vista

[dustyarlia]

is it worth the switch to vista yet?

[scuzzy]

Your question is too vague, since it depends on a lot of things.

Generally, I recommend that people not bother with Vista unless it comes pre-installed in a new computer. Even then, you need to make sure that the new computer has the muscle to handle Vista. The consensus is that Vista needs at least 2GB of RAM. Of course, if you only use it for the Internet and nothing else then you can probably get away with 512MB.

Another thing to consider is the amount of older peripherals that you have. Vista drivers for that old printer may not be available. Same thing for that video card that wasn't built with Vista in mind. The manufacturer may or may not bother with Vista drivers.

Even some software may not work as expected with Vista. Intuit's Quicken is a good example. In true fashion, Intuit's solution is that users buy the newest software release.

A lot of folks are also holding out for Vista "SP1" in the hopes that MS will fix known issues. As for myself, I don't know that I'll ever switch over. I recently helped my daughter buy a Toshiba laptop with Vista Premium pre-installed. Although Vista has some nice "eye candy" I don't see anything that I must have. Plus, I noticed that the new laptop, with 1GB RAM, is about as fast as my 4 y/o Toshiba that runs WinXP with 512MB RAM.

[Chandler]

Regarding memory, I ran Vista with 1GB and while it wasn't noitceably sluggish, the performance wasn't great either.  2GB should be considered a happy medium but I've gone for 3GB.

Would I recommend Vista on your primary PC?  Not at this stage.  For now, Vista takes a back seat to XP on my systems.  There are still too many issues at present.  They range from the niggling (networking takes approx 1 minute after desktop appears to become active during which time various programs fail to run) to showstopping (AutoCAD 2006 unstable and/or not working at all).  I think the little niggling problems will clear up with future hotfixes or service pack 1 but the compatibility issues with certain software may never be resolved without purchasing updated versions of the affected software.

There are very few reasons to upgrade to Vista on an older PC.  You're not going to get better performance and you're not going to get better stability.

[pat]

 I think the current question is nothing but a subterfuge and an attempt to gain traffic/bussiness to this persons website.

[scuzzy]

I'd rather blame Ace for this.

I adjusted Dusty's screen name so that it's not so blaringly obvious.

[Mark H]

I put 4 GB in my Vista 64 machine, but it is a new build and is actually the second PC dedicated to photography and digital editing. Our main PC, will remain on Windows XP and will never see Windows Vista.

I can't say I like it any better or worse than Windows XP. If you want speed, stick with XP, because there has never been a new MS OS that was faster than the previous OS.

Mark H