On the cusp of new notebook purchase ? opinons re wait for preloaded Vista or go with XP now ?

[Jerry]

A clear curiosity and request for intelligent, informed opinions.

The new notebook will be purchased with 2gig of Dram. It will have a decent, current CPU and at least 120 to 160 gig of Hard Drive.

I do not know what the new Vista ? so called - expanded hardware requirements are, but I would probably prefer to enjoy the un-maxed out WinXP use of the 2 gig etc, than the Vista possible assuming those hardware specs to be the new norm.

In other words, besides the fact that I do not consider that I am particularly unhappy with XP SP2 (pro or home).

There is the upgrade factor of later adding Vista on to the notebook and the PC Mag reported ? not so easy to upgrade to Vista ? perspective.

Anyway, I am right on the cusp of the purchase. Various Warehouse stores have taken all of their notebooks off the shelves, and it dawned on me that when they return, purportedly at the end of January, they will have Vista loaded on them and that is whey they are off the shelves.

So?. Now I can order an XP system on line or wait two weeks to have no choice but a Vista system.

Opinions on a/the upside to waiting or not for a pre loaded vista on a notebook ?

If I don?t shut up and let you respond it may take two weeks for you to read all this?

Opinions and concepts re the above ?

 

[regnez]

Vista is not going to be industry standard for awhile, so if you wanted to get a laptop now that had XP on it, you would be okay for at least a couple of years.

I know a bunch of people who still run Win2k on their computers, because they simply have no reason to upgrade to XP.

If you are worried about buying a laptop now because you feel the hardware won't be up to snuff for Vista, don't be. Vista is not as demanding as everyone makes it out to be, and any computer bought today would be able to run it with Aero and everything. Another thing about Vista is that, from early reports, it seems to allocate system resources better than XP does.

That is the only advice I can give after reading the above, because I could not really make out what you were asking.

 

[Jerry]

I guess I gave too much hardware information, sorry. The point I am asking about - or better stated looking for opinions and feedback about is along the lines of what you did respond with.
I have done some research on Vista, but do not have it nailed yet as to the desirable-ness of waiting on a pre loaded Vista sytsem, / the is it all that much better - / the upgrade factors or difficulties / the need for service packs in the near future / the value of having it pre loaded rather than trying to upgrade later / etc.
Its a Forum and folks provide thier two cents worth, if they are willing.
'All goes into the mental pressure cooker and out comes the decisions. Thanks and I look forward to other responses...

 

[Jerry]

AND that reference to allocation of system resources and the ability to use USB flash cards for swap file speed, etc. for example and the relevance of such to the move I am about to make

 

[Ken20]

Well, surprising as it is, this is just what I was thinking about with a very soon purchase to be made. I would be interested, also, in comments and thoughts on this.

 

[alimoalem]

Originally posted by: Jerry
I guess I gave too much hardware information, sorry.

i think he meant your wording was a little difficult for him to understand what your question was.

i don't understand why vista would be hard to install. how would it be any harder than installing XP? many manufacturers are selling their laptops with free Vista upgrades so if you can't wait, i would go with one of those.

before you do make a purchase, however, go to the SFF, Notebook forum (you posted in General Hardware) and post the specs of the laptop you plan on purchasing. some components may hinder your vista experience

 

[Beatnik]

Get it with XP now. Trust me. Vista is bleeding edge at this point, i.e. the drivers are weak or non-existent. And the old/new graphics drivers are potential issues as well. It isn't as transparent of a transition as people are telling you.

For sure, get the "free upgrade" coupon. But for now, you want to be on XP. And that is not going to change for probably the next 6 months. Running Vista Business as I type this, regretably, for work.

 

[Kartajan]

My $.02:

If you have a home network, I would go XP; Vista has had some "difficulties" communicating well w XP (or earlier) based networks as of the last version I played with (RC1).

(All fully Vista networks I have seen are very network happy, in contrast)

If you have any desire to game on the laptop, Vista drivers are WAY too immature for a comparable experience to XP.

If the Laptop is "all alone", I would go ahead and get Vista if the price is right (IE- not way higher), but only if it will have Home Premium (@ Home), or Business (Business Enterprise I beleive is the proper name for the "middle" version) as appopriate..

No Basic ANYTHING for Vista, and if you are greedy like me, Ultimate is "da Bomb" version of Vista, w/ a HUGE price premium for that one.

(At 2G RAM, Vista is nice, and the new kernel is security wise way better..)

Hope that helps......

 

[Beatnik]

Good point on the networking. What you get is IPV6 enabled by default, and you get Link-Local-Discovery, which is a new service location protocol. So get ready for some networking behavior you have never seen before.

I'm just sceptical that the driver support for laptop devices is going to be anywhere near ready any time soon. I mean, I have a Geforce 7900 GT, and an Audigy 2 ZS is this machine (Vista Business). And the drivers are scary-scary-scary at this point. And this is RTM, the final code. So... hang onto your hats people. I suspect that the vendors are going to take months figuring out the driver issues on notebooks... starting... now. Go!

 

[Ken20]

Wow, thanks Beatnik, Kartajan, regnez, alimoalem,
Those last several posts are invaluable on this topic.
I definitely do not need prospective concerns in the networking area.
Thanks very much,
J

 

[Jerry]

?Got in a bit late and see that Ken has beat me to the punch. Excellent. Thanks guys. XP for me, for now. Without this forum I don?t know how I would have gotten this info (inside skinny from those who have used Vista at this stage)
Thanks from me also.