Hot Tub Forum
General => General info Somewhat hot tub related => Topic started by: 96SC on July 29, 2007, 01:28:36 pm
-
All:
Several weeks/months ago a thread was going around about Vista. Most of the comments weren't very complimentary.
We are in the market for a laptop for our son but every one we see has Vista installed. What is you opinion of Vista now? Can you get a new laptop with XP? If you get a computer with Vista how easy is it to change it to an XP? Should you convert it to XP?
Thanks for any info you can give me.
Jim
-
There are some still selling with XP, but they are probably not major brands. HP and Dell have bowed down to the all mighty Microsoft. My company is buying Dell laptops with Vista and reimaging with XP. If you stick with Vista, get 2gb of memory, it helps. Vista will probably be ok for college and will get better. You can always go back to Visa later. Microsoft just gave me a free copy of Vista Ultimate and it is better than when I first looked at it.
-
I've had a dell with 2gig memory and Vista for 4 months now, not a single problem with vista at all. I'm wondering if most of the problems with vista are when people upgrade from XP and not with a new machine, just a thought.
-
You might have a point. My dell desktop PC came from the factory with Vista, and no problems at all. I had to download a couple drivers for my printers, not a big deal, and everything works fine.
But those who are trying to upgrade an XP machine to Vista may have challenges. But I remember that the transition to XP from whatever preceed it wasn't exactly a walk in the park. From what I've read so far, that was a tougher transition than XP to Vista is. But people forget stuff over time.
-
I seem to remember either reading, hearing, dreaming that if you had a MS Word document with XP you couldn't load it into Vista or some such thing. Since all of sons current Word documents are XP I would hate to make him re-type them to fit the Vista programming. Is this true or was it all a dream? :-/
-
I think that is a dream, MS word doesn't have much to do with what MS plateform your using. Only way MS wouldn't open a file is if you created it in say office 2000 and were trying to open it in office 97 it might not open back ward, but most thinks will work forward, version wise. Unless you were thinking MS Outlook in xp and MS Mail in Vista, but I didn't have problems there either really.
-
Vista DOES consume a great deal more resources on ANY laptop. This is simply a result of Microsoft continuing to poor more and more crap on top of the existing crap to the point that you can no longer tell which of the junk below the surface is of value (or obsolete). Of course, it does make it easier to continue to develop and since memory and processing power is so plentiful now-a-days, there is really no point to cleaning up the clubhouse. But, for those of you wishing to continue using your older laptops or simple seeking faster performance out of the newer laptops, most every vendor will provide you an XP CD upon request for a small fee (usually $15.00). One thing to note is that the actual manufacture's XP CD must be used or else the MS authentication will fail (and thus you can't apply and of the required 1.2 million "patches" that you will need to run anything). So, spend $15, re-install the OS (or do a dual-boot like I am planning) and enjoy running XP EVEN FASTER on the new hardware.
-
IMO if your running Vista on a laptop dont use Norton(symantec)Programs As most know
but forget to mention that it uses up a tonne of Virtual Memory which tends to drag down your comps performance. If you maxed out your mem for your desktop it isnt too bad.
I have switched many people who had lagging problems with nortorn and switched to Trend Micro(much better IMO) and their issues went away. But as most have stated you need lots of RAM. Just my 2 cents.
-
I find it hard to belive that the answer to all of your problems is out there and yet nobody has thought of it yet. We are running about 15 computers at our office half xp and about 5 vistas and a couple windows 98. But by far the best 2 computers we have are APPLE OSX. For a student apple is the only way to go. The more you use an apple the more you hate windows
-
We just got our new HP DV9429 w/ Vista Home Premium and haven't had any problems. It has 2GM of memory, however, which from what I read was recommended for Vista. I found a few laptops with XP, but with Vista being out there in 99% of new computers, it didn't make sense to stay with XP. The HP we bought was by far the best deal I could find. $949 with 2GB mem, 2.2GHz dual core processor, 120GB and 80GB hard drives, and 17" widescreen. I was set on Intel's dual core processor, but after talking to some computer geeks, I felt comfortable with the AMD Turion. Good Luck!
-
If you go to Vista from XP,and you use Office,you'll need to upgrade your office,which is a cost factor.
I recently installed Vista 64 bit,and had no trubs. I DLed my drivers,prior to installing Vista.
Vista boots faster,and seems to be faster,than XP. That also could be,I'm running the 64 bit edition,which is utilizing my mem and dual cores more efficently too?.?
