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06-30-08
Duration of ownership: 3 Months
Strengths: latest OS, not bad with SP1
Weaknesses:you need a faster machine to make it run smooth
Overall Evaluation: 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.
06-28-08
Duration of ownership: 30 Days
Strengths: inexpensive
Weaknesses:not full-featured
Overall Evaluation: 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.
05-30-08
Duration of ownership:
Strengths: Installation is pretty straightforward
Weaknesses:SLOW
Overall Evaluation: 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".
05-18-08
Duration of ownership: 1 Years
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
Overall Evaluation: 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.
05-05-08
Duration of ownership:
Strengths: Less demanding on hardware comparing to other versions of Vista. Better security settings.
Weaknesses:Lacks some of the better Vista features. Still uses quite a lot of hard drive space and memory comparing to XP.
Overall Evaluation: Got it for a bargain price and installed fine on a desktop with AMD X2 4200 and 1GB memory. Installation took longer than XP although it's still acceptable. You can't do straight upgrade from XP Professional to this version so you'll have to do a clean install of Vista Basic first (you could use the same media) and then do upgrade from there. Vista Basic does not have the bell and whistle of other versions such as Aero. You could still activate Aero by editing registry. Make sure your machine has enough power to support Aero though. I have Aero running with 1GB memory but you could hear hard drive running for swapping quite frequently. You may need 2GB or more if you want to run Vista Basic with Aero smoothly.
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