System:

Core2Duo E6600 2.4Ghz @ 2.8 Ghz
2GB OCZ PC8000 DDR2 RAM
ATI Radeon X1800XT 256 Meg Graphics
Asus P5W DH Deluxe Mobo

WD Raptor 10000RPM HDD 74GB

Razer Copperhead
HP Laserjet
Saitek Eclipse Keyboard

So how does Vista run on this system? Fantastic.

I have to admit I hit a few snags with the upgrade process. I upgraded from Windows XP Home to Vista Home Premium. You have two options, clean install, or install over your existing windows and keep your programs and files. In my opinion, the later option is for people who don't know computers. Clean install is the only way to go. Doing this is a little tricky with the Upgrade DVD. The reason is that you can't start up from the DVD itself and do a clean install with the upgrade version. You can only do it from an existing installation of windows. No, that doesn't mean you have to install XP first. Here is what you do:

Start up to your XP desktop. Load the Vista DVD. Select clean install and let it run. You should be able to authenticate no problem.

What you can't do is do is a clean install onto a system with no OS. If that your situation, boot the system with the Vista DVD. Select clean install. When it asks you for your product key, don't enter it. If you do it will reject it because you can't use that key for a clean install. Skip that step and let it install. You can do this, you don't need to enter the key right away. When it is done installing you will have a fully working installation of Vista, but it won't let you activate the software because you did a clean install from the upgrade dvd. So what you have to do is, from your Vista desktop, run the installer again. You will be able to enter your product key this time, and it should accept it. Let it do another clean install, and you are done. I'm not really sure why it works like that but it does. Fine with me.

Sounds like a real pain right? Not really, not on a system like mine. A clean install takes 30 minutes AT THE MOST on my system.

How does it run? Like a dream. More stable than XP. Rock solid it seems. It runs the following games and software no problem:

1. Office 2003
2. Unreal Tournament 2004 w/ X-fi update
3. Oblivion
4. Battlefield 2142
5. ATI drivers
6. Creative X-Fi beta drivers
7. Lavasoft ad-aware pro
8. iTunes -haven't plugged iPod in yet though.
9. free download manager
10. X-Fire
11. AIM
12. Quicktime

EVERYTHING I've got works at least as good as XP. In most cases it works better, because the multitasking fuctionality has been greatly improved. With Battlefield, Unreal, and Oblivion, alt-tabbing to desktop to grab my mail would sort of choke XP and sometimes I couldn't get back into my game. Now, I can alt-tab out of anything in a flash no problem. It doesn't skip a beat.

The drivers for my HP laserjet were automatically installed. I didn't have to do anything. These were a pain to install under XP.

How does it look? Terrific. The Aero interface is gorgeous and better than window blinds in my opinion. The translucent windows are really cool, and the subtle animations and effects really do make working on the computer a joy. You have a lot of control in terms of window color and the level of transparency. It looks cool no matter what you do to it though. This OS has a real sense of style, and they got it just right. They didn't over do it, it is just elegant and intuitive. It also includes souped up versions of the standard windows screensavers and some new ones that are pretty nifty.

The sidebar and gadgets are great too. I love having a little note pad, my weather, news headlines, and a little calander right on the desktop. I'm the type of person who is savvy enough to trick out XP with all that stuff if I wanted to, but I like having it built in better.

The three dimensional alt-tab functionality is terrific. Say good by to Mac OS envy. Actually, it is windows-tab that brings up a stack of windows you can shuffle around. You can either windows-tab through them, or pick a window out of the stack with the mouse. It is really cool how, all your programs (with the exception of full screen 3d games) run "live" in the stack. You can see your video running even as you shuffle the windows around, for example. I can't believe how much faster I can work, especially when I have multiple web pages open. With alt-tab under XP, I was never really sure what window I was going to get, at least not without thinking about it. Now you don't even have to think about it, you can find exactly the window you need and bring it up FAST. The traditional alt-tab function is still there, but has been upgraded a bit. It is still 2d but now you get a little graphical preview of the window so again you can find it faster.

