[alwaysinsession]

My Dell PC came with a free vista upgrade. I get the version that's right above basic, not sure what it's called. Is it worth it to take up on the offer? Either way I'm going to get it, but not sure if I should install or sell it. I'm worried that no programs that I use will be compatible on Vista.

Some of my specsCopied from my old confirmation email)


Base AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 3800+
Memory 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
Keyboard Dell USB Keyboard and Dell 2-button Scroll Mouse
Monitor 19 inch Ultrasharp™ 1907FP Digital Flat Panel
Video Card NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE Integrated Graphics GPU
Hard Drive 160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
Floppy Drive and Media Reader No Floppy Drive Included
Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
Mouse Mouse included in Wireless, Laser or Bluetooth Package
Network Interface Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Modem 56K PCI Data Fax Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
CD ROM/DVD ROM Dual Drives: 16X DVD ROM Drive and 48X CD-RW/DVD Combo

[martix_agent]

if it comes free, get it and then tell us how you like it

[RevitXman]

wait a few months

[acoolguy77]

wait for the service pack(s)

[mousek801]

it will lag pretty bad when you want to play a small game (!.6) or something, 1gb of ram is not enough for vista, when my vista laptop idles it uses 700mb of ram.

[thepbkid]

I thought it was a nifty OS but I don't think it's worth the money to upgrade from XP, especially if you're computers not setup to support it already. Maybe later on down the line after some bugs are worked out and the price drops or something. Me personally though, I wouldn't buy it.

[A Lovers Charm]

IMO, its not worth it at all.
You will probably need to upgrade your computer before upgrading.(depending on what kind of computer you have.)
I went to a windows vista preview class the other day, and I ended up not liking it at all.
I've just spent a few bucks and bought programs that will turn my windows XP dekstop into a vista look-alike. turned out great.
here is a screenshot of it.

[froggy_newb]

not all drivers and **** works with vista. might want to try it out and see if there's any problems.

[alwaysinsession]

Let's say I order the upgrade now. Will I be able to get other security and operating system fixes? I don't plan on installing it ASAP.

[Marine786]

I have vista and like it. However, I recommend more ram. I have 2 gigs and i am using a 2 gig flash drive with readyboost. With AIM, firefox, and itunes running, vista is using 59% of my memory. A better video card would be good as well. Get at least 256 of whatever brand you like.

[alwaysinsession]

Since my specs are listed above, can someone recommend a good pair of 2x512 or a 1g stick of ram, and a video card that would work with vista well?

[Blazestorm2]

It's using your ram... that's good

Would you rather spend $1000 computer but only utilizing an equivalent of a $300 computer

I'd rather have Vista using my ram... running trillian, firefox, WMP, X-fire some other misc stuff I have 43% ram usage with CPU usage chilling around 2-4%

[Marine786]

Originally Posted by Blazestorm2

It's using your ram... that's good

Would you rather spend $1000 computer but only utilizing an equivalent of a $300 computer

I'd rather have Vista using my ram... running trillian, firefox, WMP, X-fire some other misc stuff I have 43% ram usage with CPU usage chilling around 2-4%

I didn't say it was a bad thing, just that it uses alot of ram. Therefore, he should get more of it. I also recommend getting a 2 gig flash drive to use the readyboost function.

[alwaysinsession]

I'm not aware of what readyboost and/or 2 gig flash does.

[Dyoel182]

Readyboost lets you take a usb memory card and use it like extra ram when Vista needs it. I have mine plugged in the back and never even know its there.

[Dm4x]

yea, imo its great. go for it.

[matt360]

to vista. In my opinion it looks nice but thats it. Im dual booting Vista and Linux and honestly i havent even used Vista in a month. And Linux is the free OS....

[Ford]

If you're having stability issues or security problems vista may be for you...

Otherwise WAIT. word on the street is the first service pack will be out in August. Right now Vista does not support EAX or Direct3d...or DTS or Dolby Digital surround so for gaming or DVDs you are SOL...plus things like printers are having issues with drivers in vista

if it aint broke dont fix it

[Blazestorm2]

Hah... all my stuff works flawlessly....

Here's the deal.

If you want a smoother/faster/more secure Operating System and can figure out how to install beta drivers and things properly, then I think you'll like Vista

If you want programs themselves to run faster, but don't care as much about the operating system, then stick with XP.

I'm going back to XP when It comes time to format again...

[Cyborgizzle]

i got it for free so i think its worth it :]

its pretty tight

[jacksonblue]

With this Readyboost thing, If you have 2 gigs of system memory and then 2 gigs of ready boost, would it be just as effective as 4 gigs of system memory? Do all programs use readyboost storage or only the system?