The following has been prompted due to a coworker buying a new Sony Vaio laptop with Windows Vista pre-installed.
It’s been almost nine months since I replaced my previous computer. Although it has more power than before, I’m not thinking of upgrading it to Windows Vista.
Why?
The price point and complexity of choosing five different versions turns me off. Plus, I don’t like that you essentially need a new computer with higher-end components that you probably won’t utilize regularly. 2GB of RAM and a video card that has 256MB of video memory for a cool spiffy-looking UI?
I don’t like that driver support is behind.
If I’m going to essentially get a new computer, I might as well invest in something that won’t have me constantly looking over my shoulder. Viruses (virii), spyware, and security flaws are more prevalent in Windows simply because it’s more popular. With the little I do, a Mac looks more and more appealing.
Have you tried it?
You got me. Do I need to, though?
If you’ve been reading here for awhile, I think you can see that I don’t need that much horsepower or features. As long as I can get things done, I’m happy.
That’s where I stand. Got a problem with it? Too bad! 🙂
Other tips and opinions
Scot Finnie at ComputerWorld: “A Windows expert opts for a Mac life” (see the other articles linked in that series)
All Narfed Up 
Well, i’ve been using Vista for a few months now and it is noticeably faster than XP. I agree that the driver support is complete crap. I have had to find workarounds for many of the programs i’ve used without problem on XP. However, SP1 for Vista should be coming some time soon-ish so perhaps that will yield better results?
Overall, if i could choose the OS i wanted a few months back, i would have stuck with XP. Vista will be useful next year sometime as computer hardware comes down in price and driver support is improved…
LikeLike
@Dustin: What hardware do you have?
Majority of people don’t want to deal with workarounds – they just want it to work. I know we’re a special breed, but still. 🙂
I’m still hesitant, so I’m letting other people test around before I jump in.
LikeLike
I have;
1.6 GHz Core Duo
2 GB Ram
Intel 945GM Express graphics
LikeLike
I have a friend that got Vista on his new laptop.
Before he got it I really hated it. Ya. The entire 2 minutes that I used it in a store. Okay maybe it was less time.
But I liked it when I used it on his computer. Well sort of.
It without question looks much better. It didn’t seem to lag at all. Well at least not because of the UI.
Something I didn’t like was that it provides far too much information. Okay. Yes it’s good to have access to a lot of info. Just not when your trying to find the most basic info. Yes. Networking stuff is complicated by nature. But the last thing I need is to be told the v6 IP. I want the v4 IP god darn it (so far their exactly the same almost 99% of the time from what I’m told – Which is what got me all confused).
Oh and the games. Their nice. Well if you want to play solitaire or mindsweep. If you want to play World of Warcraft you may have a issue. And they took out pinball from what I could tell. I mean ya I have not used it since… Like 4 years ago… But it’s the most pretty game on a default install of windows!
LikeLike
@Dustin: Nice.
SP1 sounds really hefty, though, so have fun with that. 🙂
@Anthony: Are you going to go with Vista on your next upgrade?
LikeLike
Well, I wanted to at least install it on my current computer. That didn’t go over too well. Something about my computer being 97 in computer years.
If I got a new computer? Ya definitely.
LikeLike