bit-tech Shopping: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium

Rating: 10

Time with product: 6 Days

Strengths: Aesthetically pleasing, quite fast, nice included games, pretty good driver base, gorgeous wallpaper, 64bit mail-in only $10.00

Weaknesses: Takes a long time to load, still only addresses limited amount of RAM, took away "move to" & "copy to" functions

Summary: I finally made the jump. With WinXP officially being abandoned on June 30, 2008, there's no real reason to keep it anymore.-I really can't find any valid arguments against buying Vista. I currently have 6GB RAM installed on my system. After installing SP1, it recognized all 6GB. However, Vista 32bit only utilizes 3GB or so, I believe. In order to use beyond that, the computer requires a 64bit OS. This product is a retail upgrade. It comes with a coupon that states the URL you type in your product key to order the 64bit version. It costs a little over $10.00...that's it. -The only possible reason not to upgrade is the system requirements. Among the requirements (straight off the box) are: 1GHz CPU, 1GB RAM, & a 40GB HDD w/@ least 15GB available. Those just stated are the recommended requirements. If you don't have these, beware. -On to the good points. Vista looks good. Does it matter for everyday computing? Well, no. But it looks & feels good. It comes with a few extra games besides solitaire, which is a minor but nice addition. I have a networked HP LaserJet that Vista found with no probs. Adobe Acrobat Pro 8.0 installs & works fine. Firefox 3.0 installs but has an issue with Adobe Flash player. HP LaserJet 2605dn software installs without hiccups from HP's site. The sidebar is actually kind of cool considering the gadgets you can install; weather, calendar, notes, etc. Another nice feature I found is Windows Calendar, which is actually what it sounds like. You can set reminders just as you would with a paper calendar. Lastly, Vista is REALLY good at hibernating & coming out of it. This method saves power. All it takes is a pressing of a key & the computer comes back on. -On to the bad points. Vista takes a long time to load. Such a point is mute at best. One very annoying detail MS decided to implement is the removal of the "move to" & "copy to" functions. I rely on those functions to move files around easily like in WinXP. However, you can bring these back by a few means, such as WinBubble. So, really, all the bad points can be circumvented except for the RAM limitation. All I can say about that is order the 64bit version for $10.00 & dual-boot. -Here's a little tip: buy the upgrade & don't waste money on the full version. You can install a clean version using this upgrade. I had huge probs doing this, but I found the workaround (look in the MS forums). There's no downloading anything, or cracks, or registry hacks. It's totally legit & MS knows it. Save yourself from buying the full version!

Rating: 10

Time with product:

Strengths: I have installed Vista Home Premium on an older computer only adding a new video card for Aero. It has performed very well so far. It has installed all my devices and works very well so far.

Weaknesses: The new Widows takes a little getting used to, but is not drastically different from XP as far as useage in general.

Summary: If you are trying to decide on whether or not to upgrade and older computer or even a newer one to Vista I would say after checking the computer with Microsoft's upgrade advisor and making sure you have enough ram and a newer video card(needed for Aero), then go ahead. I think you will like it if your computer can handle it with your hardware.I only spent about 150.00 to upgrade counting the upgrade version of Vista and a new video card. So far I am very happy with it.

Rating: 6

Time with product: 1 Years

Strengths: Looks Good, Improved networking, plays DVD's (without needing third party solution), and seem to be more stable.

Weaknesses: Price, activation process, slower file management, and not compatible with older software and hardware.

Summary: Vista sure is pretty. Beyond that, however, vista is more of an aggravation than a successor. Many of your third party utilities and older programs will not run in vista -so be prepared to replace them. Make sure that any hardware you purchase is also vista compatible. Also, if your operating system crashes vista has an automatic repair feature that can recover it and get you on your way. You no longer have to purchase software to play or watch DVD's and networking is much improved and easier to set up a home network. I have been using for about a year and although it is slower than XP in just about everything, it not as bad as some have reported.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 2 Months

Strengths: Nice cool features

Weaknesses: Lots of bugs, high RAM requirement

Summary: I got this form my Desktop and I liked it. It has many kool features. I liked the Aero concept. However, you need to have more than 1 GB RAM(better if 2GB)and good graphics card to utilize all features properly. Addition of small tools are welcome. Even after many fixes, it is still buggy. Sometimes it closes application for no reason. Almost everyday, auto update feature works more than once. I liked that start menu. Hopefully, Microsoft make it better in near future.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 2

Strengths: + Vista is pretty.+ Works with my core apps.+ Performance is fine.+ They got rid of all the "My This" and "My That" stuff everywhere!!!

Weaknesses: - No faxing solution. :-(- Still seems unstable with some 3rd-party apps (but recovers nicely).

Summary: All in all I'm pretty happy with my Vista upgrade. Was it worth $100? I'm really not sure. For a technophile who wants to play with latest and greatest, the answer is yes. For others, the value might not be there. Everything that I use regularly (Office, Quicken, Paperport, Picasa and iTunes) all work fine. Even though I got Home Premium, I'm finding myself sticking with Picasa (for pictures) and iTunes (for music and video), rather than using the Microsoft equivalents (Photo Gallery, Media Player or Media Center). Performance for me is perfectly acceptable (see my config below). I haven't loaded any games yet, so I don't know how that will be affected by Vista, but I suspect the answer will be "not much difference". Arguably my favorite point is that they got rid of My Computer, My Documents, My yada... yada... yada. YEAH!!!! On the down side, I can't believe they didn't include a faxing software. All I want to do is occasionally send a fax and now I need to find another solution. Also, when using some third-party apps (as far as I can tell), I have had some problems with appls crashing. I haven't lost any data, it's just annoying. For example, iTunes has occasionally crashed after playing quicktime movie previews, Logitech Mouse settings have mysteriously stopped working after awhile, necessitating a reboot, my Yahoo Toolbar won't display pictures on toolbar buttons, etc. Again, nothing catastrophic, but annoying. My Configuration ================ Overclocked Pentium 4 @ 3.25GHz 2GB RAM ATI Radeon x1950 AGP (512 MB) Intel SATA (ICHR5) RAID0 boot array SI3112 SATA RAID1 data array