I have a lot of mixed feelings about Vista. I have had XP for a while now and don't want to switch if its going to make things run slower. Don't fix what isn't broken right?

My question is for those of you running Vista what are some of the pro's/con's of it.

I have heard that it won't install certain programs because they have already been installed on another computer. I don't know, I've heard a lot of success and horror stories about Vista.

Also, would you reccommend I run Vista rather than XP with these speccs. Or will it just make things slower for me?

Intel Dual-Core Wolfdale 3.0Ghz, 1333Mhz FSB, 6MB L2 Cache
nVida GeForce 8800GTS 512MB
2GB DDR2 RAM (possibly going to 4gb soon)
1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s HDD

You'll be fine. Vista runs better than XP ever did on my old computer, and my Vista computer is running on lesser hardware.

The only thing that annoyed me about Vista was Secure Desktop. Secure Desktop just darkens the rest of the screen when a UAC prompt comes up. I figured out how to disable it with regedit, and that's about it.

If you get Vista, make sure to install SP1. Vista at launch wasn't very good.

Vista had some driver problems when it first came out but those have been fixed for the most part. Most applications\games that work on XP will work just fine on Vista. For the applications that don't, there is usually a way to update/patch them so they do.

Your computer is more than enough to handle Vista. Vista does use more resources than XP, however it unloads a lot of those resources when you use resource intensive programs to free things up. Some people find Vista bloated, however it's very easy to disable and uninstall a lot of Vista's services/programs.

Now if you plan to buy Vista, I'd suggest against it. I think Vista is better than XP because of all the small changes that add up to improve the overall experience of the OS. However, Vista isn't going to bring a lot of new major things to your computer. Unless your upgrading to Vista 64bit to take advantage of all your ram or getting Vista through some "cheaper method", I would hold off until Windows 7.

I already have a copy of XP. So are you saying it wouldn't be that great of a benefit to actually buy Vista and use it? I want to make sure I get full use out of my hardware, will vista help utilize it better?

Does SC run on Vista, because if not, I'm sticking with XP.

Starcraft runs perfectly fine on Vista. The only Blizzard game I had trouble with was Diablo 2 (easily solved by updating the game from the battle.net website). Even Diablo 1 worked fine for me.

You will either need Windows Xp/Vista 64bit (I highly suggest Vista in this case) when you upgrade to 4gigs of ram. All (Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix) 32bit Operating Systems have a restriction of up to 4gigs of ram. So your 4 gigs and 512 (I'm guessing) of graphic card memory totals 4.5gigs of ram. In order to get the most out of that you will need a 64bit version of Windows.

I can't comment on how backwards compatible Windows Xp/Vista 64bit are.

Vista has DX10, so you'll be able to get the best picture quality from your games. Vista has a bunch of little things that add up to make it great. It depends on how much of an issue money is with you. If you're just splurging or not paying, go for it. Otherwise, skip until Windows 7.

If you're going to buy Windows Vista Ultimate, it is NOT worth the 600$. I can't imagine paying more for an OS than for the computer to run it on.

Also, do you have a 64-Bit processor? If not, you won't be able to use anymore than 3.5GB of that RAM. As well, if you decide to get the 64-Bit version of Windows Vista (It's not like it's anything more than a 32-Bit emulator (running a 16-bit emulator... )...), remember that you're not able to run 32-Bit apps.

I wouldn't even get Vista if it was free, though. Read this post for a number of reasons. http://www.staredit.net/59004/

Frankly, the only reason to have Windows at all is to run random games that don't work in Wine or aren't cross-platform.

I think Laser dude is just trolling now...
If your computer cost less then $600 do not get vista because vista is better for high end computers

He asked for reasons to buy or not buy Windows Vista, and I gave him reasons not to.

Burn?

P.S. I love Vista, mainly since my Visual C# programs actually run on it (yes, I realize the horrible logic in that statement).

