Vista Business or XP pro

Bongedone

Hi,

I have to purchase 5 laptops for our office.

The specs are: -

2.5ghz Core Duo
3Gb Ram
256mb Radeon
250gb Hard Disk
17" screen

The laptops will be part of an existing network running SBS2003. Would you advise the Vista or XP pro as the operating system ?

Cheers

TonyLisaP

Bongedone wrote: »

Hi,

I have to purchase 5 laptops for our office.

The specs are: -

2.5ghz Core Duo
3Gb Ram
256mb Radeon
250gb Hard Disk
17" screen

The laptops will be part of an existing network running SBS2003. Would you advise the Vista or XP pro as the operating system ?

Cheers

There are a lot of factors that might have to be taken into consideration here, do you have any bespoke applications to be installed onto the machines? Do you run a secured wireless network in the office? Certification maybe an issue. If you have no special requirements in the way of software of certificates that have been written for XP then go with Vista. If you do have special requirements, IE bespoke applications then check with the developers of those apps that they will work with Vista.

Bongedone

No bespoke applications. I do know our phone management software dislikes Vista but that is not really important.

The laptops will be connected via ethernet but there is a wireless network also.

TonyLisaP

If you are you connected via Ethernet then you will be fine. How is your wireless network secured, WEP, WPA, WPA-2, Certificate?

isofa

The wireless security will make no difference either.

If you want the max speed out of the laptops go for XP Pro, else if you need the latest features of Vista choose that.

If you also have a lot of machines running XP at the moment (in your current office), I'd go for XP, if not, go for Vista.

TonyLisaP

isofa

Not neccessarily true, there are some certificates for wireless networking that do not work reliably with Vista, the inbuilt security on vista will reject the certificates, we had that problem at LloydsTSB and the certificates are having to be redone. It probably won't be an issue in this case but it doesn't hurt to be sure now does it?

Bongedone

All XP at the moment. I will see if I can get some prices with downgrade disks. At least then I can get rid of Vista if it is causing problems.

isofa

TonyLisaP wrote: »

isofa

Not neccessarily true, there are some certificates for wireless networking that do not work reliably with Vista, the inbuilt security on vista will reject the certificates, we had that problem at LloydsTSB and the certificates are having to be redone. It probably won't be an issue in this case but it doesn't hurt to be sure now does it?

It's running via a MS Small Business Server 2003 (see the OP first post) so it won't be an issue...

Personally I'd choose XP.

TonyLisaP

It should be fine. I don't know where people say that Vista is slower than XP I actually find it faster now that I have turned off UAC and set it to the classic start menu. Data transfer maybe a bit slower across the network but that is for a very good reason. Good luck.:j

TonyLisaP

isofa wrote: »

It's running via a MS Small Business Server 2003 (see the OP first post) so it won't be an issue...

Personally I'd choose XP.

Not exactly going forwards though is it?

isofa

TonyLisaP wrote: »

Not exactly going forwards though is it?

Depends on the user requirements.

Of laptop systems I've used, set-up and personally run, all have better performance running XP than Vista, and seeing as Applications are key to work not OSes, I really can't see the issue.

If you have to retrain an office of staff to use a new OS, and find some apps don't function correctly, Vista can also not be a wise decision.

None of my large clients have taken up Vista because of numerous issues, many are still in the processes of rolling out XP! And many others will skip Vista completely and wait for the next iteration of Windows.

I remain open minded, and recommend on a case by case basis.