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Is Windows Vista worth it?
Javen
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So my school is giving out free installs of Windows Vista Ultimate to make better use of the new online infrastructure. Problem is, I'm pretty attached to XP, and I'm having trouble finding any unbiased opinions of the updated Microsoft OS.
So for reasons I'm not entirely sure of myself, I'm turning to you. Who has Vista and is happy with it? Who thinks it isn't worth the disc it's written on? The main issues I'm battling with are comparing and contrasting the Vista GUI with XP, and compatibility with other software and programs.
So for reasons I'm not entirely sure of myself, I'm turning to you. Who has Vista and is happy with it? Who thinks it isn't worth the disc it's written on? The main issues I'm battling with are comparing and contrasting the Vista GUI with XP, and compatibility with other software and programs.
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I know jack shit about computers, but I hear the words "Dual Boot" thrown around alot these days.
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The only reason i wouldn't turn vista is that not all popular games right now are supported by it. But, there are games coming out that are only for vista. To be honest, anything outside of that I would get it as long as my computer supports its graphic capabilities. (which it does
I say go for it.
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How "different" is the GUI from XP? Would you say it's navigation and customization is a noticeable improvement from the previous Windows generation?
EDIT: And dual booting is actually a good idea I hadn't thought of. I think I'll pick up a second internal hard drive tomorrow and try out Vista for a while. And if I don't like it, I can just go back until the kinks are worked out.
If I still had something running XP I would compare the differences, but I got rid of my XP partition almost immediately after using Vista.
My sweet, untouched Miranda
And while the seagulls are crying
We fall but our souls are flying
That said, if the question is buying to upgrade over XP, I would hesitate to say yes. I like Vista, but I don't think it's worth spending that extra couple hundred if you have XP unless a) it came with a new computer, b) you're getting it mad cheap, or c) you want to be able to take advantage of DX10. I fell into group c.
Long answer: Hell yes.
The GUI is almost exactly the same for all day-to-day stuff. Some of the Control Panel items are different, but it's easy to find your way around after a few minutes. Heck, I still use the old NT4 conventions for folder viewing and navigation and I can get around it just fine.
The effects actually don't get in the way like you'd expect. Everything still moves along snappily.
I got by on 1GB for the beta and it still worked pretty well. I've been told that 2GB is the minimum, but I noticed no significant speed loss compared to XP except for HD video playback. Everything else was the same as far as I could tell.
There aren't a ton of advantages to upgrading to Vista, aside from "omg shiny" and DirectX10 support (which is a biggie if you game). I think it basically comes down to personal choice; some people are comfortable with XP the way it is and don't need to change a thing. Change would only make them unhappy. Other people enjoy the UI changes and the shiny that Vista introduces. Since it's free just grab it and dual boot.
The real advantages for me are;
- One button press hotkey for search. I rarely use actual folder directories any more.
- Increased stability, especially with video drivers. It only crashed with the first few Nvidia drivers, and updates them without having to restart. It alt-tabs to certain programs that used to have issues (Acrobat) faster too. This is *huge* and why I would never consider going back to XP.
- After a few months and minor tweaks, it boots and loads programs faster than XP did, with 2gb of RAM.
- The only useful graphical thing is actually quite great; thumbnails on mouseover and alt-tab. 3d Flip is generally useless, except when synced to a mouse button for one handed sorting of open windows (great for sorting through a dozen word documents while jotting notes and/or porn).
There's a ton of minor stuff too, like the games explorer, performance monitor, easier user account management, and probably things I don't even think about any more.
On the other hand, my printer was a brick for months, and goddamn Xfire still triggers UAC whenever it starts (the only time I really see it anymore).
UAC can be turned off.
As to whether you should install it - as for me, I believe that the moment that you install windows vista is when you're going to buy the next big new pc game, the one that you absolutely can't live without, that everyone else is playing - and it requires vista.
I just haven't seen any real compelling reason to switch otherwise.
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Most Software developers are on the ball now, and you only encounter UAC when doing an install.
Also, that UAC thing is GREAT for when you set up a PC where you want a truly locked guest account.
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
Oddly, on my laptop it doesn't do it. I don't really understand why though; I thought there'd been an update, but the install on my desktop still triggers it.
I dual boot xp/vista. Vista is pretty much only used for vista only/dx10 stuff atm. Its just not worth the hassle otherwise. (Though more and more stuff offering up dx10 like bioshock and world in conflict) Sure its pretty and probably safer but damn is it a hassle with UAC on not to mention software conflicts (I've off and on had a hell of a time more so with games that use punkbuster not to mention Rise and Fall wouldn't even install).
Oh yeah speaking of xfire some games have problems while in vista using in game chat. For example I haven't been able to get Company of Heroes or Sup Com to work with xfire in game chat (still tracks time though).
Edit: To the guy who keeps being asked for a password on his MacBook: What on Earth are you doing? I seeit almsot never. Maybe once a day at worst.
Anyway, I'd definitely say go with Vista. Personally I'm finding it a lot more stable than XP. No matter what I've thrown at it and what crazy program has crashed, Vista has always managed to maintain control an allow me to exit the offending software. I've only had 1 crash in the past few months that I've been using Vista, and that's when I tried to run a Russian game on my PC (Tarr Chronicles demo in case you're wondering. It worked afterwards anyway).
Vista runs so much better than XP did on my machine.
Then, when you have updated all your drivers, it turns all that... Shit UI stuff on that doesn't add to anything anyway, and to keep the thing smooth you need to turn them off anyway. I can't find the Run command, and it crashes when running WMP, complaining about my 2 gigs of memory not being enough in a short BSOD...
And I still cannot see a difference between DX9 and 10, except a difference in 15 FPS (15 FPS and 30 FPS... Guess which one I'm going to choose.)
So far, it's been pissing me off, but I'm slowly adapting to it... The weirdest thing is that my main drive is under safely remove hardware.
What the fuck?
Overall, Ubuntu was easier, quicker and cleaner to install... I haven't installed either before I installed them on this computer.
But since it's free, I'd get it and maybe wait for Service Pack 1....
Some games recover well along with the driver crash. GalCiv 2 does not, you have to Ctrl+Alt+Delete it. Which means lost progress.
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...the graphics driver crashed. Why are you blaming Vista? It recovered instead of giving you a BSOD like XP would.
And to Urgel: when you do get BSODs on 2k/XP/Vista, it's usually a driver or hardware problem, not an OS problem. And if Aero's running slowly... yeah, your hardware or your drivers are fucked up. Even integrated GPUs (the more recent ones anyway) can handle the fancy GUI stuff.
No, that's just the thing... He's not the only one with this problem (check out sites like NVNews.net etc). Yes, it's Nvidia's fault (though some of the driver problems is caused by Microsoft messing up completely on Vista 32bit memory management) but XP would absolutely not BSOD on you as this particular problem never appears in the first place.