XP or Vista 64

I just got a new Dell studio desktop and am debating if I leave well enough alone and use Vista 64 that came with the computer or load XP Pro.

The latter obviously involves downloading drivers, etc. to get everything working right (I'm not the most PC savy person but I can get through it... eventually).

Is it worth the extra work?

Please help.

If you have the resources, Vista x64. It's stable, can address a lot of RAM, intense imaging apps will run nicely, but it's a resource hog if you don't have a lot of resources. XP? After building a few Vista machines, going back to XP is like using a dull axe.

Oh, and you'd get better responses in the computer sub-forum under Post Processing...

what are "the resources?"

My Components are
Intel® Core™ 2 Quad processor Q8200 (4MB L2, 2.33GHz, 1333FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-Bit
8GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4DIMMs
640GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
ATI Radeon HD 3450 256MB supporting HDMI

Keep the copy of Vista that came with it, on it.

It is a little different to XP, but far better.

Is you do deciede to go back to XP, you will need to get a 64bit copy to use all the RAM you have, and this will make getting drivers etc, much harder.


If your finding it a little hard to used to Vista, then note that almost anything you want to do can be found by using the new search box at the bottom of the start menu.
Simply hit the windows button and start typing.

Stay with Vista, it's not as bad as people make it out to be. The only real resource hog I get is from running the Aero theme (or the desktop in general).

If you do get lost, the search bar on the start menu or the interweb makes great guides. It's an easy switch, to be honest. My desktop is XP while my notebook (Dell XPS 1330) is Vista, and there's no lag in workflow between the two.

My reason for asking is that both IT guys at my company (that runs XP) said it has loads of problems and security issues. Windows 7 is coming out for a reason is it not?

I'm inclined to stay with Vista I just don't want any headaches down the road after I spend time re-installing all my software on the new machine.

acorean wrote in post #7834778
My reason for asking is that both IT guys at my company (that runs XP) said it has loads of problems and security issues. Windows 7 is coming out for a reason is it not?

Don't listen to them.
XP is currently the most targeted OS, it is well ahead of Vista.
Part of the reason for the big changes made to Vista was so they could avoid all the holes in XP.

Vista did not have a good launch, there were driver issues, it was sold on low spec hardware, there were bugs etc. Basically it was a big fail.
This was all fixed with SP1, and Vista is now the most stable, most compatiable, most protected version of Windows availabe.

I've running the same Vista install since Novemeber 2007, and have had zero OS related problems.

Thanks Moppie. That peace of mind will save me lots of time and heartache.

Now I just need to find the time to get it all set up and configured.

Most of Vista's haters came from bad *first* impressions. Vista since then has only improved, and works well.

As a system admin, I have to say in a business setting, Vista is nowhere near as easy to administrate compared to XP. Simple things (such as launching an application with different credentials) that make everyday IT work easy, becomes a royal pain when using Vista. Many large corporations simply skipped the Vista "experience" and are patiently awaiting the next OS release...

HOWEVER, for general home use and surfing the web, vista is a great OS. Quiet possibly the most user friendly and easy to use Windows OS, for people who aren't too computer savvy.

So to answer your question, stick with Vista. The additional memory handling makes it worth it alone.

+1 for Vista 64, especially with the additional ram. Mine runs like a dream and handles everything I've thrown at it.

I have installed Windows 7 on an older PC and have found that it is very stable so far (for a beta). Will be looking forward to upgrading my main PC to 64 bit version when it's released.

acorean wrote in post #7834505
what are "the resources?"

My Components are
Intel® Core™ 2 Quad processor Q8200 (4MB L2, 2.33GHz, 1333FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-Bit
8GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4DIMMs
640GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
ATI Radeon HD 3450 256MB supporting HDMI

Sounds remarkably the same as my Dell!

I have Vista 64 on both my desktop and laptop. The only problems I have had is that some things that ran on XP Pro will not on Vista and can't be updated to do so. I have heard/read on more than one occasion that XP can only make use of 3GB Ram max, anything over that is unused.

Windows 7 RC1 will be out in less than a week, and it's free for a year. But for the OP stick with Vista.

Does anyone have any thoughts about using Windows 7 as a production system? XP works fine...

I really liked the Windows 7 build 7000, although I didn't do too much that was productive on it; I'm thinking about getting an additional HDD for RC1 and delving a little deeper.

xp pro. vista blows