Vista versus XP

XP or Vista?

  • I see no reason to switch to a bloated Vista, XP 4 LYFE!

    Votes: 9 52.9%
  • Vista was worth the upgrade, I don't understand the negative hype.

    Votes: 8 47.1%

  • Total voters
    17
King of the Hello Kitty Fanclub
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This is sorta tied in with my other thread but I think spun off enough to deserve its own topic. Anyway, when I get my new PC I need to also get a licensed OS as unlicensed XP sucks now (lack of updates makes me sad). So I'm really torn on what to buy between XP and Vista.

On one hand Vista is new, shiney and potentially a better investment for the future but on the other hand I'm comfortable with XP and never had any problems with it and there's nothing really wrong with it unlike Vista which all I ever hear about is negative things like how it crashes and etc.

You can see the rough idea of my new pc's specs in my other thread (even found the thread for you!). Basically I should have more than enough RAM (4gb) and in general I think it'll be way good enough to handle the OS, but I'm really mostly concerned with the problems I could potentially have, that others have experienced.

So, with all that said, what do people who have used/tried/experienced both OS's think? Price-wise Vista is about $5 AUSD more than XP (a bit more if you get the premium Vista) so that's really not an issue I just in general want a comparison of their abilities.

Thanks!
 

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My laptop runs Vista. Aside from the fact that it installs updates pretty frequently and never asks me if I want to install said updates, I don't have a problem with it.

My desktop runs XP. It's all the same **** to me.
 
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Can I add a poll plz?

Umm...I don't think thats really relevant since I want a comparison not a who has what and/or a few numbers at the top of the page (need discussion!) but if you REALLY want to I guess it can't hurt =/.
 
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If you have 4GB of RAM or more, you basically need Vista (more specifically, a 64-bit operating system.) A 32-bit operating system can only address (recognize) 4GB of RAM, including the RAM of your video card RAM, sound card RAM and virtual memory.

If your computer has a 512MB video card and 64MB sound card, as well as 512MB of virtual memory.. that means your PC can only make use of 3GB of RAM, even if you have 4GB installed.

XP is a 32-bit operating system. XP x64 does exist, but driver support for it is much worse than Vista's. Vista x64 is much more polished and the driver support these days is just as good as x32's.

Vista is a good operating system. Maybe not great--it has its flaws--but it adds several useful functions. Plus, you're future proofing yourself. You could stick with XP and wait till Windows 7 comes out, whenever it does, but that's a crapshoot--it could end up being even less popular than Vista.

Bottom line: If you want to have 4GB or more of RAM, get Vista Home Premium x64 version. Make sure you've got a 64-bit processor (all Core 2 Duo chips are) as well.

Massive edit:

Edit x 2! I'll put my objections to your computer building plans in the computer building thread.
 

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Maybe i'm woefully uninformed, I can't imagine anything that could require four gigs of ram. I was also under the impression that having too much ram can slow your pc down
 
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Massive edit:

I checked your other thread about PC specs! I don't know where you're getting your equipment, but don't buy it there! Use NEWEGG.COM. PLEASE. I got my Q6600 for $250. Your thread has it listed for $350. That's crazy!

NewEgg is the best site for PC equipment, period. They also sell video games at discounted prices.
Those US prices? :p Either way I haven't actually bought anything so the prices are just a rough guide for me to fill out my budget when I've confirmed what I'm getting I will be shopping around for the best deal for sure.

Also thanks for the OS info, very helpful!
 
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so far Vista has been nothing but a blessing for me!

XP is still good though. go with whatever you want.
 
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Maybe i'm woefully uninformed, I can't imagine anything that could require four gigs of ram. I was also under the impression that having too much ram can slow your pc down
I think it doesn't necessarily slow your computer down. I think it's more along the lines of, like what Alea said - if your computer isn't built to handle that much RAM, you won't get as much performance increase out of it compared to a PC that is better built for such amounts of RAM.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong. ;x
 
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After using Vista for the past 8-9 months, I can honestly say that Vista bashing is for tools. I've ran it along side a XP SP3 RC partition and can honestly say that I have hardly bothered using XP on my system since about a few months ago. If someone complains about a certain peace of hardware not functioning properly due to a crappy designed driver or no drivers at all, it's not entirely Microsoft's fault in the sense that the manufacturer didn't make better preparations or better drivers. They are, after all, given enough documentation and various SDKs for this.