You know how you can use control and the mouse wheel to zoom in and out of webpages? You can do that with all the icons in a window now. You can go from large thumbnail previews of video files to smaller and smaller thumbnails, all the way down to just a list, just by using ctrl and the mouse wheel.

Well what can I say I'm impressed. Aero is pretty slick. Keep in mind I have 2 gigs of fast ram, a high end graphics card, and an overclocked core2duo. I have system resources to trade in exchange for features and eyecandy. I don't know how it runs on a normal system. If you have a high-end or enthusiast class PC I see no reason to wait. You will need DirectX10 eventually anyway if you are a gamer. Anyway, just my 2 cents. Just do a clean install!

In conclusion, after using it myself it seems all the naysaying about Vista is nothing but a lot of talk. I'm not saying you must rush out to buy this right now, but if you do, you won't regret it and if your PC is good enough to run it, you won't ever want to go back to XP.

Great post and I agree totally- I clean installed 64 bit ultimate and havent had one problem- I got a pretty similar setup as you. I almost wonder if the Ubuntu fan boys have been making up problems just to hurt Vista sales as I havent had any of the problems that have been on these boards.

I guarantee most peoples troubles come from running it on slow outdated hardware.

I guarantee you are just plain WRONG on that one.

I have Vista installed on my second machine (2.4 GHz AMD 64, 1GB RAM, ATI All-in-Wonder 9800), not the latest hardware, but more than capable of running Vista. And while the install was nice and smooth, I have had several issues since then:

No TV Tuner/Video capture for AIW cards (either my 9800 pro, or my newer x1900 - the best they have out now) and no timeline for support due to Vista's new stance on DRM. This is a show stopper and no way will I use Vista as my main OS until its rectified.

The system idles at 600MB of RAM. This is expected but disappointing.

The CPU usage spike drastically WHEN I MOVE MY MOUSE! SHould not happen, even with Aero...

I can't install Ulead Mediastudio 8.0 at all. 7.0 only work in classic mode, and then not very well.

Some other small utilities do not function properly or at all (eraser being the most important one to me).

So far, Everything I have tried has run slower on Vista than XP. Granted, this is on my older box, but I will NOT use it on my newer box until issue number 1 above is fixed.

Aero is nice, and there are some other nice features, but so far, my tests have shown vista to be an Overall drain on my personal productivity and the way I use my PC.

Moreover, I have yet to talk to any of my other tech-savy friends (we all work in IT in one form or another and know what we are doing), who was anything more than mildly impressed with what Vista can do. I still think its the new ME, at least until MS can prove me wrong...

Here's hoping SP 1 fixes most of these issues ...

That sounds like slow outdated hardware to me. Is that dual core?

Its a 3800+, so no, its not dual core.

Nor is it slow, outdated hardware. Yeah, its not my dual 2.0 GHz Opteron main system, but it more than meets and exceeds Vista reqs. Its Performance Index is 4.2, HARDLY slow outdated hardware. NOTE: non bleeding edge != slow and outdated.

The only part thats slow and outdated is the GPU, and the issue related to that refers to my AIW x1900 as well, which is not slow or outdated.

Did you even read my post?

Rather than making snide comments, why don't you try explaining how my hardware (whether slow and outdated or not) is responsible for any of the issues I am describing? That would be much more constructive, and it would be interesting to see your take...

It isn't a snide comment, it is a fact. You are using one gig of ram, and a single core processor. That is the system I just upgraded from. Even with an x800xl it was slow and outdated. You are talking about a system that can barely run computer games from two years ago. It didn't even run XP fast. Also, who goes by the listed system requirements? All the enthusiast sites have been saying you need 2 GB of ram for Aero for months.

Hopefully the video capture issue will be resolved soon. I don't use video capture myself.

Also, the whining about the DRM stuff is laughable. I agree that if you have invested in any serious video hardware, like a giant HDTV or a fancy monitor, then you might be SOL when content providers start using DRM. I'd be a little ticked off about that if I owned one of those sets and was planning on a HTPC. However, you have to ask yourself whether HD content will even be made available to consumers if the IP can't be protected. As a PC and home theater enthusiast, I want studios to invest in HD technology and make their stuff available on HD formats. I don't blame them one bit for trying to prevent pixel perfect reproductions of motion pictures being pirated, and I don't blame Microsoft for going along with it. Consumers will benefit from the extra security--if of course it works.

