Vista Ultimate loves my 4400+

[BaronMatrix]

COntrary to a lot of reviews, Vista is a great OS and I don't think I could ever go back to XP. You just have to experience it.

I just played DOom3 and I can now use my wireless Logitech KB.

UAC is not a pain but clean installs are not a lot of fun.

WHile you are trying to cruise around after install - which is a million times better than XP - Vista is out searching for updates and such and you may have to reboot before you know it.

It seems snappier though and the UI animations are stellar.

I give Vista a Thumbs up.

D3 which is said to have graphical issues played smooter than ever (whether or not the fps is exactly the same)

I just installed nVidia's Vista driver and was off to the races.

There are a few things I am not liking. Well, actually one big thing. In XP my TaskBar extended across both monitors, in Vista it doesn't. It's a pain because when I'm in the right hand monitor I have to drag all the way to the left hand monitor. Also, D3 doesn't keep the second montior alive when playing.

I did a clean install this time but now that I know it will work well, I may upgrade my C drive this weekend. For my next upgrade I will be going to X64.

 

[jaguarskx]

When SP1 is released for it. No need to switch over to it just for games at the moment and I don't really see any programs I need to buy that will only work with Vista.

Window XP Pro will suffice until summer or fall 2008 when I assume SP1 will be released. Or when I decide to upgrade my X1900XT to a DX10 GPU. Whichever comes first.

 

[akahuddy]

I'll get it when I can get it free through the CS department from school.

 

[apt403]

I'll upgrade to vista when 1 or more of these things happens: 1. Halo 2 for the pc comes out, and i want to play it. 2. I get a DX10 gfx card. 3. SP1 comes out and it seems like everything is atleast semi stable. 4. I start smoking crack and somehow become a billionare in the process.

 

[BaronMatrix]

When SP1 is released for it. No need to switch over to it just for games at the moment and I don't really see any programs I need to buy that will only work with Vista.

Window XP Pro will suffice until summer or fall 2008 when I assume SP1 will be released. Or when I decide to upgrade my X1900XT to a DX10 GPU. Whichever comes first.

SP1 is due out this year. MS has already released app compat patches. Believe me, you will love it. MS is offering a deals where you can get Ultimate and Home Premium for $300 if you buy retail. You can even get X86 and X64 on the CD.

 

[darious00777]

I'm going with "I already have it" since I'm picking up a Vista computer in about ten hours or so. E4300, 1 gig of RAM, and integrated graphics... I'm going to have fun upgrading it.

 

[SEALBoy]

Does using RC2 count as having it? Anyways, I deleted that a couple months back and will upgrade to the final version when it comes out at my campus store (hopefully they'll have Ultimate for around $30), which should be in April. I was pretty impressed with the RC and by April driver support should be decent, so I'm making the jump.

 

[dasickninja]

Already had Ultimate pre-consumer release. And I love it.

 

[techgeek]

MS love all you early adopters. Right now they are saying chaaaching. Stocks go up and shareholders are happy.

All kidding aside, I'll wait for the first truly revelolutionary DX10 game before jumping to Vista (by that time there should be a choice in DX10 cards), it'll probably be Crysis. The thing about all the incredible Crysis screenshots is that they have all been on DX9.0c, so I don't know how much better it'll be on DX10.

 

[croc]

So where do I find these great deals on ultimate for 300 USD? 380 USD on amazon... And they won't ship M$ OS to AUS. 750 AUD for Ultimate, even worse in the UK. Rapery.... Begone, M$ fanboi. I'm not giving the Bill and Linda foundation an extra 200 USD for the penalty of living in AUS. BTW, before you get into 'that's an AUS thing', that's a Microsoft AUS rrp. 751 AUD to be precise, GST included.

 

[dasickninja]

Who says I bought Vista? (^_^) And its still legal man.

 

[1Tanker]

Mighty sound trivial, but i hate the new folder "looks". The slider to toggle them is kinda neat, but some folders look like a book opened, on it's side. :x I find it snappier(and with only 1GB), as well, but some of that probably has to do with my current XP-Pro installation being 1-1/2 years old(reinstall would liven it up). I just can't justify the exorbitant price at this point in time, not to mention driver issues, etc. Maybe after SP1 releases. Maybe.

edit: I'm using RC build 5600, but i doubt that much has changed(i'm sure there are less driver issues, and bugs).

 

[jaguarskx]

You could wait for an OEM version. Hopefully they'll be around when I decide to upgrade.

I can't see myself splurging on the Ultimate or the Ultimate Extra version so for the moment it's a toss up between Home Premium and Business. Maybe one of each for my HTPC and primary rig.

 

[Dade_0182]

No thanx baron. I'm quite happy with my Windows XP Black Edition (US Retail one). Got it from my sister's boyfriend just the other day. :twisted:

 

[Hameedo]

I am still very confused !

Now the reason why I posted this useless statement -at least it is for me - is that I am hoping someone will help me to decide !

I am not impressed by the visuals in Vista .. I saw a video for Mac OSX -or whatever - and this is what I call a 3D desktop .

to me vista looks like a good XP theme .. no more .. and I am still worring about the performance under my 1.0GB of RAM system .. especially gaming performance .

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Before anyone buys the full version at full price try this courtesy of window secrets : Vista has an undocumented feature, however, that actually allows you to "clean install" Vista to a hard disk that has no prior copy of XP or W2K.

Use Vista's 'upgrade' version to clean-install

The secret is that the setup program in Vista's upgrade version will accept an installed copy of XP, W2K, or an unactivated copy of Vista itself as evidence of a previous installation.

