Vista - Advice on best time to buy

spacker_2

I would wait at least until SP1 come out or until crucial security updates are available like the 12mb they had out for XP 4days later, lol.

I think its a bit keeping up with the Jones at this early stage.

sco0ter

spacker wrote:

I would wait at least until SP1 come out or until crucial security updates are available like the 12mb they had out for XP 4days later, lol.

I think its a bit keeping up with the Jones at this early stage.

Or the fact that games will use the full potential of DirectX10 ONLY in Vista and therefore will not look as good on XP and could be a bit of a letdown. Never went for this waiting for service packs stuff. Its up to the individual but this is all you seem to get... In my opinion if a good computer package arrives with Vista Installed buy it..... Dont wait for the service packs..... If you did that you wouldnt have upgraded to XP as its now getting ready for its third one. Vista is NOT an XP update. It is a rebuild and is built with getting rid of the security bugs and flaws that make XP so hard to be watertight.

spacker_2

sco0ter wrote:

Or the fact that games will use the full potential of DirectX10 ONLY in Vista and therefore will not look as good on XP and could be a bit of a letdown. Never went for this waiting for service packs stuff. Its up to the individual but this is all you seem to get... In my opinion if a good computer package arrives with Vista Installed buy it..... Dont wait for the service packs..... If you did that you wouldnt have upgraded to XP as its now getting ready for its third one. Vista is NOT an XP update. It is a rebuild and is built with getting rid of the security bugs and flaws that make XP so hard to be watertight.

Im of the ilk of, If you want to play games buy a playstation, if you want to be a geek in the spare room buy a PC for gaming, if you want to use a PC for anything but gaming go ahead.

Vista will get rid of the bugs XP had/has but Vista will have its very own bugs.

AMO

beancounter1968 wrote:

My girlfriend is wondering on the best time to buy a new laptop.

Should she buy a vista compatible product now and upgrade at some point in the future or should she wait till the end of January and buy a laptop preloaded with the software? Do you think that laptop prices will show an increase with this new operating system and will XP models still be available after the release of vista?

Any advice will be appreciated - thank you in advance

Phil

Buy a laptop with Windows XP on it. Don't go for Windows Vista. It may be debateable if you were going for a desktop to go for Vista as the free upgrade deal is fairly attractive, but don't do this with laptops.

The prime reason is obviously the fact that newer operating systems use at least 10% more processing power than their predecessors once it has stabalized with service packs.

However, the problem with laptops is that you can't change the hardware if incompatibilities are found. Going for an offer where you get a free upgrade is a big no-no in a laptop. I am not saying that it is impossible, but simply that the risk is a lot lot higher.

I would not even consider getting Vista on a laptop until its stabalized - we're talking a good 6 months here. For high powered latest, greatest desktops, I would certainly give it some thought.

Bear in mind also that for those that reformat their computer every once in a while, its always advantageous to have a later edition of the Windows software to save downloading umpteen fixes which will be required on early versions of the Windows releases.

AMO

AMO

Oh, one other thing. When getting your laptop, its worth trying to get the highest capacity of memory on a single memory module leaving the other free for upgrading with an identical memory stick later down the line when memory becomes cheaper for your model of laptop.

Also, try to get a hard drive that spins fairly fast (at least 5400 RPM - but preferably faster) to ensure fast bootup times and overall performance. This will give you a fighting chance of upgrading to Vista should you choose to do so later on.

AMO

sco0ter

AMO wrote:

Bear in mind also that for those that reformat their computer every once in a while, its always advantageous to have a later edition of the Windows software to save downloading umpteen fixes which will be required on early versions of the Windows releases.

AMO

Thats where STREAMLINING comes into play... Thats the reason Microsoft let you do it and even tell you how.

sco0ter

spacker wrote:

Im of the ilk of, If you want to play games buy a playstation, if you want to be a geek in the spare room buy a PC for gaming, if you want to use a PC for anything but gaming go ahead.

Vista will get rid of the bugs XP had/has but Vista will have its very own bugs.

So you would pay hundreds for a PC and then some £300 + for a console when a good Vista PC with a DirectX10 graphics card can deliver games that will beat an XBOX360 for graphics and effects.... Sounds like a waste of money to me... I will stick to my PC for games... although how this makes anyone a "geek" I dont understand....

nielingren

i'm just going to say never lol i don't loikw windows vista;)

sco0ter

nielingren wrote:

i'm just going to say never lol i don't loikw windows vista;)

Better get a cheap Windows XP disk and a lot of anti-virus/firewall stuff then as XP is going to be taken out of the update loop by microsoft in a short while and all new PC's will come with Vista installed

AMO

sco0ter wrote:

Thats where STREAMLINING comes into play... Thats the reason Microsoft let you do it and even tell you how.

If by that you mean that you like installing service packs through Windows Update / Microsoft Update, then good for you, but I absolutely hate it as it takes forever.

There is a big difference in installation time with using an XP SP2 disc compared to an initially released disc. Waiting for the downloads and the time it takes to do a service pack upgrade is torturous.

AMO