Vista has reworked the sound engine,so in that regards,drivers and certain apps will be awhile,before fully functional.
I'm using a dual drive setup...so I can boot up either XP,or,Vista,from boot/gate. I prefer that verses using a dual boot drive setup,as my 64 and 32 bit OSs are separate.
A plus for Vista,verses XP,is it will run directX10,if you have the vid card to drive it. XP will only allow directX9 or lower.
-
I find it hard to belive that the answer to all of your problems is out there and yet nobody has thought of it yet. We are running about 15 computers at our office half xp and about 5 vistas and a couple windows 98. But by far the best 2 computers we have are APPLE OSX. For a student apple is the only way to go. The more you use an apple the more you hate windows
Well yeah thats the easy solution & thats the way Im going for my other desktop and laptop in the next month or so. Plus you can run windows based programs on a mac
-
Thanks to all of you for your input. I sounds like Vista isn't the problem prone OS I had thought it was. (Maybe the Apple commercials were the culprit)
We had never thought of the Apple option either. We'll have to take son to tinker with Vista and an Apple to see which he prefers.
Thanks again.
-
Autoplay, why would you have to upgrade your MS Office?
-
Awhile back,the wifey upgraded to Vista. She has Office2003. We tried everything,and nuttin worked. Eventually we were told that she would need a Vista version of Office,in order for it to work "100%".
Wifey scraped Vista,and is back to XP.
-
Thanks to all of you for your input. I sounds like Vista isn't the problem prone OS I had thought it was. (Maybe the Apple commercials were the culprit)
We had never thought of the Apple option either. We'll have to take son to tinker with Vista and an Apple to see which he prefers.
Thanks again.
Be careful with the Apple option. A good friend of mine who is a dentist recently had to update his computer. He keeps track of all his financial and investment info with Quickbooks on his old MS systems. When he spoke with the Apple store people, they assured him that Quickbooks was a partner with them and that there was an Apple version of Quickbooks. He was also assured that all his data from his MS Quickbooks would easily transfer to the new Apple. So he bought a nice new Apple laptop and the Apple version of Quickbooks.
Turns out that Apple QB will work, but only for new data. NONE of his old data will transfer. That means all his business expense records, investment history, stock transactions which he kept track of with the MS Quickbooks, will not transfer to the new system. What Apple did not tell him is that the MS Quickbooks is incompatable with the Apple Quickbooks. The Quickbooks people tell him that this has been a big problem for people trying to switch from MS to Apple. Since the systems do not recognize each other, they do not recognize the data files either. He is really pissed!
So be careful. And remember, the salesman usually don't know jack.
-
Be careful with the Apple option. A good friend of mine who is a dentist recently had to update his computer. He keeps track of all his financial and investment info with Quickbooks on his old MS systems. When he spoke with the Apple store people, they assured him that Quickbooks was a partner with them and that there was an Apple version of Quickbooks. He was also assured that all his data from his MS Quickbooks would easily transfer to the new Apple. So he bought a nice new Apple laptop and the Apple version of Quickbooks.
Turns out that Apple QB will work, but only for new data. NONE of his old data will transfer. That means all his business expense records, investment history, stock transactions which he kept track of with the MS Quickbooks, will not transfer to the new system. What Apple did not tell him is that the MS Quickbooks is incompatable with the Apple Quickbooks. The Quickbooks people tell him that this has been a big problem for people trying to switch from MS to Apple. Since the systems do not recognize each other, they do not recognize the data files either. He is really pissed!
So be careful. And remember, the salesman usually don't know jack.
I can only speak for Q.B. Pro. I have transfered several qbp accounts that were made in windows and ALL of them transfered to Apple. If your friend is having a problem feel free to pm me and ill give you my e-mail. I'll be happy to help him. I can say from experiance that the transition from mac to apple has beem perfect so far for me
-
I can only speak for Q.B. Pro. I have transfered several qbp accounts that were made in windows and ALL of them transfered to Apple. If your friend is having a problem feel free to pm me and ill give you my e-mail. I'll be happy to help him. I can say from experiance that the transition from mac to apple has beem perfect so far for me
Thanks, Micah. I will let him know you might be able to help him. He was very excited about migrating to Apple and this has been quite a bummer for him.
Rich
-
strange, I put office 2003 on my new Vista laptop and it worked fine, wonder if yours had something to do with the unpgrade or "they" were BS you for some reason.
-
I actually just picked up my new laptop at lunch time. Can't wait to get home to play around with it.
