Is it okay to buy the new software that microsoft is putting on the market..vista?

Question

my computer is seven years old..and very slow but should i wait until Vista has all the bugs worked out. I was warned by a salesman in Staples not to buy vista for at least one year.

Answer 1

Seven years old. Are you running Windows XP? I don't think Windows XP was arround back then. Sorry, you need a new computer. Get one with Windows XP not Windows Vista. Windows Vista won't catch on for about two years from now.

Answer 2

In short the answer is no. As others have said, your unit is too old. Vista runs 64 bit, and works best with dual proccessor technology.
At the moment Vista users are coming across problems when installing add-ons such as Video cards, fire wire and etc. This is caused by the O/S not being able to accept the new drivers, which requires the user to have to reconfigure their hardware. Vista accepts the original settings on first installation, anything after that is causing problems for many new users not familiar with Bios settings.
Microsoft is already working on the first service pack to correct errors. This may not be available until the end of 2007.
So first upgrade your hardware, insist that the OEM Operating system be XP, wait until at least 2008 before upgrading to Vista.
Another thing to remember is that Vista takes up a lot more Hard Drive space than XP, so make sure your new unit has a decent size HDD before buying.

Answer 3

At seven years old, your computer simply will not run Windows Vista. That's all there is to it.

Even folks with computers half that age or more recent should evaluate their hardware carefully before purchasing Vista. Meeting the minimum system requirements really isn't enough - the software may technically run, but not without performance issues.

As with every other new Windows release, I would recommend holding off until Microsoft has worked out all the issues. Anyone who's ever reinstalled Windows on a formatted drive can vouch for the additional time spent downloading and installing updates to fix various bugs and security issues. Just check your Add/Remove Programs control panel for all the Windows "hot fixes".

I'd recommend going for a new computer with XP for now, and upgrade to Vista after it's caught on and outstanding issues have been resolved, and new ones have stopped surfacing.

Answer 4

You should listen to the Staples' salesman. He's right. My computer is more than 2 years old, and IT won't run Vista, and I wouldn't do that to my computer, anyhow. Vista is like any other new software to hit the market, full of bugs and problems that will take at least a year to fix. It sounds like you don't even have Windows XP, and it's been around for 3-4 years.

Answer 5

If your computer is seven years old then there is no way it will ever be able to run Vista anyway; Vista requires very new, very powerful computers.

And the man from staples is correct, you should hold off on buying Vista. It has a lot of bugs and security holes right now, and it really doesn't offer than many new things. It would be best to not buy it at all; instead just wait until you get a new computer that already has it.

Answer 6

I doubt that your PC will handle the additional requirements that Windows Vista has, such as a recommended 1 GB of memory and 15 GB of disk space.

You can check if your system is Vista compatible by downloading the Upgrade Advisor directly from Microsoft's website - a link was provided below.

As for not buying it for a year, I wouldn't go that far. What I would suggest is that you give it a few months until other people have helped get out a few of the "kinks". Often a service pack will get released that fixes any surprise issues they find. Once Windows Vista SP1 is out, it should be fair game.

I will be getting Vista installed on my next new PC, and I suspect most people will do the same, instead of rushing out for the bleeding edge technology.

Answer 7

Windows Vista? I think you should wait at least 6 months, just like what answerer 1 said. Because normally the new software have many bugs that haven't fixed. Wait for 6 months is better than wasting money. Stick with Windows XP for now.

Seven years old? I got a computer with six years old and upgraded to 512MB RAM, Pentium 3 only. If you want to run Windows Vista with a seven years old PC (unless it is upgraded), i think you should buy a better PC.

Answer 8

It might not be. There are things that you have now, like cameras and other hardware which may not work in Vista simply because the hardware manufacturers are either not going to post new drivers for or they are slow moving. You might find you have a printer that could be useless. If your computer is seven years old, there is a high probability that, even if it somehow meets the minimum compatibilty requirements, it'll be so slow that you might as well buy a new one.

Answer 9

I'd agree, there are quite a few people having issues with software that's not yet been upgraded to work with Vista or driver issues or just general bugs and I personally won't be touching it until it's been out for about a year.

Anyway, as keith said, if your machine is seven years old then there's practically no chance it'll be good enough to run Vista anyway. There's a tool here that'll scan your machine and tell whether it's up to scratch for Vista or not:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradeadvisor.mspx

Answer 10

Your system will probably not run Vista anyways. But if it could, wait at least 6 months until some bugs are worked out. I rather not pay Microsoft 300 dollars to be a beta tester for Vista, when XP works fine for me..