HELP!? XP OR VISTA!?

which one should i get? they say vista sucks. u cant burn dvds, and they took a lot of stuff of off it. help. tell me whats new and what they took off. why it sucks, or why its cool

Originally Posted by kinglink

which one should i get? they say vista sucks. u cant burn dvds, and they took a lot of stuff of off it. help. tell me whats new and what they took off. why it sucks, or why its cool

Who told you that? I just burned a DVD off my computer last week. Vista isn't as bad as people say it is. Truth be told, people are cheap and don't want to upgrade so they look for minor flaws. The way Vista stands now it is about equal with XP(my copy of Vista has never given me any problems at all). Besides, Microsoft is going to stop supporting XP within the next year.

Vista works LOADS better than my XP. It's more soothing and a pretty decent upgrade.
I recommend Vista, but yu should have a poll here...

Vista takes a little more to work than XP just because of how fancy they tried to make it. But if you turn off some things, it can be pretty fast.

If your computer can handle it, get Vista. But unless you have at least 1.5 gigs of ram, go with XP.

Get XP. When I got my computer, I specificlly made sure that it DIDN'T have Vista. It has loads of security problems, low hardware support, and high system requirements. There are a few improvements, but they're not enough to compensate for it's flaws.

So yeah, get XP.

Originally Posted by Twilightwolf64

Get XP. When I got my computer, I specificlly made sure that it DIDN'T have Vista. It has loads of security problems, low hardware support, and high system requirements. There are a few improvements, but they're not enough to compensate for it's flaws.

So yeah, get XP.

XP won't be supported in the next year, a downgrade is pointless. Besides, what secruity problems? I have had a total of zero so far.

^ Actually, it looks like XP will be supported for some time to come, due to Vista's low sales and negative publicity.

Originally Posted by Twilightwolf64

Get XP. When I got my computer, I specificlly made sure that it DIDN'T have Vista. It has loads of security problems, low hardware support, and high system requirements. There are a few improvements, but they're not enough to compensate for it's flaws.

So yeah, get XP.

I'm taking it that this is coming from a guy who's NEVER tried Vista. It barely has anything you said there, with the security and hardware support.
I'm taking it you've heard this from another person?

Originally Posted by Twilightwolf64

^ Actually, it looks like XP will be supported for some time to come, due to Vista's low sales and negative publicity.

yeah, about a year, just like I said. Check here
Please Verify your Location

As this date comes closer less devs will make products for it. They will slowly start to ween from XP in the next couple of months.

You know, I thought Vista would suck too, and I was gonna go back to XP when I found out my new computer had it. I tried it anyway though, and I havn't had any problems with it yet.

Vista's OK if you get a computer with enough power, although games will run smoother on an XP machine due to Vista's higher system requirements.

For general use, both are good. Just be sure you have around 2 gigs of RAM if you go with Vista.

depends on your hardware and intended use

Originally Posted by Razekial

Vista's OK if you get a computer with enough power, although games will run smoother on an XP machine due to Vista's higher system requirements.

For general use, both are good. Just be sure you have around 2 gigs of RAM if you go with Vista.

drivers... not requirements DRIVERS.

Originally Posted by Twilightwolf64

Get XP. When I got my computer, I specificlly made sure that it DIDN'T have Vista. It has loads of security problems,

Fewer than XP. Far fewer than XP.

Tell me, do you know what the Vista devs did to make it more secure?

low hardware support,

Depends. If you've got hardware made in the last two years, then this isn't an issue. (Unless you buy a 64 bit version of Vista, in which case I've got to ask what you were thinking.)

If your hardware is older, you might have an issue, but that depends on who made it.

and high system requirements.

Not overly so, no.

The CPU requirements are essentially nil, RAM is a bit steep, but not overly so (I haven't seen a computer for sale with less than a gig for well over a year), and the only real sticking point is the video card. However, you can buy a $150 video card that can run Vista without issue.

There are a few improvements,

Wikipedia has eight articles, all of them about 10 pages long, dedicated to saying what these "few" improvements are.

but they're not enough to compensate for it's flaws.