This is an opinion because laser dude believes it is not worth $600 dollars. In the maplantis list of "reasons" it sounds like Laser dude does not have a high end computer.
Pro of vista: Windows Sidebar

Laser Dude, when will you stop throwing all your reasons around? Very few people have those same problems, and if someone is looking to upgrade they shouldn't be getting false information. Vista runs great for most people. Don't listen to Laser Dude, he had a bad experience with the initial Vista (maybe even Beta 2) and is completely biased now.

No, not "very few". There are a lot of people I know (like, actually know, not people I met in some website) who have paid for and used Windows Vista. Two of whom are employees of Microsoft! (Not senior employees, but employees nonetheless) Almost all of these people will talk to me about problems they've had with it. I will hear stories about people who are excited to be trying Windows Vista, and the next day I'll hear all sorts of problems, some of which is used to formulate my list, when it comes up in multiple places. It is not a beta version of Vista I own, or these people are using. It is the full thing. "A bad experience" isn't the correct term to use. I used Windows 98 for 9 years, before upgrading to a high end computer with Vista preinstalled, which I used for a full 6 months exclusively. Eventually I got so pissed off with it that I dual-booted Linux. End of story.

I've been holding this argument for so long, not because I have anything special against Windows Vista, but because I see people trying to promote it without any points, and then telling me to screw off when I attack it with fair arguments.

Even if it was a good OS, I could not fathom the idea of paying 600$ for any OS. Especially when a powerful computer only costs a couple hundred dollars these days.

Laser, Vista doesn't cost $600, atleast not in USD. Ultimate starts at $170 for an OEM disk, and tops out at $550 for a 3 pack of OEM disks.

Your computer isn't really a high end computer, and you had Vista Home Basic installed, which was made specifically for the purpose of running on shitty hardware.

Well, whatever the price is Ultimate is not worth it. I use Vista, I like it, I have never had any problems with it and most importantly Vista doesn't do anything I don't tell it to do. But what the hell, Ultimate is not worth it I just went Vista Basic.

Definately go with Home Premium or better. I do agree, though, that Ultimate isn't worth it.

Well, I think my guarantee period expired already
Sofia did came with ultimate but I told the people where I bought her to change it to home basic because I didn't get the point of ultimate, I don't think they'd like me to drop by again after several months and say, "hey, I don't like home basic anymore, change it back plz", besides, I have stablished myself on Sofia by now.

No one in here is really trying to promote it in this thread, so I don't get why you are trying to fight it in this thread. If your going to attack Vista do so objectively. Talk about features that you simply don't like. I don't wanna hear "Vista crashes, slow, bla bla bla", I wanna hear about its features and how those features were implemented poorly;Not that their slow or crash because those happen for the minority of people. While I would agree that Vista has some faults (a more confusing network setup than Xp... Xp is so simple in this regard) and a bad file copy algorithm(this should be faster), Vista isn't a bad OS and at least on par with Xp.

From all my experiences with Vista it has run just as stable as XP on every computer I have ran Vista on. You bought a bad hardware combination for Vista, which is possible as it's hard for an OS to cover every single hardware configuration. What is your system specs exactly (cpu, ram, gpu, sound card, mobo)? Furthermore what drivers are you running to go along with those specs (specifically your motherboard, graphic card, and sound drivers). I'd like to help you solve whatever issues you have running Vista. Furthermore anything you don't like in Vista can usually be taken off (usually by uninstall/disabling a service). Most software that an OEM installed should be taken off too. UAC should be disabled and hell I wouldn't even run an anti-virus software with Vista...unless you visit unsafe "trojan filled" websites.

I would agree about buying it though, I never bought Vista (if ya know what I mean), and I don't run it now because I don't play video games or care about having a high end computer (Gave away my last computer and now I have a nice old small laptop with XP that can surf the web and play music). However if I had the option of buying a computer with Vista or Xp, I'd probably choose Vista.

I heard Vista would install itself and the drivers I need automatically , while re-aranging the hardware in my case to optimize space. Someone also told me it would win Starcraft melee matches for me too!


And I think I've decided to get it... because...

DirectX10

I'm going for 32-bit though.

Vista can find a lot of drivers automatically on the internet but it looks for them on Windows Update, and Windows Update isn't always the most "up to date" thing in the world for 3rd party drivers.