Vista Facts please... New Laptop Required

Forums › Microsoft Windows › Vista Facts please... New Laptop Required

stevonz

397 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#18823 25-Jan-2008 08:57

Hi, I need to purchase a new laptop for business use. I like 17" screens but most offered only come with Vista. Can someone advise what the actual pitfalls of Vista are please? I am a fan of XP Pro as I have never had any issues with it...

- DRM: I have a lot of ripped movies & music. What is the impact for me? Can I still utilise these files with my old laptop/ new PC for home/ PS3/ PDA...???

- 32/64 bit: what does this mean to me?

- Drivers: the only devices that I own that don't supprt Vista is probably just the external HDD, printer (can use one in in the office)

Any other useful information appreciated.

Cheers, Stevo

1 | 2

BDFL - Memuneh
79250 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#106668 25-Jan-2008 09:15

I think you are worrying for nothing. All external USB and Firewire will work with Windows Vista, as they did with Windows XP. I have a three year old printer and I didn't even dowload the drivers - just plugged and it worked.

DRM? It could be a problem if you are using protected high definition sources, which is probably not the case. If you are like everyone else and have a collection of mp3 they will keep playing as before, and doing backups of discs work as before.

Being a business user you have to worry only about your applications. If you are using some custom made application ask if it supports Windows Vista, otherwise everything else will work the same.

rscole86

4973 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#106669 25-Jan-2008 09:19

As freitasm has said, you should have no problems except with some of your business software.

The only other thing to look out for, is the amount of RAM you have in your notebook. I would recommend having 2GB especially if you are planning running multiple applications and listen to music at the same time.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79250 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#106671 25-Jan-2008 09:24

What? Can you actually run more than one task simultaneously on a computer? Wow, times changed since Microsoft Windows 1.0...

stevonz

397 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#106672 25-Jan-2008 09:32

Thanks.... Mauricio - the only business app's in use will be MS office suite including MS Word, Excel, Access, Outlook, and I will also use SAP R/3. I see that SAP supports Vista with GUI 7.1.

Hmmm am I ready for the switch from XP then??

PIERCD

58 posts

Master Geek

#106673 25-Jan-2008 09:39

OK call me a convert or whatever you will.

But all my experiences with Vista have been great, I took the plunge last year when my new notebook (for work use) came with Vista 64 Ultimate, using a lot of legacy database apps for work use...no hassles. In fact the only piece of software I have had problems with was iTunes, and that was because of a lack of 64 bit drivers for use with the ipod touch, which has been resolved now.

You will see many statements out there about how it is a hardware hog, and to an extent this is true, but thats just the evolution of windows, XP was a hardware hog at the time of its release too, but people seem to have forgotten about this. If you are running current hardware I dont think you should see an issue with Vista.

So after my good experiences with Vista on my notebook, I have installed it on my Desktop PC, and I can honestly say, XP could never run as many applications as I have opened at once with Vista....and Vista didnt blink about it.

rscole86

4973 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#106674 25-Jan-2008 09:42

freitasm: What? Can you actually run more than one task simultaneously on a computer? Wow, times changed since Microsoft Windows 1.0...

No you can't. but don't tell stevonz that

tallPete

99 posts

Master Geek

#106678 25-Jan-2008 10:08

I'll be a me too on this thread. Its OK (not spectacular). I run on a laptop, you definitely do need 2Gb of RAM.

- DRM protected stuff runs the same as XP basically for all intents and purposes.

- Business software is your biggie. Make sure that what you use is compatible with Vista. The reason many businesses are reluctant to go with Vista is that their existing proprietary applications run on things like Oracle and SAP, but older versions that haven't been certified with Vista.

- I would go 32 bit at the moment. 64 bit seems to be hit and miss on compatible software. For instance, iTunes only went 64 bit compatible in the last fortnight. I don't know the rules on running 32 bit Vista on a 64 bit processor.

Pete.

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

manhinli

2483 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#106683 25-Jan-2008 10:37

I have a AMD Turion64 laptop that came with Vista Home Basic.

The laptop came with 512MB RAM standard, so cheap that it's still sluggishly running along. I'm now dual-booting XP as default. Upgrading my RAM as soon as my warranty expires (which is in April).

HP selected 32 bit Vista for my laptop even though it's 64 bit, and it runs fine.

Find me on Twitter!

I posted 1, 2 x 10^3 times!

rscole86

4973 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#106684 25-Jan-2008 10:41

There is nothing in any rule book to say that you cannot run 32bit editions of software with a 64bit processor.

manhinli - Why wait to upgrade the ram? Most manufacturers still cover any warrantable faults even if you upgrade the ram yourself. There is no sticker over the panel on the latop, or over the ram slot itself stopping you from upgrading.
Even with desktop computer, I have never seen a warranty declined to RAM being upgraded.

manhinli

2483 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#106685 25-Jan-2008 10:42

I'm not that good with opening parts

Find me on Twitter!

I posted 1, 2 x 10^3 times!

rscole86

4973 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#106686 25-Jan-2008 10:44

You take a screwdriver, unscrew screws.
Lift up panel, it usually helps to have a flat-head screwdriver to lift up the panel. They are very hard to break (not that I have tried).
You should have no problems doing it.

ZollyMonsta

3009 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#106693 25-Jan-2008 11:02

rscole86: You take a screwdriver, unscrew screws.
Lift up panel, it usually helps to have a flat-head screwdriver to lift up the panel. They are very hard to break (not that I have tried).
You should have no problems doing it.

! Just be sure to use static protection !

Check out my LPFM Radio Station at www.thecheese.co.nz - Now on iHeart Radio, TuneIn and Radio Garden

As per the usual std disclaimer.. "All thoughts typed here are my own."

manhinli

2483 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#106694 25-Jan-2008 11:03

Yeah - my mum goes all crazy about HP not accepting my warranty if I scratch a screw and all that...

Gonna have to wait.

Find me on Twitter!

I posted 1, 2 x 10^3 times!

kinsten

240 posts

Master Geek

#106696 25-Jan-2008 11:08

Yes, I have found Vista to be pretty good. The only thing I don't like is the Start Menu, I always use the search function with the Vista start menu, because I find it increasingly impossible to find applications any other way.

2GB, a MUST! No if's buts or maybes.

And do a performace review, (right click Computer, select Properties, check score) My work PC sits on 2.3 which seems to be OK, But that is only because of my graphics card (which obviously does not need to be great for office apps) but that was only a massive improvement after getting 2GB RAM. My home PC sits on 5.4. Which is infinatly better.
Note: Only shows the number of slowest or lowest ranking unit, so as long as CPU, RAM & HDD score above 3.2 everything should be great.

Good luck.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, 4x 2GB Adata 1066+ DDR2, Sapphire HD4850 X2 2GB GDDR3 PCI-E Quad DVI, 1000w PSU & over 4TB HDD space, Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
PS3 Slim

Fossie

1240 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#106707 25-Jan-2008 11:44

A 17" Macbook Pro doesn't need to run vista

1 | 2