Windows Vista RC1 ATOS reviews

[jlbenedict]

I cannot vouch for this since I have recieved the maximum amount of keys issued, but apparently if you have not got a Vista key yet, they may be available again:

Vista Key

 

[MikeyLSU]

1. What hardware did you install the RC1 on ?
AMD 2500+ OCed to 2.2
1.5 GB of PC 3200
ATI x850 xt
250GB HDD 7200

2. Does Vista feel faster, slower or the same as Windows XP ?
probably slightly slower, generally, when pulling up IE or explorer, seems there is a slightly longer delay for something to happen. Games seem to also be just a slight bit slower.

3. Did you have trouble installing software and if so what software was it ?
No trouble with anything.

4. Was there any new features that you loved ?
I love that from format to being in windows took 22 minutes. Media Center is great with hooking it up to my XBOX 360 and playing videos on my TV easily.

5. Was there any new features that you hated ?
I don't like the gadgets sidebar thing. Just a little annoyance becasue it is automatically on instead of off, so just one more thing you have to do on an install.

6. Will Vista be worth $200 to $400 ?
I would probably not buy it for that price. I think I would want the ultimate edition, and can't see paying over $200 for it. I would probably wait a year or 2 then get it slightly cheaper. I would probably pay $150 for it, but not much higher than that.

 

[ROEHUNTER]

Originally posted by: jlbenedict
I cannot vouch for this since I have recieved the maximum amount of keys issued, but apparently if you have not got a Vista key yet, they may be available again:

Vista Key

I just got my key using that same link

 

[ProviaFan]

1. What hardware did you install the RC1 on ?

I installed Vista RC1 x64 on the X2 system in my sig. To summarize:

Athlon 64 X2 4400+
ASUS A8N-E
4GB (4x 1GB Transcend PC3200)
Western Digital Raptor 150GB (there are others, but this one holds Vista)
NVIDIA Geforce 6600 128MB PCIe
21" LCD at 1600x1200 (perhaps important to know for my performance comments below)

2. Does Vista feel faster, slower or the same as Windows XP ?

Doing the same things that I do in XP, it seems fairly comparable. XP x64 is kept on the 1st-gen 36GB Raptor, while Vista is kept on the recently acquired 150GB Raptor, so this could bias the comparison somewhat.

3. Did you have trouble installing software and if so what software was it ?

My Gretag Macbeth Eye One Display2 colorimeter drivers refused to load due to the "signed drivers only" nonsense (only stupid because it's absolutely mandatory, with no power user option to disable). However, calibration is still possible if I reboot and force the signed driver check off with an option in the F8 boot menu; the calibration is retained perfectly even after the colorimeter is unplugged and the system is rebooted normally. For a pre-release OS with many internal changes, this level of working-ness for obscure devices is great in my opinion.

Office 2007 beta 2 installed but hung when I attempted to start Word. The uninstall then hung itself about half of the way through, but must have been successful enough to get most of the suite excised anyway.

4. Was there any new features that you loved ?

The new GUI is pleasing in general. I'm starting to like the layout of the new start menu (and the ability to hit Start, type in a command e.g. "cmd", and execute it upon pressing enter). I'm not sure how much I "love" this, but Vista seems to cache things more efficiently / better than XP did, of course at a "penalty" in RAM usage (I'm idling at 1.42GB right now, with Firefox, Outlook, Foobar2000, and two Folding@Home clients in the background - which would have been 500MB max under XP x64).

5. Was there any new features that you hated ?

I'm not sure that I "hate" it, but Flip 3D is worthless. Everyone would complain if Microsoft copied Apple's Expose, but having Expose would actually be worthwhile, unlike a useless glorified Alt+Tab replacement that is horribly sluggish on anything except high-end workstation or gaming graphics cards (evidently, as it sucks on mine). The new Alt-Tab, by the way, and the taskbar previews, are very cool (but that belongs in the previous section... oops).

6. Will Vista be worth $200 to $400 ?

I'll get it for (hopefully) less than US$20 through my university, so the question for me becomes would I buy or recommend it for my parents or relatives? The answer is a definite no for existing hardware, though if they were getting a new computer they might as well wait for Vista in that case.

For myself, though, I plan to keep running RC1 as much as possible until I can get the RTM, unless I hit some as of yet unforeseen snag.