The only real flaw is that you can't run it on a low-end system. If you spend...oh, $800+ on your computer you're fine.

Originally Posted by Twilightwolf64

^ Actually, it looks like XP will be supported for some time to come, due to Vista's low sales and negative publicity.

Nope. Microsoft has confirmed that they're dropping all support for XP this year.

In addition, Vista hasn't had low sales. Lower than expected? Yes. Low? No.



Now, I do want to say, at launch all of your complaints were very valid, only someone who had lots of time, money, and patience bothered with Vista then.

However, it's been over a year, features have been tweaked, code has been altered, hardware manufacturers have gotten their game on, and things have generally improved.


The only real flaws that people seem to find with Vista are these:
Slow read/write times on some PCs. This has been fixed for some people with SP1, but not everyone.

Legacy hardware support is not ideal.

Security dialogues can be annoying. (But they work.)

Some games run slower under Vista (This is, almost entirely, because the drivers for Vista are still not as well-tuned as the XP ones.)


So, you look at all this, and you have to think: Are these small problems worth buying XP and then, in a year, buying Vista? Absolutely not.


To the OP: What do you intend to use Vista for, by the way? There are 5 different versions (Well, 10, since they all come in 32bit or 64bit versions.), all priced differently, so it's a good idea to know what features you want so that you can buy the cheapest version that has all of them. (This is likely Home Premium.)

A quick rundown of them:
Home Basic: Doesn't have much. It is, essentially, Windows XP only more secure and with poorer hardware support. (Your friend who said that they couldn't burn DVDs probably has this version, which doesn't have built-in DVD burning software. However, there's nothing to stop you buying Nero or equivalent.)

Home Premium: Lots of new features here (including built-in DVD burning), ideal for pretty much every home user. It also has Windows Media Center built-in, which can be quite useful for some people.

You won't want either of the business versions, they lack features that the home ones have, cost more, and the new features they add are much more business-focused. (Plus, you can't buy one of them (Enterprise Edition) unless you've got some arrangement or other with Microsoft.)

Ultimate: This is the most expensive version of Vista, but it has all the features from all the other versions, plus "Ultimate extras". However, the Ultimate Extras suck, and if you're a home user you don't need anything but what Home Premium has, so no real point in getting this one.

As I said above, all of these come in 32-bit or 64-bit versions. The 64-bit versions are more secure, support having more RAM and, potentially, are faster.

However, you have poorer software support (many installers simply won't run), poorer driver support (drivers have to be written specifically for 64-bit Vista, and the creators then have to pay Microsoft to get them signed) and most programs actually run slower.

Also: Are you buying any computer hardware when you by Vista? If so, buy an OEM version. They cost half as much and have all the same features. The only difference is you don't get free tech support from Microsoft.

However, you can buy a $15 video card that can run Vista without issue.

fixed.

really the GUI doesn't need THAT much FYI.

Don't you need one of those cards that insists it's DX10 compatible? Or does anything with sufficient horsepower work?

Originally Posted by GDwarf

Don't you need one of those cards that insists it's DX10 compatible? Or does anything with sufficient horsepower work?

Thats only if you're running games that require DirectX 10.

Don't need a high end graphics card just to run Aero.

*pokes head in*

DON'T DO IT!

Anyways, Vista's a pain. Currently, we have one computer on Windows 98, two on XP, and one on Vista. The Vista one is shiny and new and it's simply a pain to work with.

ALot of the probelsm we've found are probably related to CA Security center, but either way they are problems we've had with the Vista monster. One problem is that nothing is where it should be. In Word, we can never find the right buttons. Paint is messed up to the points of giving me a headache. It eats internet. That's probably the fault of some security junk, but when internet does load it takes three times as long as my laptop. And because nothing is where it should be, we can never find the thing to make it load faster. Another problem was that it ate the cookie menu. Literally. We had to go all the way though the pages of security info before getting the cookie menu working. The constant questions are annoying too. If you click on something to tell it to run, it asks you if you're sure. A few seconds later, it asks you again. It stops to ask if you want to run the autorun on a CD when you first put it in. The pop ups are annoying. Currently, it's completely eaten the internet. It works on the XP computers, and the 98. Internet simply doesn't run on Vista anymore because it ate the DNS. Another annoying little feature is that Ctrl + Alt + Del doesn't simply bring up the task manager. Instead, it nearly freezes the computer to bring up a window asking what you want to do.

