[KingOfZeal]

So, I'm sorry to say, that in my quest to get a new laptop (the one I have right now is fairly old, and has more cracks than a plumbers convention), I was only able to get Windows Vista on it.

However, due to the significant discounts I was able to get on it (mostly because of the student discounts offered to me), I was able to get Vista Ultimate on it, thinking along the lines of Ultimate > Premium > Home just as XP was.

So, I want to get your opinions on how Vista is in general, not just in relation to FFXI (that is mostly available information, though personal experiences are welcome to a point). I mostly want to know how someone like me (who tweaks everything they can get their hands on) works with Vista, especially with all the security that's added between XP and Vista.

[Theyaden]

From the thread title of ewww it sounds like you already have my opinion of Vista.
It looks preaty, but eats up so much more running memory than XP it's not even funny. Also my advise on OS's is to wait till ones been out long enough for the major bugs to be found and corrected. (95 ok for the time it was released, 98 meh, 98 SE I liked, ME whoever authorized its release should be beaten. XP easy to use, Vista too many "improvements" that eat RAM may be good after revision)

If your looking to fix the existing labtop by loading Vista I strongly advise against it since the increased memory usage will slow it down. If your building your own system from places like tigerdirect.com exc I'm a fan of loading XP if you can still get it. Buying from an OEM like Dell, Gateway, HP exc It'll have the newest OS (Vista) and their tech support won't be allowed to assist with anything but hardware problems if you change the OS due to the default service contract. If your familiar enough with computers to do your own troubleshooting make sure you have drivers compatable to the new OS before making a change.

My vista knowledge is not as solid as the other OS's (I've done tech support on them, but not Vista) so there are more informed opinions out there.

[Neomage]

I got Windows Vista on my Desktop. Now granted, I got excessive memory on it(3 GB) but it seems to run everything Vista-related + FFXI, with several Firefox tabs up at once. It does struggle with Oblivion though...

[Theyaden]

Ok I'll grant with 3 gig which I hope is still preaty high or else I'm more outdated than I though it shouldn't be too bad lol. When running 1 gig it isn't too preaty though. My main issue Vista is it's so wastful memery wise I like having more of the computers processing power to handle games/ exc rather than being needed to hold it's base program up.

It's like Microsoft sees the computing power increase imediately releases a new version of windows designed to eat enough additional memory to nulify the advancement.

[Neomage]

Well, you CAN turn off Vista's extra functions, mainly Aero which is the huge memory sucker. After that it runs very similar to Vista.

[KingOfZeal]

You've made a fairly correct assumption... many things I've read and heard don't give all that great reviews about Vista, though I've also heard from a couple people who liked it as well. I was trying to avoid Vista at all costs, but 2-3 days before I ordered the new laptop, the company dropped support of XP, so I was left with no choice. Oddly enough, Vista is actually cheaper than XP anyway.

And no, this laptop (which I have and I am posting from right now) is not getting Vista, I'm keeping it XP Pro. It's better that way anyway, since I'll probably forget to transfer a lot of stuff over, and I don't want to wipe it. Yet.

And, I consider myself a hardware geek -- I've put together and taken apart (and outright blown up) more computers than I could probably remember. Half the storage space in my room (drawers, cabinets, even my dresser) is taken up with various components like Hard Drives, Power Supplies, cables, power adapters, connectors (I have a 1000 foot spool of CAT5-e network cable and about 500 RJ-45s in my dresser), and the tools to use them. However, software-wise, my knowledge is rather lacking. I'm still in awe about DX8, much less DX10. I'm still amazed at the fact that my duel-screen desktop actually works, even though it's about 3 pixels off horizontally (the bottom edge doesn't line up) and I have no clue how I can fix it.

That's pretty much my reason for asking.

[Neomage]

I didn't want Vista at first either. Really, all it is is flashes and pretty things. The downside is made XP-Compatible Soft % Hardware isn't Vista-compatible, aside from that you can disable the shiny gadgets and it functions nearly exactly like Vista.

I could live without it, but since I have it and my computer has enough memory to use all the shiny knickkacks, I use them.