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Specifications needed to run Vista

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by jardinier

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I am in the processing of purchasing a low cost laptop. Below are the specifications for the model I am considering.

What I would like to know is will this machine run Vista at a satisfactory speed? For $100 less I can buy a machine with XP preinstalled. Do you think it is a bad idea to buy a new machine with XP which OS will, sooner or later, become obsolete.

[b]COMPAQ Presario Dual Core - Laptop[/b]

Processor: Intel Dual Core T2310 1.46 GHz

Memory: 1GB DDR2 RAM (Upgrade to 2GB $49)

Storage: 80GB HDD

Optical Drive: DVD-Burner (Dual Layer)

Screen: 15.4inch WXGA (ColourShine)

Video: Intel Graphics

Connectivity: Wireless G, 56K Modem, 100 LAN

Built in Devices: Card Reader, 3 x USB,
S-Video, Inbuilt Mic

Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic

23 replies

by cmiller5400

I would upgrade to 2GB of memory. Then Vista may be happy.

by jardinier

I have ordered the machine but not yet paid for it or arranged for delivery. I was planning to ask for the extra 1 GB of memory before finalising the deal.

by dumphrey

version of Intel Graphics? For home basic/buisness, or with all the eye candy turned off this lap top will be fine with the Ram upgrade. The older intel graphics are unable to run Aero with any degree of performance, but the latest generations should do well enough to not cause complaint.
It all depends on whatyou will be doing with the laptop, web browsing, email, office.... most if not all video playback you should be good with Vista. Games, no, it will blow.
Personally I would get XP. A "downgrade" is a good way to go, tends to add $99 to the price, but you get XP pro installed, and have a Vista business COA on the achine, so if you do ever need Vista, you run the upgrade from the included disk.

by jardinier

and it is $100 cheaper. I would prefer XP if I can be confident it won't become obsolete (unsupported) for several years.

I have heaps of software that will run on XP but which may not run on Vista.

by boxfiddler Hot topic

I am still happily running Win2K, even though it is on the way out. I requested the last Service Pack on CD so that should the 2k machine need rebuilding I have easy access to the service packs, if not all the updates. Sitting behind a NAT enabled router, using a good software firewall in conjunction with the usual antivirus and malware control agents, this machine hums along nicely and will until the hardware shoots craps.

I have done the same thing for XP. I have SP2 on disc (no plans to install SP3) and should the XP machine need rebuilding I have what I need and want to run it, too, until the hardware shoots craps.

I have little software that will run on Vista. I'm not made of the money it would require to update all that software to Vista compatible. Were it not for work requirements, I would skip Vista entirely. If you can get XP, get XP. As you say, you have the software for it. It will be around awhile, no matter how hard MS is pushing us to Vista.

by omegafire

Check out this link for the recommended specs for Windows Vista. Keep in mind that in order to get the full effects of Aero you will need a decent video card.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/systemrequirements.mspx

I would have to suggest that you go with the XP installed system. You would be safe with Microsoft supporting XP until 2014.

http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?LN=en-gb&x=16&y=12&C2=1173

In addition, all of your software will still be supported. Granted Microsoft is still working on that problem with Vista. who knows how long that will take to get Vista compatible with all your software.

by jardinier

Thank you everyone and especially for the recommendation to stay with XP.

From the same supplier I can get an ASUS brand with much better specs. It is $100 more expensive than the Compaq but comes with two years warranty. That is worth $100 in itself. For $AU 189 I can extend the warranty to four years.

Here it is:

Processor: Intel Dual Core T2370 (1.73 GHz)

Memory: 2 GB DDR2 RAM

Storage: 250GB SATA HDD

Optical Drive: DVD-Burner (Dual Layer)

Screen: 15.4inch WXGA (ColourShine)

Video: Intel Express graphics

Connectivity: Wireless, 56K Modem, 10/100 LAN

Built in Devices: Inbuilt Webcam, Bluetooth, Card Reader, Mic, USB, Firewire

Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional

Warranty: 24 Months International Pickup

by jardinier

I typed my post, clicked "Submit" and received an error "Page not found."

So I tried again and got the same error.

