Windows Vista Need Opinions - is Vista as bad as everyone says?

My laptop has a 2.10GHz Core 2 Duo processor and 3GB of RAM - it absolutely flies with Vista and is far faster than any computer I've ever used with XP - and that includes desktops.

 

Ok, maybe I've shouldn't have rushed like that. But I've seen too many laptops around going slow as hell with Vista on them.
I know there are plenty of laptops outhere with quality, but vendors slap Vista too many times on underpowered machines. (well we all know why)

 

The wife told me I needed a new computer when we got our tax refund, so I bought an HP9150 with Vista Home Premium. I experienced a quick, steep learning curve as I got used to it and hunted for and made the changes I wanted. Then I discovered that it includes NO fax capability and that neither of my fairly new scanners were supported in Vista. That was the last straw - I am now running XP Professional and all is well - speed is great and all my hardware and software works fine.

 

Go with XP!

XP is just better in every way.

 

I just bought a new system with Vista Home Premium. It will be a bit of a learning curve, but I like it much better than XP. So far, all my XP based programs have loaded and run without a problem.

To help me in my "learning curve" I picked up a book "Windows Vista Secrets" at the local library. Its been a wealth of information.

Mitch

 

why going back???

Vista is not better than XP, but........Not worse neither.i would never go back to XP, in some years XP is old, and difficult to find hardware ,software and programs.

 

I just installed Vista Home Premium on this home built computer this past week. I must say I am pleased that it is NOT as bad as it's reviews! I think, aside from driver issues and some other problems that are sure to be ironed out, the main issue people have with Vista is the cost! I know Microsoft needs to make a profit but, JEEZ! The only reason I got Vista was that a friend bought it and installed it on his computer without ever checking to see if his machine could run it beforehand. I should say tried to install it. No way it would work. So, lucky me, he sold it to me for $100 bucks.

It surely is not the Windows ME that everyone told me it was! So far I like it and I'm still learning more about it everyday. I'm not going to go back to XP. If anything I'll go to a 64bit version of Vista. Just my 2 cents. It's the future, so get used to it. BTW, most of my software from XP will run on Vista. Most, but not all. As someone said, hardware is more of an issue.

 

Broni, you summed it up quite well

 

Vista experience

I made the mistake of trying to upgrade from XP to Vista Premium and created a Frankenstein monster. Eventually I was forced to clean install Vista and the new install has proved reliable.

 

Don't mix the OS's !!

I work as an office copier tech and many times I'm called to setup copier "scan to folder" or "scan to email" and I've got several customers with small peer to peer networks that used to work flawlessly when populated with XP boxes that have have gone bezerk once a single Vista PC was added. Seems that Vista takes over as the superior OS and plays havoc with the network. Shares appear and disappear, hosts come and go. It seems to be a **** shoot to get it all working like nice children! The customer has spent hours on the phone with MS and there hasn't been any reliable resolution yet.

 

You are right Jeff.

I as a professional Systems Analyst and System Administrator actually never considered this point because I am almost always envolved with Vista in a Corp. network environment.

This is why stand alone home computers runing Vista have better success and report a better experience.

They wonder why we seem to be bashing Vista but we are seeing different things.

What you mention is noticable in posts on this BBS when the Vista is added to a network along with an XP computer or even another Vista.

The user experience will deteriorate then.

Mike

 

The never ending saga of Vista

This debate has dragged on for months in many places. Of course, the millions and millions of users who bought computers with Vista and everything is fine mostly do not come to these forums.

Here is my relatively simple experience.

I had two XP computers which were (are) rapidly aging, with CPU's each around a gig, 512 megs DRAM and a 133 FSB. So I moved up right around the time Vista came out. I bought 2 Core 2 Duo machines (now obsolete) with 2 gigs DRAM, CPU's of 2.0 and 2.5 gigs, and FSB 633.

Speed being relative, it was never a question. The new machines are way faster than the old machines.

All of my printers and scanners, which actually began life when the XP machines were ME machines, all installed just fine in Vista from their CD's.

I guess the most complex third party apps I have are RealPlayer and Winamp, and they are fine in Vista. FF and TBird are great in Vista. Office 2007 Professional is way too complicated, with a lot of drilling to find what you want. But that is easily fixed via the Quick Access Tool Bar.

Only one application did not work and still does not work, Total Recorder, mp3 recording software from High Criteria, and I replaced that with Freecorder. Total Recorder, which jumps in ahead of the sound card, just could not deal with DirectSound10. Freecorder just avoids it.

So, I bought new machines to get some more modern speed. I bought Vista because I did no want to deal with upgrades down the line.

I am totally happy with Vista, I have never looked back, and I do not understand all of the resistence.

Get the Vista.

 

Vista messing with linked XP computers

I just have to say that my Vista laptop is networked with my XP pc and we don't have any problems. And the longer I work with the Vista machine the more I like it.