Buying a new PC - Windows vista

cyberstar

The reason I would prefer to wait for a pre-installed vista pc, because I presumed I would save money, without having the need to pay extra for a separate retail price upgrade

MORPH3US

Noticed in the paper yesterday that MESH are shipping their "Vista Ready PC's" with a voucher for a free upgrade to Vista when it comes out.

Small print says there will be a voucher sent out with PC to claim upgrade and there will be a £15 administration fee for the upgrade.

I also saw a link for dell's "free upgrade" options http://www.dellvistaupgrade.com/

I am after a new PC and have been saving like mad. Now have the cash but I too want to wait for Vista. PC's go out of date quickly enough, but buying XP now seems crazy to me and then haveing to pay for Vista in a couple of months time, I can wait for a few months.......

One thing I did notice, and this relates to Frogmans predictions of the "minimum hardware spec for vista"

MESH badge some of their PC's (that come with the free upgrade voucher) "This PC is certified Windows Vista™ Capable."

If you click that text you get THIS which basically says

"Providing consistent quality and reliability, your PC is equipped with “modern CPU”, 512MB or more of System Memory (RAM), and a DirectX 9 class GPU that supports the Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM), providing a higher level of graphics stability and performance under Windows Vista™."

Now i'm not a complete boffin, but will Vista really run on a PC with 512MB Ram!?!? I though that was the suggested minimum for XP (although I believe you could run parts (most?) of XP with 256?

M

sco0ter

Despite all the rumours, Vista is only more heavy on Video cards than XP... It will run on most (but not all) PC's that run XP

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/capable.mspx

superscaper

sco0ter wrote:

Despite all the rumours, Vista is only more heavy on Video cards than XP... It will run on most (but not all) PC's that run XP

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/capable.mspx

And even that is mostly down to the Aero (I think that's what it's called) interface which can be turned off anyway. Although last I heard the Aero interface drained decent laptops from fully charged in twenty minutes. Don't know if they've rectified that, obviously hardware/software requirements have outstripped battery technology so maybe worth waiting even longer before getting Vista on laptops.

itm2

MORPH3US wrote:

Noticed in the paper yesterday that MESH are shipping their "Vista Ready PC's" with a voucher for a free upgrade to Vista when it comes out.

Small print says there will be a voucher sent out with PC to claim upgrade and there will be a £15 administration fee for the upgrade.

M

Does Mesh say which version of Vista the upgrade gets you? Apparently the low-end "Home" edition lacks alot of key features, which may mean that upgrading to it may not be worth the trouble/cost anyway:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/27/acer_slams_vista_home_basic/

MORPH3US

"Vista Home Premium"

M

LittleJo

Hi,
Maybe I am small-minded but I like to be paid for testing software!
Jo

wolfman

LittleJo wrote:

Hi,
Maybe I am small-minded but I like to be paid for testing software!
Jo

If that's the case, then you may want to think twice before using a lot of open source software too. I guess you could possibly even include Firefox in that.

spurs1234

I believe if you buy a computer over £299 after mid november (dont know exact date) you get a upgrade of vista when it comes out for free. This is the case in PcWorld anyway

John_Gray

Those enthusiasts who buy a Vista-ready computer in the expectation of getting a decent version of Vista at a later date would be well advised to read the following articles:
Vista vouchers, a Reg round-up,
Acer: Vista Home Basic is a lemon and
Vista vouchers for Christmas PC buyers.

Make sure you know what version of Vista your voucher entitles you to!

John