As suggested for Vista be sure you get at least 2GB of memory and decent video. The laptop I got has the Nvidia 8400M GS GPU. The low end of Nvidia's new mobile GPUs. It's supposed to handle the Vista Aero interface pretty well. Don't expect to be able to run any major games at high frame rates but it should do okay with some games at moderate quality settings. These new GPUs support DX10, so you should be able to enjoy some of the newer games as well.
For the Vista and XP experience you can either install XP as a dual boot as autoplay has done or you could try Microsoft's Virtual PC. Virtual PC let's you install another OS (XP, 2k, 98) as a virtual machine. That would allow you to run legacy apps that don't play with Vista so well. The drawback is that performance will likely suffer and you're stuck with the hardware support that's provided for the virtual machine (like basic S3 graphics).
Before deciding whether to setup a dual boot I was gonna try Virtual PC, I'll let you all know how it works.
Steve
-
Awhile back,the wifey upgraded to Vista. She has Office2003. We tried everything,and nuttin worked. Eventually we were told that she would need a Vista version of Office,in order for it to work "100%".
Wifey scraped Vista,and is back to XP.
Not true, I've got Office 2003 installed on my PC and it works fine - no issues at all.
-
SAme for me with 2003. The only program I have had problems with is my old screensaver, it would lock Vista, so I switched. After installing Vista, I had to recreate all my shortcuts to my Pc from my wifes and the laptop.
-
SAme for me with 2003. The only program I have had problems with is my old screensaver, it would lock Vista, so I switched. After installing Vista, I had to recreate all my shortcuts to my Pc from my wifes and the laptop.
Broke down and pulled Vista Ultimate from my PC and restored XP this weekend.
-
I am thinking of getting my son a laptop, but all of the Dells come loaded with Vista >:(...
-
We ended up gettting our son a Dell with Vista. He's had no trouble with it, we did make sure any software we had installed 'Microsoft Office' with Word, Exel and two other programs was the Vista version.
Another thing for you to consider, this coming year he is transfering to Clemson University which requires every student have a lap top and this year the operating system of choice is Vista. The school will sell us a computer but they are more expensive than we bought. The other operating requirements in his are the same as the school's required ones. I seem to remember your son isn't college age so that info may not help, YET, but his time is coming.
On your FEDUP thread, we ordered our Dell and the 'MS Office' software through Dell. They send their computers either via Fedex or UPS, can't remember, seems like it was UPS though, but the software came direct from Microsoft who used DHL, my least favorite courrier.
-
My oldest is a senior this year, so I thought I would get him a laptop for his room..and to hopefully help him become more organized with his school work!! The last Dell I ordered came UPS to my sister's address (I was away and thought someone would be required to sign for a $2000.00 computer... UPS left it on her neighbor's step. It stayed there for 2 days until they discovered it. Meanwhile my sister was going nuts trying to track it. So now that I was reminded of this.....I hate UPS too!!! Previously, Dell shipped my computers USPS..
-
Bonibelle,
Sad news! Microsoft is ending the sale of XP as of June 30. You can read about it here on their website (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsxp/future.mspx).
Good News! Check Dell's home office web site (http://www.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/winxp_inspndt?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs). I know they've continued to offer XP as a choice for awhile now. But you don't have much time! XP offer ends June 26 at 5:59 AM CT!
Phil
-
thanks Phil ;), I haven't even been looking on the website, instead at the sales papers that I get in the mail. I guess I'd better hurry if I am going to do this then.
-
The last two desktops and last laptop we bought for our office are Vista. We haven't had a problem, except with one of our network programs that admits it's not real good with Vista yet. As for MS Word, the newest version has a new file extension -- .docx, as opposed to .doc -- that the older versions can't read. But you can still save to the old .doc file if you need it to be readable on older versions of Word as well.
-
thanks Phil ;), I haven't even been looking on the website, instead at the sales papers that I get in the mail. I guess I'd better hurry if I am going to do this then.
If you go to the Dell website look at their 'refurbished, remanufactured' or whatever they call them. You can get computers at a reduced price, it may not have all the 'gizmos' you want so look at each one closely. When we looked they had a few XPs but that was several months ago.
-
Parrott, I have been using that version of Word since it was released. I love it..and just always remember to save as the old word format for my husband's work and the kid's know to do it for school. It works fine with my XP..I just don't want aggrivation on a new computer operating system when what I have is doing fine...Bill is an expert and he is frustrated with Vista!