New PC-System: Windows Vista or XP?

[web2002]

I´m considering to buy a new Pc for my home office within a few weeks, and so I´m thinking about what Windows-Os to use. On most of the new available PC-Systems Windows Vista is installed as an option, but I heard many ugly stories about Vista. I have to admin that I personally never worked on a Vista-PC, but some of my friends told me that the Layout is quite different to XP or Windows 2000. And they also said that Windows Vista will slow down the PC - so I´m not sure what OS to install - Windows Vista or the old Windows XP with updates - can anybody help me?

What are the pros and cons of using Vista instead of XP?

[-pops-]

I have built a few Vista machines for others. There is nothing in that O/S that I've seen so far which will persuade me to change my own machines over.

Vista is one effort of Mr Gates that I'm going to miss out completely, especially as the next version is supposed to be well into development already.

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

If I were to buy a PC now, I would get one with Vista (SP1). While XP is a very stable operating system, a new PC that is built for Vista should perform well.

But since I really do not need a new PC right now, I am going to wait for Windows 7 (Vienna).

[Seshomaru Samma]

In my experience , XP runs faster than Vista on similar hardware.

I can't see a single advantage to using Vista

[AlanHo]

I have recently built 3 fairly powerful computers - one for myself, two for friends. All have Vista Ultimate and all perform without problems.

I have found that Vista is a very user friendly and robust OS which runs as quickly as XP on the right hardware. I really like it.

[web2002]

Thanks for the replies.

I´m sure Windows Vista runs quickly on an up-to-date PC. But isn´t it true that on similar hardware XP runs faster? And which Windows is running more stable - up-to-date Windows XP or New Vista?

[jboard1]

If you are using a machine with the same hardware, xp will run faster simply because it doesn't need as much to run as Vista does. However, if you buy a machine that is loaded with hardware, Vista will run just fine. In my situation, i bought a new pc, with all the suped-up hardware to run Vista, and it does a great job. If you're not looking to spend a whole lot on a bulky machine, i would recommend XP. An updated XP machine will always run great.

[y2khardtop]

I UPGRADED a new Toshibal Sli laptop TO XP because it ran horribly in Vista. You could not game on it at all (although it is sold as a gaming machine). After several days of finding drivers etc, I got XP working, and the machine now runs like a real champ. There is certainly a significant performance hit with Vista, but if you are only doing normal stuff (internet, word processing, etc), then Vista should offer a very "pretty" experience.

[PorPorMe]

I've just gone back to XP PRO SP3. While mine is an older home built machine, Vista Ultimate SP1 ran but a bit slow. My main complaint was stability and driver dificulity. I had more blue screens in 2 months with Vista than in 3 years with XP. Vistas own update video driver for my Nvidia card would crash my system. In trying to solve my own Vista problems, I did read of more than 1 computer purchase with Vista that was haveing problems. To be fair, there were a lot of people that loved & thier machines ran fine. My advice for a home office is XP Pro. There is no real value in "upgradeing" to Vista for that purpose. You don't gain anything.

[Rick1]

I agree if you're going to buy a new computer, you might as well go with Vista unless you're using for gaming. I bought a new Samsung laptop with Vista, about 5 months ago, and I've had no problems with it so far. I did tried the demo version of Doom though, and it was way too slow. Everything else runs fine. You can get rid of some of the eye candy and do other tweaks to make it run faster of course.