Windows VISTA - what's your oppinion before release?

Question

Here are the system requirements for Windows XP and Windows Vista side by side:
Processor: 233 MHz minimum (300 MHz recomd) for XP, 800 MHz 32-bit or 64-bit minimum (1GHz recomd) for Vista.
RAM: 64 MB minimum (128 MB recomd) for XP, 512 MB minimum (1 GB recomd) for Vista.
HDD sp : 1.5 GB for XP, 15 GB (20 recomd) for Vista.
Video card: SVGA (800*1024) for XP, the Aero interface of Vista requires a very modern and expencive graphics adaptor (128 MB min)

My questions are:
1. Do you find making the processor requirements 3.5 times higher, RAM requirements 8 times and HDD requirements 10 times higher a bit unreasonable, and too steep to cope with?
2. Will you upgrade very soon or wait for a Service Pack or two?
3. Does YOUR PC meet the requirements?
4. If your PC meets the system requirements is it a recent one?
5. If it does not are you planning to upgrade/buy a new one?
6. Any other comments on Vista's VERY HIGH (my personal oppinion) system reqs...

NOT attempting to buy (NOO WAY!!!)... just curious...

Answer 1

the answers to your questions are as follows
1.the processor requirements are reasonable i think,800mhz is really on the slow side,i have a athlon processor running at 1.8ghz and this runs vista fine but i have used vista on a comapq deskpro pentium 3(866mhz) and it was very sluggish,i reckon the min c.p.u speed should be 1.2ghz,as for the hdd,i think its about right,as most computers made in the last 4 years have at least 40gb
2. i have the beta version(build 5600) but i shall wait at least 12 months before buying the home premium version ,as this is the cheapest and best which has aero included
3. i have 2 p.c,s and both meet the requirements
4. my main p.c is 3 years old and my second p.c is just 18 months old
5.n/a
6. as one of microsofts employee,s quoted,"vista is dead in the water before it has started",this was said as like you have stated,vista requires hardware that most(around 60%) of home p.c,s havent got
for example the graphic requirements,pixel and shader model 2.0,the average user dosent even know what a pixel and shader is,and most dont even know what graphic card they have,never mind specs
and even on my main machine which has 1.5gb of ram,vista beta still struggles,so a memory of 2gb is required to run smooothly,and as the average p.c runs around 512mb,vista will be a drag on this
in my opinion vista will be a failure,but will sell a few million units,but i reckon microsoft will bring out a new version of xp,a bells and whistle version with much improved g.u.i(graphic user interface) and direct x 10 compatibilty,as well as more options
i hope this feedback has helped you decide on purchasing vista
good luck

Answer 2

1) No, and from what I"ve read you actually need at least 2 GIGs to run all the features of Vista without crawling.
2) I found a full version with license key of Vista Home Premium for only $115: http://www.valupoint.com/weblog/2007/01/what-vista-actually-what-deal.html, so I'm going to upgrade now since it's only about 100 bucks (MSRP is $280).
3) I just need more RAM, but there's a 1GB Ram module for $49 after rebate this week, so I'm going to upgrade now.
4) My Sony Vaio desktop is a little 1 year old.
5) N/A
6) Yes, the requirements are VERY high -- especially since they said the overhaul isn't really earth shattering -- Apple's current OS features much of the "new" functionality in Vista. But what choice do you really have? And at only $115, it's not that much of a hurdle to upgrade.

Hope that helps!

Answer 3

Unnecessary for 75% of the population. Because of the higher system requirements, Vista will not run on a majority of machines already in place. This means not only buying a new OS, but also a new COMPUTER just to run it! Because of this, Vista is not going to be an easy switch and becasuse of the high end requirements it may only become usable for High End Users or corporation, with XP lasting another few years until current machines become more obsolete.

Answer 4

I have been beta testing vista for about a year with the beta 2 version and the rc1 version. there was a big jump between the 2 in terms of stability so recon the real thing be even better. no complaints about the rc1 version i had it on an older computer of mine specs: 1.8 ghz celeron processor 512 mb ram with a 256 mb nvidia graphics card. probably slightly slower than xp on those specs but needed more ram! I'm buying it 2moro for my main pc which is well over the recommended specs. + the specs have increased soo much becaue the operating has got soo much better!

Answer 5

1) It is steep. It's just another way to make you go out and buy another computer. Unless you have a custom made, upgradeable system.

2) I won't go NEAR Vista for at least a year. Most online companies aren't compatible with Vista yet.

3) My system as it is is NOT ready to handle Vista. Luckily it's upgradeable. I built it that way "just in case".

4) My system is 3 years old with room for extra memory or a bigger harddrive. My boss uses a brand new laptop to work Vista. The one we use to demo Vista is also brand new.

5) Even if it wasn't upgradeable, I would wait and get my money's worth out of the system I had. Let them work out the kinks and bugs until it works smoothly. THEN I'd upgrade.

6) Vista is a lot of bells and whistles that most of us won't use in our every day browsing/surfing. It's similar to IE7 with the tabbed browsing. The graphics are outstanding - if your system can handle it. I'm not all that crazy about it. It's too "foo foo" and flashy for everyday browsing. It's distracting.

I think I'll pass on it - until it becomse evident that I'm the last user on the planet without it. My XP works just fine.

Answer 6

1. No, not really, as it is a powerful operating system, or said to be, and is a kind of goodbye from bill gates. It is a steep increase, however.

2. I was going to upgrade straight way, but only on one computer, i was going to leave the old computer to rot away with windows xp, and the laptop is useless, so just buy another in 6 months or so, with vista preinstalled.

3. yes my pc does meet the requirements

4. yes, we bought our pc in august 2006, with xp media center, digital tv and remote with it.

5. nup. not buyin a new one.... yet!

6. vista is well over priced. £150 for an upgrade, and thats only the home edition. the ultimate i wanted was £350 so thats a no no. as i am getting the parents to pay. i just tell them that the computer will stop running, and i wont be able to complete coursework and i will leave skwl with no grades, and yes, they believe me. aww, so gullable!

Answer 7

I bought a new Dell desktaop(in november of 06), and I qualify for a free upgrade to Vista. I thik the hard drive requirements are a bit much but my sysmtem will be able to handle it. I'm going to get the free upgrade next week, BUT I'm going to wait until this fall to install it, that way some of the bugs might get worked out. However, considering that Microsoft has commited SEVEN more years of support for Windows XP, I think the general public won't "switch" for a few years!

Answer 8

Hello I heard from from microsoft that they are releasing a service pack 1 for vista towards the rnd of 2007 so i will buy it then and in the mean time use windows XP because you now its safe and it works.

Answer 9

I already have it and it's not too bad. Not great either. Looks AWESOME. Definite eye-candy. Great for gaming. Office 2007 is more exciting than VISTA. It's very buggy with different hardware. Since it's early, not all vendors have released drivers for VISTA yet....even software compatibility is a little nightmarish. If I were you, I would wait a few more months...let them iron out all the kinks, and let other vendors get on board first.

Answer 10

Do NOT buy the Current Edition, unless you just want to be an early adopter; The testing I have seen basically makes the OS a Nightmare in any situation