Vista or XP?

Question

I'm looking to buy a new laptop for university next year, and I'm wondering whether to get Windows Vista or Xp for it. Friends are telling me to get XP, becuase of the issues vista has associated with it being new. But it's been out for about six months now.
I don't want to spend more than $1700 (Australian) on the laptop.
So I'm looking at about 1gb RAM, 120gb hard drive and a dual processor.
I'm comfortable with having XP at the moment, but I will have to upgrade eventually and I don't want to fork out big bucks later on.
So what do you think?

I'm planning to buy in the next couple of months

Answer 1

Heh, I just bought a new PC and had this same exact dilemma :)..

Many tech-savvy people and sites are recommending to wait for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 before using Vista, as there are many issues with Vista. In a way I think it is understandable. The early version of XP were less than stellar as well. Of course there are other factors to think about as well...

You should also take into account the fact that Vista takes much more memory and space than XP. With Windows Vista Home Premium with Aero activated the system may take up to 0.5 GB (if not more) RAM, so performance with a 1 GB RAM, while not necessarily unbearable or slow (it should be enough for most daily activities though), might suffer when doing memory intensive activities (newer games, for example).

And Windows Vista Installation requires 40GB of free hard disk space (not that it might be a problem, just to keep that in mind)

I myself decided to stick with XP, and just shell out in a year or two when Vista will be (hopefully) much improved.

What's best would be to test run a Vista system with the configuration you wanted (say a friend has a Vista laptop or whatnot), then you can experience yourself and judge whether you should stick with XP (the tried and true OS) or Vista (the new, unrevered but supposedly inevitably the future of Windows)

Best of luck,

Cheers!

Answer 2

Vista on a NEW machine is probably OK, but make sure there are Vista drivers for your Printer, Scanner, Camera, etc. FIRST. These are what cause most migration problems. Not all XP applications work in Vista, either.

Upgrading to Vista on an older PC is not a good idea YET, use the free Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor (See Below:) to test your PC's compatibility.

Then, wait until all the manufacturer's have Vista drivers in place.

Until then, stick with XP.

Answer 3

Get XP!!!!!!!!!!

I have a friend w/ a new Acer running vista home premium & there are so many probs w/ software and unavailable driver upgrades it gets extremely frustrating. U can always upgrade later once vista has been out long enough, usually at least 1-1.5 years, then drivers, etc will be readily available. Dual processors are great, HD size sounds good, but I'd recommend maxxing out the RAM at 2GB. Ur system will be happier w/ 2 gig. I wouldn't worry much about waiting to upgrade since MS has special programs for students to get specific products (like OS, Ofc.) at discounted rates. I got office '07 dirt cheap by being a student--gotta luv the perks, lol. Am sure MS offers similar programs in Australia like what I used here in the States. :)

Answer 4

Depends on when you will be buying. If it is next year you should be fine with vista after service pack 1 is released(sometime around aprilish I hear). That will take care of a LOT of problems vista has now. If you are buying now stick with xp.

Answer 5

I think you XP is the best. Because Vista is not comfortable for many people. I think you have to buy a laptop with XP.

Answer 6

Stay away from Vista until next year. It's BUGGGYYY!!!
To say the least.

Answer 7

Buy a Mac.