Vista: Pros and Cons

**VOP2288** · May 31, 2007, 12:46 AM

For a graduation present over the weekend my father got me a Gateway laptop with Windows Vista.

I've heard both pretty good things and pretty bad things about the Vista. And well, I'd like to know more from people who've used it or have it....

So please...fill me in on the pros and cons of Vista, how can I use it to it's full potential (with all the new and cool things) and what should I avoid doing?

Thanks

**Town Watch** · May 31, 2007, 01:10 AM

Direct X10 is one of the "advantages". Like microsoft is just robbing you blind with the necessity of DX10 capable Operating system. That's like just about the only reason to buy it. And it drains a big amount of RAM too, just because you can somehow wrap around the different program windows around in 3-D or something equally stupid

**Falconius** · May 31, 2007, 02:10 AM

Well, features like that are cool, its too bad they cost so much in performance, if I had it I would turn them off. But my question is why make a whole new O system when you've actually got one that finally works ok and is not that hard to use. I have no really issues with XP at all, in fact, dare I say it, I've grown to like it. The only reason I'd upgrade is to get a 64 bit operating system as the XP I’ve got is only 32 (my chip is 64).

I hear bad things about its copy protection stuff and its ability to playback certain files though. As a freaky Otaku who downloads craploads of unlicenced anime that worries me the most about it.

Its really too bad we will eventually be forced off XP which is somewhat trust worthy, into the cold embrace of Vista.

Yeah.... I didn’t really answer your question sorry.

Although on the one time I did use it on a friends computer it was playing havoc with the video card or something, the refresh rate was terrible and the graphic quality was less then sharp. And that was just the desktop.

**sapi** · May 31, 2007, 02:17 AM

Vista's fine, with plenty of improvements...most of which are targeted at the enterprise environment.

It runs games a tad slower than XP, though.

Falconius' comment about Vista's use of DRM is a bit off the mark, though, as not only will that system not be implemented until 2010 but if Vista didn't support it, you wouldn't be able to play that content full stop.

**Spiff** · May 31, 2007, 09:59 AM

Operating systems are never accepted initially though, i remember especially on windows XP how most peripherals didnt have working drivers for ages..

Anyway ive been using Vista full time for a couple of weeks now and have had absolutely no problems.

As mentioned, games tend to run a bit slower at the moment, probably due to them not actually being designed for Vista, and Vista using quite a bit more ram than XP - but then its not a noticeable difference to be honest unless you were actually running a benchmark. The older the game, the more likelly it is to have some sort of issue with vista i suppose - so far though the only problem ive had is vista refusing to install starforce from Silent hunter 3 (cant really hold that against it)

I use my computer a fair bit too, either for university, watching DVDs, downloading videos, listening to music, playing games etc - i haven't had any problems with vista (actually its more handy than XP - media player on XP would never play dvds, so I had to use media player classic, on Vista everything worked from the start)

Its hard to be particularly harsh about the system requirements to be honest, i ran it on 512mb of memory for a few days and it operated basically the same to how it does now with 2gb.

Only actual incompatibility ive seen so far is my flatmates fairly old creative brand mp3 player - there are just no vista drivers available for it to work at all - but then it is a fairly old model. So be careful with that i guess, older stuff like scanners and printers have the potential to cause problems - but then in my opinion its more the responsibility of the manufacturers to support their products, its not like these OS changes come about that often.

**Elrond** · June 01, 2007, 05:15 AM

Vista is already better than XP and quite a few of the bugs have already been fixed, Once the service pack is released in the fall along with allot of new games it will over take XP completely.

**Erik** · June 01, 2007, 06:14 AM

Originally Posted by Elrond

Vista is already better than XP

Better in what way?

Faster?
More stable?
Prettier?
Easier to use?
More widely supported?

**Elrond** · June 01, 2007, 10:18 AM

Originally Posted by Erik

Better in what way?

Faster?
More stable?
Prettier?
Easier to use?
More widely supported?

No,
No,
Definatly,
After a while,
No not yet,

Those who use it will know what I mean - it just feels better, and most of its problems will be fixed over the next few months anyway.

**wandervogel** · June 02, 2007, 07:48 AM

Originally Posted by Erik

Better in what way?

Faster?
More stable?
Prettier?
Easier to use?
More widely supported?

Just as fast... (perhaps faster, but I can't tell a difference)
Just as stable... (after several months and lots of experimentation, I've yet to experience a single crash)
Absolutely...
Just as easy... (the learning curve is negligible; it's still windows after all)
Not yet. (that's it's only weakness, though this has not hindered me much at all)

**Freddie** · June 01, 2007, 05:41 PM

The one major advantage I can think that Vista has that XP doesn’t (apart from DX10) is on the Home premium addition it has Media centre functionality as standard.

**Niccolo Machiavelli** · June 02, 2007, 07:18 AM

I use XP on my desktop and and Vista on my convertible.

For work and in junction with office 07, I really like Vista, but that's mostly due to the fact that I use my laptop in the tablet mode a lot and pen functionality has really vastly improved over XP's tablet PC edition.

Aero glass and the sidebar are nice gimmicks, I like the readyboost feature (using a 2 gig SD card as an in-between between HD and ram) and lots of minor improvements.

That said, I won't install it on my desktop for the time being, as I have some exotic hardware inthere which is probably not properly supported and will only install after a DX10 game is out which I intend to play.

When I install, I will only install it to another partition and keep XP on the system as well - I did that when transitioning from 98 to XP and also have installed XP on another partition of my laptop. However, I haven't booted my Laptop to XP ever since installing Vista, since I've had absolutely no problems. It's a bit more consuming on ressorces, but overall, it's an improvement over XP (if you turn of some annoying security features).

My conclusion - don't switch on a gaming rig and only do it on an office machine if it's fast enough.

**~~ALejo the Great~~** · June 03, 2007, 10:22 AM

Well now that u have already started this i want to ask u something:
I am trying to get flash but when i click in install my internet windows close why is this¡?

This are my system specs:
2 g ram
3.2 ghz processor intel pentium 4
256 mb video card Radeon X800

are this specs for running good games with vista¡?