Long story short, for anything other then Photoshop and full screen programs I'd rather be using the Windows 98, the computer that freezes every five minutes and has too many problems to count. The computer we got with Vista is still shiny and brand new, yet it works terribly. For that I blame Vista.

Anyways, I'm bad with computers, so feel free to completely ignore me, but I'd say that XP works better.

Originally Posted by Dog Dog 123

*pokes head in*

DON'T DO IT!

Anyways, Vista's a pain. Currently, we have one computer on Windows 98, two on XP, and one on Vista. The Vista one is shiny and new and it's simply a pain to work with.

ALot of the probelsm we've found are probably related to CA Security center, but either way they are problems we've had with the Vista monster. One problem is that nothing is where it should be. In Word, we can never find the right buttons. Paint is messed up to the points of giving me a headache.

This is not, in and of itself, a problem. I think everyone can agree that Windows 95 (or 98, or 2000, or XP, or Vista) is better than Windows 3.1. Yet everything is in a different place in 95 (or the others) than it is in 3.1

It eats internet. That's probably the fault of some security junk, but when internet does load it takes three times as long as my laptop. And because nothing is where it should be, we can never find the thing to make it load faster.

I know Vista throttles network speed if you're streaming video, but other than that you seem to be the only person with this problem.

Also, what do you mean the "thing to make it load faster"?

Another problem was that it ate the cookie menu. Literally. We had to go all the way though the pages of security info before getting the cookie menu working.

Again, this is a subjective judgement.

The constant questions are annoying too. If you click on something to tell it to run, it asks you if you're sure. A few seconds later, it asks you again. It stops to ask if you want to run the autorun on a CD when you first put it in.

I count that as a good thing, actually.

The alternative is what XP and previous do, which is to allow every program to do whatever it wants all the time.

There's a reason that it's so easy to write spyware and viruses for Windows.

[quote]Currently, it's completely eaten the internet. It works on the XP computers, and the 98. Internet simply doesn't run on Vista anymore because it ate the DNS.[/quoe]
It "ate" the DNS?

What does that even mean? DNS is a listing of domain names that pairs them with IP addresses. It's all done by independent servers, not your home PC.

Also, are you sure that Vista is why your connection is slow? I can think of plenty of other causes, depending on what kind of network you've got.

Another annoying little feature is that Ctrl + Alt + Del doesn't simply bring up the task manager. Instead, it nearly freezes the computer to bring up a window asking what you want to do.

There is presumably a toggle for that. If not, that was standard in Windows XP Business editions.

Long story short, for anything other then Photoshop and full screen programs I'd rather be using the Windows 98, the computer that freezes every five minutes and has too many problems to count. The computer we got with Vista is still shiny and brand new, yet it works terribly. For that I blame Vista.

Anyways, I'm bad with computers, so feel free to completely ignore me, but I'd say that XP works better.

Freezes? That sounds like driver issues, not Vista. What hardware do you have, and when was the last time you did a driver update?

Originally Posted by squall24

XP won't be supported in the next year, a downgrade is pointless. Besides, what secruity problems? I have had a total of zero so far.

Ok heres the thing. Your right about downgrading because life is about moving forward, but what about being safe. If you buy something bad you wasted money or be on the safe side and get XP. Now there is also the part where you said that you had or have no problems yet. What you say can depend on how long you have Vista. You might not use it as much as the people who use it consistantly. Besides they might come out with something better. But in my opinion I am thinking about getting Vista because they are suppost to come out with another Service Pack and it should fix the problem that have occurred or prevent the problems that could occur. I plan to wait a while (3-4 months) before making a decision. I would suggest that to people who want to switch to Vista.