bit-tech Shopping: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic

Rating: 8

Time with product: 3 Weeks

Strengths: works well on Athlon 2400, Shuttle motherboard, 1gb Memory

Weaknesses: haven't found any yet

Summary: After hearing all the horror stories about Windows Vista and how useless Windows Vista Home Basic is, I find it easy to use and stable.The programs Microsoft doesn't supply with Vista Basic are not needed (by me) or are easy to replace with much better programs (sometimes with free ones).

Rating: 6

Time with product: 3 Months

Strengths: latest OS, not bad with SP1

Weaknesses: you need a faster machine to make it run smooth

Summary: The first time I tried Vista, it was so slow. I could not stand it and uninstalled it. Since I ran out of XPs, I had to give Vista a try on my newly built machine. With SP1, AMD 4000, 4GB ram (though 32-bit Vista can only recognize part of it), The machine runs pretty good. I needed to change the settings to turn off the fancy stuff. If I have a choice, I probably still pick XP, but Vista is decent after all.

Rating: 6

Time with product: 30 Days

Strengths: inexpensive

Weaknesses: not full-featured

Summary: This is the most stripped down version of windows vista but is good for getting a taste of vista before springing for a higher version that come with other features like media-center etc. This is an upgrade version and install is straighforward and quick. should be good to go within half-hour. keep in mind that vista is more resource-intensive and you need 2GB memory and a decent graphics card to run it smoothly.

Rating: 6

Time with product: 1

Strengths: Installation is pretty straightforward

Weaknesses: SLOW

Summary: Microsoft has a habit of writing code for the "next" generation of computers. Vista is no exception. M$ft basically wrote this OS hoping people would upgrade their hardware in order to use it. If your computer is a few years old, be prepared to upgrade it to get it to run Vista so you won't tear your hair out. If you've got a capable computer Vista runs OK on it, though I'd never describe it as "snappy".

Rating: 6

Time with product: 1 Year

Strengths: Latest version of OS, cheapest version of vista, less resource intensive than other versions of Vista

Weaknesses: More resource intensive than previous versions of windows, lack of support for many legacy programs and peripherals

Summary: I purchased this software directly from Microsoft through their Technology Guarantee program. Vista is Microsoft?s latest line of operating systems, released in early 2007. It contains a host of new features as well as a new UI (on some versions) and a number of security improvements. These improvements come at a cost ? namely higher system requirements when compared to earlier versions of Microsoft OS. Fortunately, processor technology has increased and memory pricing has decreased to allow new systems to keep up with these requirements, and to allow older systems to be upgraded cheaply..I believe that Vista Home Basic (upgrade) is the cheapest of the Vista line of OS?s. Basic is probably the most similar to XP in terms of look and feel, and is less resource intensive than the other Home or Business Editions. It works well, is stable, and seems to be on par with XP in terms of performance..On the downside, it is still more resource intensive than earlier Microsoft OS?s, and if you are really upgrading your OS to this version then a system upgrade might be required as well. When I upgraded to Vista there was a big problem with driver support for much of my software and peripherals. It has taken some time, but Vista support is getting better and this has not been an issue for me recently..All in all, I was not happy with Vista early on, primarily due to support issues. That said, it has been getting better and I would not longer be hesitant to upgrade to it.