It all really depends on your needs too. Seeing someone criticize what they haven't used for a OS is laughable (Taking into account that they are a n00b or average computer user) and then don't make any efforts to look at their problem in detail. It also sucks to see people criticize vista and then yet fail to tell the difference between 32bit/64bit vista and then just criticize vista as a whole... Simply speaking, they don't have a clue. It's there life though, I'll happily watch them be mislead if there's no other way to convince them otherwise if they are intent on it.
Maybe i'm woefully uninformed, I can't imagine anything that could require four gigs of ram. I was also under the impression that having too much ram can slow your pc down
It helps make a difference when lots of multi-tasking is happening or if you're doing very intensive tasks :).
 
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I did also hear that too much RAM can be detrimental, but my reasons from what I heard on the subject, Vista requires at least 2gb of RAM just to function. So take that away and theres the remaining 2gb to run the rest of the processes.
 
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I did also hear that too much RAM can be detrimental, but my reasons from what I heard on the subject, Vista requires at least 2gb of RAM just to function. So take that away and theres the remaining 2gb to run the rest of the processes.
bull****, you'll be fine with 2gig's of ram + vista + everything else
2 gig's of ram allows vista to run smooth, but it doesn't hog it all up
right now, with mIRC, msn, 4 firefox tabs, steam and msn + msn installer on, I'm only using
750MB ram
( using ultimate btw )

2 gig is advices so you can run vista PLUS other stuff smoothly
 
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I did also hear that too much RAM can be detrimental, but my reasons from what I heard on the subject, Vista requires at least 2gb of RAM just to function. So take that away and theres the remaining 2gb to run the rest of the processes.
It's not entirely true. Vista's prefetching methods actually do make very efficent use of your system memory. Think of it this way, no one wants a worker that sites there and does nothing (Like free ram in some instances), they want a worker that will always perform at their peak. This is somewhat reflective of Vista prefetching in a different view. On vista as a whole though, I don't see how most consumers can be afraid of new technologies, so much in fact that you are more likely to find someone masturbate over DX10 graphics in games (Provided the engine is of course DX10)...
 
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Though I'm a Mac user, I see quite a few people that have issues with Vista (about the same as the amount of people that don't have any problems at all).. Some of the complaints I've heard: Vista randomly pulling stuff off the RAM and putting it on virtual memory, Vista randomly shutting down video drivers, randomly minimizing programs to say that there is an "Error", yet everything keeps working fine, ...

I'm using XP as second boot on this Mac, only if I feel like playing a steam game or something. So I don't really feel the need to switch over to vista for that, as OSX is still ten times better, lighter and prettier.
 
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I agree with everything Bolteh says. I also have the same setup Mac OSX and XP as second boot with bootcamp. Makes like easier. One other thing I've noticed is that XP runs a lot faster on my Mac compared to my freinds' PCs and laptops that are non-Mac.
 
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I really don't know why I should have multiple gigabytes of an OS (I say multiple because I dunno exactly how big Vista is) just so it can be prettier and have some new functions. In my opinion, compatibility is the only significant field that you should take into serious consideration when choosing an OS, and for that XP wins. It can run anything, unless it's explicitly made for Mac or Linux.
 
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I have Win2k and Vista in a Dual Boot configuration - And I really don't see any need for the operating system, I loose about 6fps in crysis on my Crossfire 3850's and Pentium 2160 1.8ghz @ 3.6ghz.
I did experience allot of driver issues earlier on in the Operating systems life, and I still have allot of issues with printers and sound cards.

One thing that I should ammend vista for, is the fact XP wouldn't run Dungeon Keeper 2 or Stupid Invaders, But Windows Vista did without any crashing or any issues. - But I warn everyone with a creative sound card... "May the force be with you" :p
 
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Pemalite said:
"May the force be with you" :p
You mean how EAX won't work with Vista? Yeah, download ALchemy.

Works fine for me. Most of the people having problems don't know how to research them. Can't be held against them, the average user is a dolt when it comes to fixing a problem. I'm of course speaking of the people who take their PCs to "computer people" when they have a problem. You know the types.
 
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I'm of course speaking of the people who take their PCs to "computer people" when they have a problem. You know the types.
Pretty confident I'm *not* one of those people, I do study IT (programming to be exact) What I generally fail in is the latest hardware setups and all that jazz since I've never been one to subscribe to a PC magazine or blog or whatever to read up on the new stuff. I do however have to send my PC to the shop from time to time. Usually if the problem is severe or I don't have the tools to fix it myself.

Anyway, trying not to diverge too far from the topic at hand. It seems enough people are satisfied with Vista for me to give it a go. I just really wanted to be sure whatever I bought would last and not give me troubles as I don't exactly have a copy of XP to downgrade to if I did have problems, and having to purchase another OS would do nothing but piss me off.
 

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