By that time I figured what was going on and tried to rename one of the posts: "Duplicate post -- please ignore." And guess what -- error message again.

So I was stuck with the double question with no means of explaining that it was a duplicate. Now I find that people have been addressing both identically named questions.

by thechas

Hi Julian,

First off, I would skip Vista Home Basic. I think it is too functionally limited to be of use for anything beyond an email web browser system.

Second, the learning curve for going from XP to Vista is about the same as going from Windows 3.11 to Windows 95.

If it is $100 less with XP, I would go with XP.

That said, I have a similar spec laptop with Vista Home Premium. I did increase the RAM from 1GB to 2GB and saw a healthy increase in performance.

I have not found anything that I need to do with my laptop that it cannot do. I do find that a lot of things work very differently than they did with XP.

Still, for most users I recommend XP over Vista.

Chas

by jdclyde

what can you do with this Vista laptop that you couldn't do with an XP laptop?

What justifies the cost?

I admit to now using Vista, and so ask this of people who have made the change.

by thechas

It is more a matter of not being worth the effort to change from Vista to XP.

The laptop came with Vista. I had been interested in getting a laptop for some time, and the combination of price, features, and a bonus check coincided.

I was all prepared to switch to XP. I bought a second hard drive so that I could easily preserve the Vista installation. And went in with the mindset that I would switch if I had problems with Vista.

As an advantage, I have a system with Vista and thus can speak with knowledge when people ask me about Vista.

Chas

by jardinier

I have now secured the machine with the following specs:

Processor: Intel Dual Core T2370 (1.73 GHz)

Memory: 2 GB DDR2 RAM

Storage: 250GB SATA HDD

Optical Drive: DVD-Burner (Dual Layer)

Screen: 15.4inch WXGA (ColourShine)

Video: Intel Express graphics

Connectivity: Wireless, 56K Modem, 10/100 LAN

Built in Devices: Inbuilt Webcam, Bluetooth, Card Reader, Mic, USB, Firewire

Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional

Warranty: 24 Months International Pickup Warranty

Incidentally I may have to consider believing in God again. :) After deciding on all your advices to go with the XP, I rang up only to learn that the last one in stock had been sold 5 minutes earlier.

The lassie said they had a more expensive model coming in which had Vista with an XP disc as well. But she had two other customers on hold and asked if she could ring me back. No, as I was about to leave home.

On arrival home I rang the lassie and she said she would normally have gone home by that time but was staying back for a short while. And lo and behold, there had been a cancelled order at another branch of the shop. BUT if I had not rung her within that time frame of 10 minutes, it would have been sold first thing in the morning as several people wanted it.

Then the man from the other shop rang and said he really didn't want to sell the computer at the price advertised because it was too cheap. He said he had knocked back several people. But because he LIKED the lassie at head office he had agreed to sell it to me. He said the profit margin was only $25.

But that is not all. I commented that God must be looking after me for me to score such a fluke. He asked if I was religious. I said yes, and that in fact I posted to a Christian website.

He was very excited. "That is just what I am looking for."

Well I will see if he shows up at meetchristians.com

by rob miners

there Chas as I can guarantee that you will be asked about it. Having an understanding of the OS will be a major benefit. Its here whether we like it or not and people will use it. ;)

by jardinier

Hi Chas

I am not sure if I mentioned here or not but when I learnt that the last computer with XP installed had been sold, I was told that a new laptop would be coming in, preloaded with Vista (home basic I presume) but with an XP "downgrade" disc also.

Well that's a joke isn't it -- downgrade from Vista to XP. I would call that an upgrade.

So I thought I may as well take the Vista laptop so that at least I can learn Vista. But of course the one with XP Pro installed became available and so that is the one I have ordered.

Apart from the laptop I ordered (I am still waiting for delivery) I have a computer with good specs which my friend Patrick put together for me early last year.

The computer I currently use the most dual boots into 98 SE or XP Pro.

Do you think there would be any point in having my most powerful computer dual boot into XP Pro and Vista so that I can learn about Vista?

by thechas

Julian,

Unless you buy or setup another new system before 2010, I would go ahead and stick with XP.

I have enough spare XP licenses for systems that I anticipate needed for the next couple of years. I also expect to be running XP at work through 2010.

