Windows Vista

Already, people have been asking me what my opinion of Microsoft’s latest devious creation is, as well as the question “Should I buy it?” First, let me give my basic response, and then I will attempt to delve into greater detail.

Quick Synopsis:
No. Do not go out and buy Windows Vista. It’s not worth it. Yes, it is an improvement overall compared to Windows XP, it’s not enough of an improvment to warrant spending so much money on a piece of software. But, if you purchase a new computer, I would recommend having Vista installed on it (which you can have the manufacturer do). Vista is designed to run on the latest hardware, so thus, it will/should run well on new computers.

Detailed opinion:
I “obtained” a copy of the RTM (Release to Manufacturer) version of Windows Vista back in Decemeber. This is the exact same version which will you will be able to purchase starting January 30th. I installed this on my desktop machine. Here are some technical specs of my desktop:

Processor: AMD Athlon XP 2800+
RAM: 1GB
Video card: ATI RADEON All-In-Wonder 9600 Pro (128MB)

As you can see, this isn’t the latest and greatest machine–but it has ample resources to power Windows XP just fine. After running Vista for a couple weeks, I got over the “Oooo & Ahhhh” of the new looking Aero interface. That’s probably when Vista started to annoy me. It was sluggish performance wise. Programs were taking to long to open up, etc. I turned off ALL the visual effects to try and improve performance–but no such luck. Finally I gave up a few days ago and am now working on becoming a Linux geek (running Arch Linux)–but that’s besides the point.

Now, today, I decided to install Vista on my laptop. I purchased my laptop back in October 2006 and it is labeled “Windows Vista Capable”. So I decided to see how “capable” it really was.

Here are some technical specs on my lappy:

Toshiba Satellite M115
Processor: Intel Centrino Duo 1.6GHz (for you non-geeks, it’s a dual-core processor which means it’s almost like having two processors running in your computer–each running seperatly @ 1.6GHz)
RAM: 512MB
Hard Drive: 80GB 5400RPM
Video: Integrated Intel Video

So my laptop is nothing amazing–but it’s not too shabby either. I just installed Vista less than an hour ago, and it’s running great so far! I think it’s snappier than my desktop ever was. But, like I said, I’ve only been running it on here for less than an hour. The only additional program I’ve installed so far is Mozilla Firefox–so I haven’t really put Vista through much of a “test” yet on this computer–but I will be installing more software throughout the day and will be seeing how it handles it all.

I will write another post later giving my final thoughts on Vista after seeing how it performs on my laptop.