Time to upgrade computer: Vista or XP?

[Bonhomme]

I have a 6 year old PC with Windows Mistake Edition (Me), which, aside from being a lousy operating system in and of itself, is not being serviced by pretty much anybody and is not compatible with a lot of new software these days.

My computer has a sufficient hard drive and processor speed, and plenty of RAM to do what I need to do, so I don't see the need to get a new one, and should be able to get a couple or 3 more good years out of it by updating the operating system. I can get XP or Vista from the manufuacturer for about $100 US, and still have unlimited phone support. I'd really prefer Windows 2000, but they don't offer it any more, so I'd lose the technical support.

One friend suggests XP personal over XP pro for privacy reasons and because it's supposedly "lighter" on the system. He doesn't know much about Vista, but has heard it has its pluses and minuses. I've heard that Vista can be customized to a great degree, which would definitely be a good thing.

So, which operating system do you recommend and why, bearing in mind the system resources are a bit limited by today's standards?

 

[Call_Me_Daddy]

To run Vista you need at least 1000mb (1GB) of ram. Any lower and it crawls.
The system takes 640mb just runnung. Default. Nothing loaded. (XP uses about 120mb.)

Not only that but it uses 10GB of hard drive. Just the instalation. Nothing installed. (XP uses 3GB)



Stick with XP. Or if you can... get Windows Server 2003. Its lighter than XP since its basically a very tweaked XP Pro. Don't bother purchasing it though. It costs you well over a grand. Get it off Torrentspy if you want.

Or if you want to legitimatelly purchase, get XP. With Vista around the corner, its a real bargain now. Not only that, but I have yet to see one thing that Vista can do better than XP except for high end games.

Here's more info: http://www.sosuave.net/forum/showthread.php?t=119990

 

[Desdinova]

I'm getting a new PC (hopefully next week) and it's coming pre-installed with Vista. There's a lot of problems with Vista right now, and you're probably better off to wait at least a year for Microsoft to work out some of the bugs. Stick with WinXP for now.

When I get my new PC, I'm gonna wipe Vista and go dual boot - Win2k and Ubuntu Linux. I'm tired of the bloated unstable OSes that Microsoft puts out. I need the system resources for other things besides my OS.

 

[Call_Me_Daddy]

I'm getting a new PC (hopefully next week) and it's coming pre-installed with Vista. There's a lot of problems with Vista right now, and you're probably better off to wait at least a year for Microsoft to work out some of the bugs. Stick with WinXP for now.

When I get my new PC, I'm gonna wipe Vista and go dual boot - Win2k and Ubuntu Linux. I'm tired of the bloated unstable OSes that Microsoft puts out. I need the system resources for other things besides my OS.

If you want to polish your Windows 2k, head on over to msfn.org foums. Some dudes are working on skinning windows 2k, there is cleartype working for 2k (its called subpixel font rendering), and you can replace icons and such with full color ones instead of the dirty default ones that don't even have transparency.

Or hell, Server is good too. I am very pleased with it over windows XP. More stable and some of the bugs have been worked out. Speed is better too. Its like something between XP and 2000 in terms of performance.

 

[Docs]

Xp.

 

[djbr]

When I get my new PC, I'm gonna wipe Vista and go dual boot - Win2k and Ubuntu Linux. I'm tired of the bloated unstable OSes that Microsoft puts out. I need the system resources for other things besides my OS.

Ubuntu is sh1t.

Sorry I have to write this somewhere :crackup:

It's a SLOW OS. SLOW SLOW SLOW! My pc is ten times faster with Windows XP, and it's an old one!

 

[Desdinova]

It's a SLOW OS. SLOW SLOW SLOW! My pc is ten times faster with Windows XP, and it's an old one!

I tried the Live CD of Ubuntu and it didn't seem too bad. It was a bit sluggish, but what do you expect running an OS from CD. Pretty impressive that I was able to get on the net while trying it out.

 

[djbr]

I tried the Live CD of Ubuntu and it didn't seem too bad. It was a bit sluggish, but what do you expect running an OS from CD. Pretty impressive that I was able to get on the net while trying it out.

I installed it on the hard disk: it IS slow.

And I use wireless here, so I could not try internet while on CD. I installed it and had to do some serious configuration to use the internet. After that I just noticed that my Windows XP was a lot more fast.

And easier to set up, dammit! That wireless thing fried my brain! :crackup:

When I used Linux for sometime, the only I could settle with was Slackware. But it's a B1TCH to set up.

 

[djbr]

So, which operating system do you recommend and why, bearing in mind the system resources are a bit limited by today's standards?

XP Home Edition. It has everything you need without some of the junk XP Pro has.

Vista is too new. That means performance and hardware/software support is not great yet. Better wait some more before jumping to it.

 

[Call_Me_Daddy]

Ubuntu is sh1t.

Sorry I have to write this somewhere :crackup:

It's a SLOW OS. SLOW SLOW SLOW! My pc is ten times faster with Windows XP, and it's an old one!

Ubuntu is pretty good. You just have to know how to tweak it.

You have to disable useless crap in the background, change the Kernel to match the processor.... and so on and so forth. Default settings for it suck, but you can greatly improve it. It can be a little faster than a default XP install.

Another thing that can be done with it is to change the GUI from Gnome to XFCE (XFCE is faster). It looks exactly the same once you set the right themes and everything, so why not?

 

[Bonhomme]

Thanks for the info, guys. Looks like XP home edition is the best option. If it weren't for having so many uncommon Windows-based programs I'd consider Linux. Perhaps next computer will be a Mac, though I'm sure they're not as trouble-free as they want people to believe.

 

[Call_Me_Daddy]

Thanks for the info, guys. Looks like XP home edition is the best option. If it weren't for having so many uncommon Windows-based programs I'd consider Linux. Perhaps next computer will be a Mac, though I'm sure they're not as trouble-free as they want people to believe.

Good luck.
And remember to download SP2 for XP if it doesn't come by default. Then do windows update to get the latest updates and fixes.

 

[djbr]

Ubuntu is pretty good. You just have to know how to tweak it.

I thought it was meant to be a plug-n-play version of linux? Like you did not have to mess around with too much configurations.

I may be wrong, still.

You have to disable useless crap in the background, change the Kernel to match the processor.... and so on and so forth. Default settings for it suck, but you can greatly improve it. It can be a little faster than a default XP install.

I did it all the last time I messed around with Linux... but it was Slackware. For me it's the best one. If I have to go old school and mess with weird configuration procedures, might as well go totally nuts and get it done the hard way. After I tweaked it, my system got really fast and stable. Yet, the wireless support was a b1tch. And I got lazy, hehe.

I guess I am just living the downfall of my nerdiness... :crackup:

Another thing that can be done with it is to change the GUI from Gnome to XFCE (XFCE is faster). It looks exactly the same once you set the right themes and everything, so why not?

With the slackware I used the FluxBox and I thought it was pretty good. It is fast, pretty neat to the eye and does not have insane amounts of useless stuff. Straight to the point is my mantra when it comes to software.