In my mind aside from knowing enough about Vista to answer questions, I don't see a compelling need for most people to switch.

If you end up with hardware that does not have XP version drivers. Or, if new software comes out that will not run on XP, then, it might be worth upgrading to or dual-booting Vista.

Another reason to switch to Vista is if you want a full 64 bit system. I suspect that true 64 bit software will run better on the 64 bit version of Vista than on the 64 bit version of XP.

Chas

by jdclyde

How long have you had this system then, and your professional opinion?

You are one of the few people around here that I feel would be able to give an honest opinion on the OS without getting emotional one way or the other, and would be able to give a fair evaluation.

Unfortunately, what I am spending this week sending one boy to Band camp, the other to cross-country camp, and two pairs of running shoes for both of them for cross-country, I could have bought myself a killer system... :( ;\

by dumphrey

Vista had to grow on me. The reason I do not run it full time is that its sluggish on my laptop (2Ghz Core 2 duo, 2 Gb ram, nvidia 130quadro video (256 on board ram) in comparison to XP for video playback and games (my 2 biggest uses). This is most likely a result of the video card driver, but sluggish is sluggish. Weirdly, it boots faster.
I took some getting use to in Vista, and apart from the huge DRM under layer, my only real complaint is how many clicks it takes to get to network connections =\ I have also found wireless in Vista to be less reliable and slower to connect, and we had some issues with Vista's "smart network stack" responding to an arp relay instead of the actual machine arp....
I do not like the Vista firewall interface, I find it clumsy and way to busy, but the functionality is 100% over XP firewall.
I will keep Vista around as a dual boot or as a VM to keep my "hand in" as it were for Win7, but I do not see myself switching to Vista as a daily OS since it provides me nothing I need, and I have enough XP licenses to last me (3 32 bit, 2 64 bit (technet membership + purchases for 2 self built machines over the years). But my fiancee's laptop has Vista, and runs like a champ (its also a beast, nvidia 8800 gt 512 discrete video, 4 Gb ram, 2.6 ghz core 2 duo, full keyboard...). Also, I no longer discourage people from getting Vista, as most of the "kinks" seem to have been worked out, and all new games/software will run under Vista.

by jdclyde

Pretty consistent with what I have been hearing, and confirms that I am at least a year out for Vista, if ever.

A huge performance hit with little gained to offset that means Vista is not in my horizon... ;\

by thechas

I've had the laptop with Vista on it for about 10 months. I bought it last September.

I bought my daughter a laptop with Vista on it in May for her college graduation. (She earned it!) She fumed for a few days while learning the changes and getting used to having to click 2 or 3 times to perform some tasks that require verification.

As I said, I have not tried to push Vista, nor do I run any heavy applications.

I run Open Office, Firefox, Thunderbird and Nitro PDF. I'm using Zone Alarm and Avast. I've had no issues with any of the software applications I have run.

Since I use the laptop mainly for travel, my biggest issue is setting up a new connection for each different hotel or airport.

The laptop boots up quicker than my AM2 based desktop. I suspect that most of the difference is the greater hardware overhead on the desktop.

If you are like most people and use the My Documents folder to store your files in, you won't have the complaint I have about it taking more effort to select a different folder to store files and pictures in.

The changes in how file management works are both the best and worst differences in my opinion.

I like that Vista automatically places a new folder in the chosen sort order.

I like the thumbnail preview when you go to copy or move a file or folder with the same name as existing files in the target folder.

I dislike the default folder details that are targeted for images. Along with the way they do not completely go away when you select list view.

Every time I use Control Panel functions, it takes me a moment to recall the new name and select the correct option. Such as Add/Remove Programs is now Program features, or something like that.

Like everyone else, I don't like having to tell Vista 2 or 3 times that it is okay to perform the task that I requested. Perhaps the most frustrating is having to verify that I do want to run Microsoft Update after clicking on it in the menu!

All in all, Vista is mainly getting used to doing things in different ways, or with a different name.

The main reason that I will not be upgrading my desktop systems is cost. The combination of the cost of the OS and required hardware upgrades is just too much.

Anyhow, that's the 2 cent review.

Chas

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