Buy new Dell now or wait until Vista launches?

whizzbang

I'm looking to buy a basic enough PC for my mum and I'm wondering what people think about the whole vista issue. Are you better off buying a PC with XP now or waiting until Wednesday for Vista and then buying?

Bearing in mind of course that you need a much more powerful machine to run Vista than XP! Do you think Dell are going to bring down the prices of this higher spec hardware for the vista launch or are they just going to ship dog slow PCs?

8T8

It doesn't really matter one way or the other but Vista should be more secure than XP & you will be loading an anti-virus program on it anyway (ditch whatever Dell put in the box & put on Avast or NOD32 both are Vista compatible as well).

Also Vista comes with slightly better in the box apps that should be sufficient for your mum like Windows Mail and DVD making software plus a photo gallery app etc.

As for the demands of Vista it's not really that demanding, most Dell PC's come with the right kind of graphics card from ATI or NVIDIA (avoid Intel integrated graphics*) RAM ideally should be 1GB but you can get by on 512MB.

That's about it really for the hardware.

*With the exception of the Intel GMA 3000 that is okay for Vista's Aero Glass UI, also Aero Glass is only available on the Vista Home Premium version.

The biggest change with Vista is the UAC but once the system is setup and everything she needs is installed you will see far less of it so it is not quite as annoying people think it is.

whizzbang

Cheers!

I hear that once you turn all the fancy stuff off it can get by with XP level hardware.

I hear the security is better in Vista (bar the re-written TCP/IP stack *shudders*) and I think spyware should have a harder time getting its teeth in.

8T8

whizzbang wrote:

Cheers!

I hear that once you turn all the fancy stuff off it can get by with XP level hardware.

I hear the security is better in Vista (bar the re-written TCP/IP stack *shudders*) and I think spyware should have a harder time getting its teeth in.

Any new or recent PC will run Vista without issue, the demands are somewhat overblown by the media & certain OEM's in part because they want you to buy a new PC thinking your current one isn't up to the mark.

You can of course turn off all the visual effects but as the GPU handles those there is not too much point unless there is very little RAM in the system & an old CPU.

Security is tighter in general as you no longer run as admin and Windows defender is built into the OS along with a ton of other stuff like the IE7 protected mode which places IE7 in a sandbox so even if spyware gets into IE it is walled off from the OS.

Hobbes

Any new operating system is going to have more bugs in it vs a product that has been worked on out in the live for a number of years.

Never hear the saying "Don't buy until at least version 3" ?

Played with Vista a few months back and tbh it didn't offer really anything much more then what you get in XP.

kaizersoze

whizzbang wrote:

I'm looking to buy a basic enough PC for my mum and I'm wondering what people think about the whole vista issue. Are you better off buying a PC with XP now or waiting until Wednesday for Vista and then buying?

Bearing in mind of course that you need a much more powerful machine to run Vista than XP! Do you think Dell are going to bring down the prices of this higher spec hardware for the vista launch or are they just going to ship dog slow PCs?

You don't have to wait 'til Wednesday. Dell started selling Vista PC's yesterday. 8T8 is right on the mark in saying there is alot of incorrect and spurious information floating around.

Hobbes

Just to add to that, Dell offer a free (or cheap?) upgrade to vista if you bought your machine within a certain timeframe.

8T8

Hobbes wrote:

Any new operating system is going to have more bugs in it vs a product that has been worked on out in the live for a number of years.

Never hear the saying "Don't buy until at least version 3" ?

Played with Vista a few months back and tbh it didn't offer really anything much more then what you get in XP.

True a point that would indeed ward off some power users & gamers but to average person who uses mail & the internet there isn't that much difference & there aren't really any show stopper bugs in Vista in those areas.

Vista is more like an slightly better version of XP to them, it is "simpler/cleaner" than XP in it's UI & your personal folder/data is a lot easier to navigate/access so I imagine more non-techy folks will find it an easier OS to use. There is no real reason to stick with XP in that scenario from my point of view.

Blazer

8T8 wrote:

True a point that would indeed ward off some power users & gamers but to average person who uses mail & the internet there isn't that much difference & there aren't really any show stopper bugs in Vista in those areas.

Vista is more like an slightly better version of XP to them, it is "simpler/cleaner" than XP in it's UI & your personal folder/data is a lot easier to navigate/access so I imagine more non-techy folks will find it an easier OS to use. There is no real reason to stick with XP in that scenario from my point of view.

agreed...but get a gig of ram at least..vista's a memory hog.
As for graphics I don't think you old lady will be playing bf2 so integrated graphics is fine..new intel even does aero.

juliuspret

Hobbes wrote:

Just to add to that, Dell offer a free (or cheap?) upgrade to vista if you bought your machine within a certain timeframe.

I was aware of that when i bought my laptop from Dell less than 2 months ago.

Recently I decided to have a look at the version of Vista I would be entitled to and this is what I found.

The exact same model laptop I have is advertised on the US Dell site as preinstalled with Vista Home Premium(wont be shipped until Vista is released!) but the version of Vista I am entitled to after paying €35 + €16 shippping is Vista Home Basic:mad: :mad: :mad:

The major difference between the two other than the €50 I must cough up is that Home Basic HAS NO AERO GUI!!!
This is a major no no for me as AERO offloads the GUI processing to the GPU leaving the CPU free for other tasks as well as giving a more pleasing and fluid UI.

Needless to say I see no point in moving to Home Basic!