Committed XP Pro user needs reassurance about Vista

[BladePilot]

Hi I'm about to change my PC. I've used Dell for years and intend to stick with Dell I'm going for a new Studio XPS desktop with the new Intel i7 processor.

All of my current equipment is running XP Pro which I have been very happy with so now I'm wondering if I should insist on my new Dell being delivered with XP Pro or should I just bite the bullet and go for Vista.

Have all the Vista bugs been ironed out?

I'd love to wait for W7 but there doesn't seem to be a firm release date yet and I really need to change my PC now, what to do

1. Insist on new PC being delivered with XP Pro and upgrade (or not) to W7 when it is released.

2. Take delivery of new PC with Vista and then upgrade to W7 when it's released.

3. Take delivery of new PC with Vista and stick with it because W7 may just have as many bugs in the initial release anyway.

Help

[green granite]

Another option, buy it with no operating system, at a discount, then download windows 7 beta from Microsoft for free and then buy the shrink wraped version when it comes out. Been using 7 now for several weeks on a dual boot system and almost never go back to XP any more, I love it.

[frostbite]

Think I would go for option 1, next choice would be the gg option.

I was going to try W7 at one point, but when I tried to get it the site wanted me to log in or register. In typical M$ fashion, it didn't offer a registration link, so I gave up.

[Keef]

I think you're too late for the Windows 7 Beta, but I do agree it's excellent. I've got this machine set to dual-boot XP Pro or W7, and haven't used XP in a couple of weeks. The only need for XP is to write the Garmin datacard (although there may now be a W7 fix for that).

Vista is a mess, which is why Win 7 is being rushed out. My preference would be Win 7, then XP Pro, then a Linux distro (excellent, but fiddly), then Vista.

Do you need to buy a new operating system, or can you use the XP that came with the present machine? Those licences are a bit inscrutable sometimes.

[Feline]

Don't think the Dell configurator will allow you to buy a machine without an OS. But -- when I bought my Dell Optiplex desktop, I requested that they ship it with XP. It comes with a CD-ROM which allows me to upgrade it to Vista Business. As far as I know you can downgrade to XP if you have Ultimate or Business, but not if you have Home or Media.
Never even even thought of "upgrading" to Vista - I have quite enough hassles with another Lenovo Laptop that came with Vista installed ...
And while Win 7 sounds like it will deliver what Vista should have delivered - unless you feel like endless frustration, NEVER EVER purchase or install a Microsoft Product within two years of initial release - been there, done that, got the scars on my back ...

[frostbite]

I think the final date for W7 is 9th February, but I could be wrong.

[exeng]

I dual boot Vista 32 bit and XP pro.

XP pro is at a guess about 50% faster than Vista on this machine. Originally I loaded Vista 64 bit but some driver issues pushed me back to 32 bit.


Regards
Exeng

[P.Pilcher]

For what it is worth, you might like to know that I have recently acquired a new (desktop) machine - well, not a new machine as I had some fairly useful newish bits in my old one, so I acquired a new case, motherboard, 2Gb of RAM, hard drive and dual core intel CPU. Bunged it all together, switched on and in a few moments, to my amasement, it filled the screen with a load of numbers and demanded a boot disc to be put in the CD ROM drive. I therefore inserted the recovery disc from my 8 year old virtually completely dismantled machine. Disc was read, and after much whirring and CPU activity, the screen announced the completion of the installation of XP pro. I was then reminded that validation was required - it's a freephone number, so I dialled same and entered the code on the screen. This was not accepted so I followed the instructions and the appropriate serial number was requested. I entered this off the case of my old machine, entered the new number generated and BINGO! this was accepted and the validation number issued. It is a slightly tedious automated system. Thus is IS possible to transfer XP to your new machine if the old one came with a recovery disc. Of course this version of XP hadn't even got SP 1 installed so it took quite a while and much downloading before it was jacked up to Service Pack 3 level but it is now working beautifully. Last week, daughter came around to show me her shiny new laptop, with it's 2 core duo intel processor running at I don't know how many GHz. Powered by Windows Vista the poor thing literally crawled! If it had been mine, I would have bought a serial number off ebaY and treated it to a dose of FORMAT C: and put in XP pro. To be quite honest, a lot of people are saying that Win 7 Beta is for enthusiasts (like many people here who are experts) but for the average Tom Dick or Harry, then it is best to wait until the final version is released. Only then will we hopefully no longer have to do all this dodging around to get a reasonable OS on a new machine.

P.P.

