XP or Vista

AntiNaz

AntiNaz

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Hey! My Laptop recently got a preeeetty bad virus and I need to reformat the system... It runs Vista AWESOME but I want a OS that works.. not full of gadgets and doo-dads. 2 GB RAM on XP is plenty right? Nvidia 8600M GT, Core 2 Duo 2.20 GhZ. Help me out here! I need to decide in 3 days!
 
I would stay away from Vista. I would actually say go for Windows 7 but it you are only picking from XP or Vista, then XP is a definite.
 
Your laptop will run XP, Vista or Windows 7 perfectly. I would go with Windows 7 but out of the two listed it would have to be Vista, as you say it works awesome.
 
Why would you pick Vista, Nutter? Sorry if I sound all "why this, why that" I just want my laptop to be ready for games, internets, school, etc. It doesnt run games all too well since Vista is snobby sometimes, but it usually works well. I am just looking for something that is simple and quick, just like Google Chrome!
 
I'd suggest XP if you're using it for games and stuff. You don't really need the full desktop experience when the main function of your OS is just launching games.
 
Hold off on what ever your plans are and get 7 when it comes out. If you're worried about performance, check this little comparison for gaming out between Vista and 7:

Windows 7 vs Vista VGA game performance

Also I run Windows 7 RC on an older laptop, Pentium Mobile @ 1.73 single core, 2GB DDR2, 250GB IDE, and Intel graphics, Vista was a dog on this, but XP and 7 run at similar if not equal speeds.
 
If you want a problem free OS and the choice is Vista or XP, it has to be Vista. XP needs to many tools to keep it running smoothly, its an ancient OS for people who cant keep up with the times.

Vista looks after itself, it keeps itself tidy, it indexes your hard drives for you, it defrags automatically, it has auto-heal where it heals any damage done to the OS by programs or the user, and its just a generally more modern OS for now days. Also for games, it has DirectX 10!

Though with Windows 7 out now, I'd have to say go for that ;)
 
Nimrod said:
...it indexes your hard drives for you...
Click to expand...
So does XP
Nimrod said:
...It defrags automatically...
Click to expand...
Defrag is an unnecessary strain on hard drives for minimal performance gain
Nimrod said:
...it has auto-heal where it heals any damage done to the OS by programs or the user...
Click to expand...
So does XP, try to replace a windows DLL and it'll automatically tell you something's going on
Nimrod said:
...it has DirectX 10!...
Click to expand...
Just like three or four games!
 
So does XP

> Really Basic file name index for "some locations" vs real indexing of entire drive with content as well as filename and other details. (Just test a XP Search vs a Vista Search

Defrag is an unnecessary strain on hard drives for minimal performance gain

> Defrag is a MAJOR performance gain and a EXTREMELY necessary thing to do with a Windows PC. Hard drive read times can jump up with data being messy all over the hard drive, the amount of XP pc's I've had to deal with that a painfully slow as the hard drives are heavily fragmented.

So does XP, try to replace a windows DLL and it'll automatically tell you something's going on

> Sometimes, on a few important system files, then it will demand an XP CD to repair it. As opposed to Vista just silently repairing itself and keeping itself in top condition.

Just like three or four games!

> More than that, and growing.
> List of games with DirectX 10 support - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


And a usual big point I forgot to mention in the first post, SuperFetch! Using your ram to make your PC speedy :) Something I've got so use to in Vista / 7 that I could never go back to XP and wait around all the time.
 
AntiNaz said:
Why would you pick Vista, Nutter? Sorry if I sound all "why this, why that" I just want my laptop to be ready for games, internets, school, etc. It doesnt run games all too well since Vista is snobby sometimes, but it usually works well. I am just looking for something that is simple and quick, just like Google Chrome!
Click to expand...

To me it’s down to personal preference, Windows XP has had its day now. Yes it still works fine but its getting old and Windows really has improved a lot since then. You might not think you need the new features Vista has to offer, but there certainly nice as you discover them, same with Windows 7.

For example as Nimrod mentioned Vista and Windows 7 has superfetch which caches your most used programs in ram so they start a lot quicker. With demanding applications like Photoshop you really do notice the difference. No point in having ram you don’t put to good use right?

I’m a very big Windows Media Centre user, each new edition of Windows has always brought a lot of new features for WMC, that alone has always sweetened the deal of upgrading for me.

To be honest though if you like Vista but are thinking about installing XP you want Windows 7, that really just works from the moment you install it. Most drivers should be installed automatically and the rest will most likely be on Windows Update, of course it is best to check and get the latest.

I suggest you read this for what’s new in Vista compared to XP: Features new to Windows Vista - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also have a read of this for what is new to Windows 7: Features new to Windows 7 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I would personally get Windows 7 when its released in October and stick to Vista for now.
 
Nimrod said:
So does XP

> Really Basic file name index for "some locations" vs real indexing of entire drive with content as well as filename and other details. (Just test a XP Search vs a Vista Search
Click to expand...

You can install Windows Search on Windows XP, which does all of those things.
 
Titcher said:
You can install Windows Search on Windows XP, which does all of those things.
Click to expand...

True! However have you tried using it on XP? I've tried it on a few and it brought them to there knees. Having it as an addon doesnt seem to offer the improvements and speed that having it built into the OS does. Instead of indexing on the go like the Vista/7 one does, the XP one needs to do regular scans of your hard drives to try and make indexes, then storing them in a central database instead of the file system.

Either way, you can add things to XP to make it more Vistaish, and you can add/remove stuff from Vista to make it XPish. Lets stick to the core OS on comparasions ;)
 
So a nice summery. XP may be the fastest but you'll have to personally do more maintenance to it instead of the PC doing it for you. If you pick Vista it will be less of a strain to you for updating and fixing itself but speed performance may not be quite as good as XP. Then Windows 7, seems to bring near, if not the same speed of XP and even more convenient then Vista.
 
Alright! Thank you SO much! Windows 7 or Vista then, eh? Gotta tell the daddio that quickly! Thanks digiex for helping me out for the 5 time about something like this!
 
Well, at the moment Windows 7 isn't sold in stores, unless you count the RTM which is only by Technet or you can get the RTM here and re-arm it so you can have it free for 120 days. By then Windows 7 will be sold in stores.
 
Well, posting the disc ISO wouldn't be illegal unless they posted a crack too. Though by putting Windows 7 on here is would make it way easier as someone would already have the ISO and just need the crack, so I doubt that it will be posted here.
 
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