This enables you to "clean install" an upgrade version of Vista to any formatted or unformatted hard drive, which is usually the preferred method when installing any new operating system. You must, in essence, install Vista twice to take advantage of this trick. But Vista installs much faster than XP, so it's quicker than installing XP followed by Vista to get the upgrade price.

Before you install Vista on a machine that you don't know is 100% compatible, you should run Microsoft's free Upgrade Advisor. This program — which operates only on 32-bit versions of XP and Vista (plus Vista Enterprise) — reports to you on any hardware or software it finds that may be incompatible with Vista. See Microsoft's Upgrade Advisor page.

Also, to see which flavors of XP Home, XP Pro, and 2000 officially support in-place installs and clean installs of the different Vista editions, see Microsoft's upgrade paths page.

Here's a simplified overview of the steps that are required to clean-install the upgrade version of Vista:

Step 1. Boot the PC from the Vista DVD.

Step 2. Select "Install Now," but do not enter the Product Key from the Vista packaging. Leave the input box blank. Also, turn off the option Automatically activate Windows when I'm online. In the next dialog box that appears, confirm that you really do want to install Vista without entering a Product Key.

Step 3. Correctly indicate the version of Vista that you're installing: Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate.

Step 4. Select the "Custom (Advanced)" install, not the "Upgrade" install.

Step 5. Vista copies files at length and reboots itself one or more times. Wait for the install to complete. At this point, you might think that you could "activate" Vista, but you can't. That's because you haven't installed the Vista upgrade yet. To do that, run the DVD's setup.exe program again, but this time from the Vista desktop. The easiest way to start setup again is to eject and then reinsert the DVD.

Step 6. Click "Install Now." Select Do not get the latest updates for installation. (You can check for these updates later.)

Step 7. This time, do enter the Product Key from the Vista packaging. Once again, turn off the option Automatically activate Windows when I'm online.

Step 8. On this second install, make sure to select "Upgrade," not "Custom (Advanced)." You're not doing a clean install now, you're upgrading to Vista.

Step 9. Wait while Vista copies files and reboots itself. No user interaction is required. Do not boot from the DVD when asked if you'd like to do so. Instead, wait a few seconds and the setup process will continue on its way. Some DOS-like, character-mode menus will appear, but don't interact with them. After a few seconds, the correct choice will run for you automatically.

Step 10. After you click a button labeled Start in the Thank You dialog box, Vista's login screen will eventually appear. Enter the username and password that you selected during the first install. You're done upgrading to Vista.

Step 11. Within 30 days, you must "activate" your copy of Vista or it'll lose functionality. To activate Vista, click Show more details in the Welcome Center that automatically displays upon each boot-up, then click Activate Windows now. If you've dismissed the Welcome Center, access the correct dialog box by clicking Start, Control Panel, System & Maintenance, System. If you purchased a legitimate copy of Vista, it should quickly activate over the Internet. (You can instead activate by calling Microsoft on the phone, which avoids your PC exchanging information with Microsoft's server.)

Hope enuff people read this without having to put the $ in M$

 

[jaguarskx]

If gaming is your top priority then skip Windows Vista for the moment since the performance will be a little worse than on Windows XP.

The only reason you should upgrade to Windows Vista in the short term is if you have a DX10 card and you absolutely want to see what DX10 graphics have to offer.

Other than that sit on the sideline and save your money.

 

[croc]

OEM versions are tied to the original MB that its installed on... So if you change your MB for whatever reason, plan on getting a new OS. Upgrade versions are almost as restrictive. Even retail will have issues. But much less draconian. Read the EULA's...

Fortunately, I had already planned a holiday in Hawai'i, and my RC2 license doesn't expire until after I get back (390 now in Compusa, Honolulu).

Now if I can just get drivers for my Option Fusion 3G card, and my Nortel conntivity client gets a vista refresh, I'll be all set.

The Bill and Linda foundation needs SERIOUS MONEY folks.... Please help them.

 

[croc]

Old news.... And still the same EULA's. Try an upgrade of your MB with that oem key. WGA will keep the virii out... Right.... YOU are the virus that M$ wants to keep out.

 

[Harrisson]

I'll wait for SP1 and full drivers and software (games ) compatibility before switching to Vista, also I expect by that time hackers will find the way to disable/work arround very lame new Vista DRM. Seriously, why switch to Vista now and have inferior performance (even with USB flash assigned) and all other compatibility troubles? If neat interface would be my driving force, I would be using Mac for 10 years now

 

[jaguarskx]

OEM versions are tied to the original MB that its installed on... So if you change your MB for whatever reason, plan on getting a new OS. Upgrade versions are almost as restrictive. Even retail will have issues. But much less draconian. Read the EULA's...

Not exactly true since OEM versions of Windows XP can be purchased seperately at the moment. Of course, that could be different with Windows Vista.

 

[croc]

I feel like a broken record... Read the EULA's.

 

[minim3]

quote: "Vista Ultimate loves my 4400+"

Do you think she can love my c2d E6400 at the same time? I hope you don't mind a trio?! :twisted:

I changed "it" to "she". seemed more appropriate.

Ah! voted for option "When reviewers say compatibilty is good enough". If by some miracle a hacked version of DX10 is ported to XP, I see no reason to make a switch. Only reason that I would switch after that would be that all applications+games are 64bit natively written with multicore and complete driver support. And that would take some time....

 

[croc]

Patiently waiting for an answer to my question...

"So where do I find these great deals on ultimate for 300 USD?"

Put up or shut up. US MSRP is 399 for ultimate. I'll take as many copies of ultimate retail as you can afford to ship for usd 300 per copy plus appropriate shipping.

 

[Dahak]

I'll run Vista in about a years time.Well after the sp1 comes out.Only then will I consider it adequit enough.

Dahak

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