I'd really like some advice on whether you'd recommend Vista home 32 bit or XP home 32 bit for my system. It is a brand new build, and I will mainly be using it to edit images with photoshop, and some videos. I want everything to be fast, I don't really care about small differences in file transfer rates, what I really care about is whether or not it will run photoshop fast, and whether or not the move to vista would require me to buy more ram just to be on par with xp with 2gb of ram

My system:
Antec 900
e2180 processor (to be upgraded at a later date to e8400)
gigabyte ds3l mobo
2gb corsair ram
2x 250gb seagate barracuda
visiontek 3870 gpu

I appreciate all comments, this question is driving me crazy. This operating system is the last thing I have to buy, and I'm anxious to get everything up and running.

bump?

If you go with Vista and it's not fast enough you can always buy more RAM later. My wifes Toshiba Satellite has Vista with 1gb of ram and can run slow at times. I don't really like Vista, but will probably switch eventually.

You should be fine with Vista. I liked it with my laptop 1gb ram --- up graded to 2 gb ram and now love it.

Unless you have specific software that is not compatible with vista --- go with vista

Ok..but is it true what some people say about how Vista isn't even going to stick around..and to just wait for windows7?

Windows 7 is supposed to be released in 2010 according to MS. Some tech writers are thinking it'll slide to 2011, others 2H 2009. It's still too early to tell by what's published yet.

Two things to consider.
First, Vista was supposed to be released in late 2003 before getting bumped a few times and then rewritten.
Second, if MS goes back to their old OS cycle then a new OS will come out every 3-4 years.


As to which OS to use now? Check the compatibility of version of photoshop you have. Vista won't do you any good if you need to upgrade photoshop as well.

2G ram is generally the geeks minimum for Vista (stole from another poster the saying)

Finally, if you haven't bought the e8400 yet. Quads do photo/video editing faster from what I've been told.

You say you want everything to be fast, get Win2k and/or XP.
Vista will be halfassed eer half fast.
Vista is such a pig with memory, to do Photoshop, if your version is Vista compatible, you will need vista 64 and 8GB of memory to do the same thing you can in XP with 2GB.

Rattus Viola: Sino non they quisnam operor non have scientia futurus vestri rector.

That's the sort of stuff I want to hear bobbknight lol. Yah I saw that article on here about how fast it can be with 8gb..the problem is I didn't really want to deal with vista's 64bit woes, and I didn't really want to buy that much ram (i'm kinda on a budget). I think it's in my best interest for now to go with xp..then I can always upgrade later if I want to..does this sound sane??

also thanks for the great info vang