Should I still avoid Windows Vista and stick with XP Pro?? (laptops, desktops)

[austin-steve]

I am in need of two new computers for my wife and I for our home office. I generally buy them at a local refurbisher so I can get XP operating system and avoid the bloatware present on retail machines. But these old Dells are really doggin it and I'm thinking maybe I'll buy new this time around and hope I can get 3-5 solid years out of each machine.

I was in Costco last night and they have some sweet deals on some pretty powerful looking desktops and laptops, plus they provide a two year warranty at no extra cost. But of course everything is Vista, which my nerd friends say should be avoided.

My wife and I mainly do most of our work through online applications and email, so we need fast internet operation (to whatever degree the computer affects this), and otherwise are just using MS Office applications, and I do some stuff in Dreamweaver and Fireworks. We don't do gaming but I will probably start experimenting with video editing for stuff to go onto YouTube related to real estate listings and video tours.

Questions:
1) Is Vista still to be avoided? If so, why?
2) Based on our usage, what specs should I look for if I want really, really fast machines?

Thanks for your help.

Steve

[mensaguy]

My view is that Vista pre-installed on a new computer should not present you with any particular issues beyond having to learn a new version. There are plenty of answers here if you happen to have some questions.

[texdav]

I and my sife had had no problems with Vista.

[Jesse69]

I custom built a new computer 11/08 and used Vista 64. It is way better than my XP 32 bit latop, as it it is a mega web browsing machine!

32 bit XP - 4gb limit
64 bit Vista - you can do 16gb of memory if you want. I have 6gb ddr3 10666

I love 64 bit Vista way better than 32 bit XP Pro! Don't believe all the negative hype about Vista, it's been great since SP1.

[Asheville Native]

Originally Posted by Jesse69

I custom built a new computer 11/08 and used Vista 64. It is way better than my XP 32 bit latop, as it it is a mega web browsing machine!

32 bit XP - 4gb limit
64 bit Vista - you can do 16gb of memory if you want. I have 6gb ddr3 10666

I love 64 bit Vista way better than 32 bit XP Pro! Don't believe all the negative hype about Vista, it's been great since SP1.

You need all that horsepower to browse the internet? What type of connection do you have; an OC-48 or better?

Your life revolves so around the internet?

[Naptowner]

I don't think you'll have any problem with Vista as long as you have 2 gigs of memory, which you should. If you can pop in some extra ram it's probably worth it to do so. Depending on the graphics capabilities of your machine you might want to disable Aero (the cool translucent screen borders and other visual effects) as well as some of the proprietary 'helpers' that might be built in. You will need to get used to having some extra notifications pop up, but that's not hard to get used to, IMO.

[gea12345]

I love my Vista!! I love the gadgets and the mini-views and the great movie presentation!!

[southgeorgia]

i believe i read that microsoft will allow xp users to upgrade to windows 7 when it comes out.


i think you have to actually do a clean install, but you can purchase win7 for the upgrade price.

[thecoalman]

I think the first question you need to ask yourself is "Do I have a reason to justify buying Vista?". The answer to that for most people is no.

Those who might answer yes are Gamers and people with a need for the latest applications and hardware that only has Vista support.

[Jesse69]

Originally Posted by Asheville Native

You need all that horsepower to browse the internet? What type of connection do you have; an OC-48 or better?

Your life revolves so around the internet?

I ran Crysis + about 14+ multiple tabbed web browsers and hit a 4.7 GB load on memory. But I do heavy CAD stuff like Proengineer or Solidworks with FEA so yeah I need lots of memory. My i7 920 Asus P6T Deluxe computer can do 12gb of memory but I don't need that yet.

I watch Netflix or HDTV and web browse at the same time. Got two 24" Gateway monitors hooked up too!