[BladePilot]

Thank you

Thanks for all the replies. I rooted around and found the original XP Pro CD that came with my last Dell so I reckon that may widen my options a little. If Dell won't ship my new PC with XP Pro I may just attempt to install with the original CD I have. Reckon if I do that I'll have the same 'catching up' issue as P.P. whilst I wait for the system to jack up to SP3! Whatever I am wary of going anywhere near Vista at the moment (if I do it'll be 64bit business)I have a few days yet to think it over before I place that order.

Thanks.

[green granite]

Dell do ship with Linux

[BombayDuck]

Option one is the safest bet for you, but the way MS plays the game it might not be available from the vendor. I wouldn't go for W7 before the first service pack is out - well, any windows product for that matter. So if you *HAVE* to use Vista, you will need to be wary.

Look up online forums and see if the particular hardware config (MB, processor, display card, sound) have had problems with Vista. If you can't see too many complaints, go ahead with it - on the right hardware, Vista runs beautifully. I have an Acer Laptop, with 3 GB RAM and a 1.86 C2D/centrino, and I have had absolutely no issues with Vista SP1. Seems Acer sorted out their drivers very well before release. Not a single hang-up, unwarranted restart, BSOD since September. I haven't shut down the laptop since December (when I wasn't around for five days) as I only use Sleep mode. I have at times run Firefox, MATLAB, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, WMP and a PDF reader all open at the same time (What can I say? The workload at university can overwhelm me more than my computer!) with an antivirus scan running without lag. XP *may* have been able to handle all at the same time, but I doubt and I had no option anyway.

But, one anecdote is not the same as concrete data - if Dell haven't yet sorted the drivers especially with new hardware (the C2D was not new when I bought it) you will not enjoy it.

[Jimmy Macintosh]

I have two machines at home:

P4 2.8Ghz, 0.75Gb RAM, 512Mb AGP Graphics card, Windows XP

AMD X2 2200, 4Gb Ram (3 usable), 512Mb PCIe Graphics card, Windows Vista.

The machines are networked, and the XP machine is my machine of choicce as it's faster at everything. Whatever they did with Vista kills whatever advantage the new machine specs added. I turned everything off with Vista as well. Want to install XP on it but have decided to wait until windows 7 is out then just upgrade.

Apparently upgrading Vista is purchasing the upgrade disc and it installs over Vista. The XP upgrade involves a new install.

(source PCMag.com, The Windows 7 Versions: What You Need to Know - News and Analysis by PC Magazine)

[call100]

Absolutely not problems with Vista here......

[Fortyodd2]

What Intel giveth, Microsoft taketh away.......................

[Keef]

Win7 hasn't needed much tweaking here. It did a lot better, before I got stuck unto it, than Vista on a brand new laptop bought by a friend of mine.

That said, I agree with the "Not Windows 7" for your main machine, unless you're into geekery. In part, at least, because it will stop working when the Beta test is over, and you'll need a place to go.

This machine dual-boots to XP Pro and Win 7. Win 7 is faster (by a long way), running all the same software and utilities that I have on the XP installation. Only ZoneAlarm, iTunes and Jepp Datacard Update don't work on Win7. The lack of SCSI drivers for my old card was a minor niggle.

[BladePilot]

Thanks for all the advice. I've spent a couple of days scouring the forums and Googling Vista so much so I reckon I'm now suffering from Microsoft blindness!
Results are in....
Dell won't ship my new PC with XP Pro so I've gone for Vista Ultimate SP1 64Bit. The PC is pretty well stacked with the new Intel i7 (2.66Ghz, 8MB cache, 4.8GT/sec) and 8192MB 1067Mhz DDR3 Tri Channel memory and 750GB Serial ATA (7200RPM) hard drive plus a bundle of other goodies. I've been advised that Vista Ultimate runs 'sweet as a nut' on this config.

Awaiting delivery, will let you know how it performs when it arrives.

Thanks everyone

[BombayDuck]

Whoa, that is one mean machine. 8 GB RAM? What are you going to be doing, Running Crysis?

[Keef]

... and when Windows 7 Ultimate is released, a free upgrade should be on offer.

[BladePilot]

Sure is one Mean Machine BombayDuck.
I'm aiming for World Domination all from the comfort of my own study

'Hello Professor Falken would you like to play Global Thermonuclear war?'
'twas a great film way beyond its time.

Well actually, truthfully I'm getting a bit old (as is my current PC) and I'm making my best attempt at future proofing my new PC as I reckon it'll be the last one I buy before my eyes finally give up and the arthritis in my hands finally seize's up my fingers

and the boring stuff.. well.. I run a lot of 'resource heavy' stuff at the same time, not games but business applications unfortunately

[Mac the Knife]

Just think....you could run half-a-dozen Linux VMs on that and never know MS was there at all!