video games (mainly world of warcraft). Im not very computer saavy and would have a hard time with wierd glitches and bugs if they came up. Would it be best for someone like me to stick with xp or make the change to vista (what are the benefits of vista for what im doing)

 

Well, Vista is pretty and has better user interface, and currently has a good supply of glitches.If you want to upgrade from XP, I really suggest you wait for the Vista SP1.

 

well, in your case may as well stick with xp.

Vista is not as bad now as it was by any means but you really would have nothing to gain by moving to Vista. So untill you find a reason to XP should be fine for you.

If your notebook comes installed with vista tho, give it a shot it may not be as bad as you think it is.

 

well, the laptop i found that i could get the best hardware while maintaining a cheap price was a dv6000t. an asus or clevo with similar specs would cost me about 300-400 more. since this is only sold with vista, is there a main difference between vista home basic vs premium? is one noticeably less buggy?

 

Yes Vista Premium has Windows Aero interface(prettier and more productive then the standard interface in Vista Basic). Other features that premium has that basic doesnt have are listed in the table on this site ( http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2068721,00.asp)

Learn more about the vista versions
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/default.mspx

 

Less generalizations, more examples please. Otherwise it sounds like the typical Vista fud found in these forums.

If anything I have found Vista to be more stable than XP. I haven't blue-screened once, or run into a fatal error where Vista forced into a cold reboot. Especially if you're not a tweaker and you use your PC for basic functions, Vista will be less crash prone, especially on a PC w/ Vista preinstalled w/drivers ready to go.

More info here

EDIT:

BTW besides "automatic recovery" and "fewer user disruptions" the the advantage of using Vista is mainly usability, it is much more user friendly. For instance, if you needed to attach an external monitor for a presentation, drop down the lcd brightness and set a screen saver for the meeting, connect to the corporate LAN and sync up your smartphone to download a colleague's file to use for the presentation, you would in XP:

-Right click on the desktop panel over to the monitor tab and hit a check mark box to extend the display to an external monitor/projector, then hit another tab to set the screensaver
-Go to Start-->Control Panel-->power options to dial down the brightness (or hit the keys on your NB)
-Go to Start-->Network Conections to connect to the LAN
-Go to Start-->ActiveSync to sync up your smartphone and download the file

In Vista you would hit Windows Key+X to bring up all of these features on one control panel (Mobility Center).

The above is what most people would call "well, Vista is pretty and that's about it", when in fact it saved me several keystrokes and going through several options in several different places in the OS.

 

There are some usability enhancements in Vista. But it's the same thing as the new Control Panel in XP... I turn it off right away, because things aren't where I'd expect them to be, and it generally gets in my way.

The point is, for someone that's not terribly computer savvy, changes, even for the better, aren't always easy to deal with. He has no pressing need for Vista, and Vista has it's share of problems with WGA and so on, even more so than XP, so it's better to stick with what you know than be a beta tester for Microsoft.

 

The biggest deal with Vista is power drainage. Using the Aero interface is pretty but it makes the GPU work which means less batterylife. Sure you say turn it off. Ok now you're back to XP with less hardware support and less harddrive space because Vista takes up more room and since it's not business you don't get the fancy back up benefit from this huge drain on HD space. Your games also run slower because drivers are tweaked up yet.

Security is annoying. Turn it off you say ok, there isn't much free AV/Firewall software for it so you're less protected. Run Nortons you say, Heck no it's like a virus unless you buy the corporate edition.

 

Run Avast! (for antivirus)

even if you turn off areo there is a big diffrence from vista to xp.

Dont let your thoughts get confused with the facts.