Vista - to upgrade or not? that is the question

Vista has caused me to spend some time thinking about it… and talking with Heidi about it. And we had agreed to hold off on posting anything, but I think it’s time! We have a new ACDSee 9 user that just started out with Vista too. (ACDSee will soon release their Vista compatible version.) And I know of another digiscrapper that is using Vista.

With that I think it’s time to start a conversation about it. My laptop has a little sticker ‘Designed for Windows XP - Windows Vista Capable’. I bought it last August because I wanted a laptop. Now my sister bought hers in December to make sure that she got XP. Her stance is that she plans to wait until they get the bugs out of Vista before dealing with it. So I’ve been talking to people about it. And I when I read the following article, I thought that it had a lot of facts in it and maybe things worth considering. I have heard that Vista gobbles up 1 gig of RAM to run. WOW! I enjoy my 2 gig of RAM and I don’t intend to share half with my OS (and I don’t even scrap in PS).
So I’d like to hear your opinions - are you using Vista, do you like it? did you have to upgrade your hardware? or is happy on your existing computer?
From the Rockbridge Weekly Online

VISTA: Better Check Before You Buy
Microsoft Windows Vista Operating System Released To The World
By Kevin Parker
Staff Writer

If you live in the civilized world, there is no doubt you have heard of the recent release of Microsoft’s newest operating system, Windows Vista. The newest, although late, operating system developed by Redmond Washington’s Microsoft Corporation has finally hit stores and been made available for purchase throughout the world. If you are considering an upgrade on your PC to Vista, there are certainly things that need to be considered before you drop the $199 - $399 (depending on the version you desire), for the operating system.

Vista has outrageous hardware requirements, driver compatibility issues, and some inconsistent operation of its applets (like Windows Search). Microsoft’s claim is that Vista is the most secure operating system developed to date by the software giant. Of course, this claim was also made in 2000 when Microsoft turned Windows XP loose on the public. Finally, after a slew of fixes, security updates, as well as service packs, Windows XP finally became the most secure Microsoft operating system to date.

Although Vista has a very “cool” look to it, you have to consider whether the looks are worth giving up the solid operation that has become Windows XP.

Vista’s Aero visual environment includes a flip 3-D feature, which allows a user to cycle through a stack of open windows to find their desired application. Vista also offers “gadgets,” small programs that resemble MAC “widgets.” Networking computers is virtually automatic, as it was supposed to be but never quite has been with Windows XP. The Photo Gallery is a great built-in organizer to manage digital pictures; it even includes basic photo correction tools. There are other ways in which Vista shows off its new 3D capabilities though, apart from the transparency and glass effects. There is now an alternative to the old Alt-Tab method of switching between applications called Flip 3D. Hit the Windows key and Tab and instead of flat, anonymous icons, you get previews of all your currently open windows stacked in 3D. Hit Tab while holding down the Windows key and the stack smoothly cycles through each one, just like a virtual Rolodex. The “sidebar” is a nice touch also. This takes a similar but more attractive approach to Google’s Desktop sidebar. You can dock various ‘gadgets’ here, including a clock, sticky notes, an RSS news feeder, a photo slideshow, contact list and various other handy mini-applications. Vista also includes parental controls, which is likely to be a big selling point for those with children. Now personally, I have my doubts about any kind of parental control – once your kids have figured out how to hack into the administrator account (and they will), it won’t be of much use anyway – but it is a handy tool if you want to leave them unsupervised for a few minutes here and there. The tool enables you to create a log of computer activity for a set user account so you can see what they’ve been looking at while your back was turned, apply filters for which web sites they can look at, set time slots for when they can and can’t use the computer, and block specific programs altogether. But the biggest news on the security front, and a development that has sparked plenty of debate, is the introduction of UAC, or user access control, a change intended to help prevent unauthorized changes being made to your system. With Vista’s UAC switched on, most users run in a restricted mode, in which permissions can be elevated to Administrator level at any time. When a process that could compromise the security of your computer (driver or other software installation, for instance) begins, Vista generates an alert box asking for permission to proceed and locks down all other Windows tasks so you have to focus on allowing or denying it permission to continue.

Although Windows Vista does have a few very nice additions to it, the hardware requirements alone are something to consider.

First, let’s take a look at Microsoft’s recommended system requirements for Vista (these are minimum requirements):

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor

• 512 MB of system memory

• 20 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space

• Support for DirectX 9 graphics and 32 MB of graphics memory

• DVD-ROM drive

• Audio Output

• Internet access

These requirements don’t seem that bad. But before you click your heels and run off to place a pre-order for Vista Home Premium, hold on. This list, unsurprisingly, doesn’t tell the whole story. The above list, though not the barest of bare minimums, is what you need to run the most basic version of Microsoft’s new operating systems – Vista Basic – which is, very basic. Instead, what you really need to run Vista - Home Premium, Ultimate, Business and Enterprise Versions are:

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor

• 1 GB of system memory

• 40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space

• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with:

• WDDM Driver (Windows Vista Display Driver Model)

• 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)

• Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware

• 32 bits per pixel

• DVD-ROM drive

• Audio Output

• Internet access

The key thing to pay attention to here is the memory requirement. Though even Vista Ultimate will get by on the minimum 512MB of RAM, you won’t be able to benefit from all of the interfaces included in the operating system. Some interface’s, including Flip 3D and the live Alt-Tab and taskbar previews are memory intensive and simply can’t be accessed if you don’t have enough memory installed.

It doesn’t stop there. Since so much in the Vista upgrade is focused on the visual experience, your display hardware is going to need to be up to spec too. Though you can run it on lower resolution displays, you will need at least 1,280 x 1,024 to take full advantage of all of that lovely eye candy. Your video card is going to have to have a bit more horsepower to spare than it did with XP as well – you’ll need at the very least 128MB of memory and it should support DirectX 9. So, before running out to Wal-Mart, Best Buy, or placing an order online for newest Windows version in an attempt to boost the performance and look of your 2 year old PC, you should at least run a compatibility test on your PC to ensure that it can handle the robust requirements of Vista. You can find and run such a compatibility test on Microsoft’s Vista Website: test here to decide if buying or upgrading is best

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