I'm not saying this is perfect software, but to make like Vista is some kind of scam just isn't fair. New computers are faster than they used to be--they are almost all dual core now, and 1 gig is the minimum for a new system. Vista is just tapping into it...I'd have 2 gigs of ram for my games anyway.

While what you say is true, you are missing some things. None of that matters to anything I said...

We already addressed this, so no need to revisit, other than to state that this is the reason I am not using my newer PC...

It only takes 1 GB to run Aero, and I can run it fine. The point is the OS is bloated (a sign of lazy/hurried/careless) programming. Also, the amount of RAM used by the OS has little to do with how much you have, it would about the same amount with 2GB as 1...

This could be partially due to the old GPU, but to my knowledge, Vista will not offload graphics processing to the CPU, but relies on the GPU.

Neither of these are affected by hardware in any way...

HW is mostly irrelevant here as well, since we are comparing relative speeds on the same system, not benchmarking against another system.

My HW is definitely irrelevant here.

I should note that I am not a M$ hater, nor a vista hater. I was somewhat looking forward to it until I began testing it. I must say it was very underwhelming.

I agree, but I am not talking HD content here, I am talking Standard Definition cable TV here that I can hook to a VCR with no problem. I am not talking about HD DRM, I am talking about things like this and limiting use of legally made MP3 files (i know several that have had this problem. Again, hardware irrelevant). For the record, I do all my HD stuff using my PS3/HDTV combo.

I do, not for trying to protect their property, but for sucking at it. Current methods are currently obtrusive at best and limit your ability to legally backup your own content. Further, several DRM systems (like starforce) impair your ability to use your PC, sometimes for completely unrelated applications. Consumers do not benefit in any way here, and in fact are harmed...

I don't think Vista is a scam, and never said it was. I said it was disappointing and they could have done a better job. I don't think the OS does enough to improve productivity compared to the cost and hassle that accompanies it AT THIS POINT. I hope that improves in the future.

While you are correct that most new PCs are dual core, they also have only 1Gb of RAM. And more importantly, most people still don't have PCs that meet Vistas reqs, which means M$ is either relying on Vista to warrant buying a new PC (it doesn't for most people, many don't even know what it is yet), or is pretty much ignoring the retail market and relying on OEM sales to generate revenue (this is much more likely...)

I'm not saying you are wrong. It probably is bloated and inefficient. I guess I don't see that as a big deal right now because I have a high end gaming system and I have memory and CPU resources to throw away. That could change of course, I will not be happy if I can't run Crysis or UT3 on 2 gigs of ram. I'm sure Vista is a hog, but I like the graphical bells and whistles enough not to care so much. To be fair you are subjecting it to a higher level of scrutiny--you probably have a better idea of what kind of resources it SHOULD require than I do. I'm not a professional tech and so I can't really form an opinion on whether it is bloated or not.

I don't doubt that you can do more with less hardware using XP--it is just that after using it for a few days I think it is a trade off worth making for enthusiasts--I don't know about I.T. professionals and whatnot. It is also the only way to get DX10 at the moment and so it is a foregone conclusion for gamers anyway. The point of my thread was just to make it clear that on my hardware and with the apps I use it works fine. I buy hardware for games--Vista just happens to run well on what I've built, but I don't represent the average consumer, obviously.

I'd like to know how efficient Vista is compared to say, the Apple operating system. What kind of hardware do you need for the Mac OS with all the bells and whistles? That would be a useful comparison.

I should state that the System I would be using it on is more than enough for Vista:

Opteron 165 at 2.0 GHz
2GB of RAM
36 GB Raptor
AIW x1900
320 GB SATA drive
etc

Many will agree with you, I am more talking about the overall users. It can be a lot of fun for enthusiasts, thats why I have it on my spare system...

That is the main reason gamers and enthusiasts will buy it. I am hoping they come out with an XP DX10 hype.

This is true for many people, depending on what apps/HW you have. As a gamer myself, I appreciate your point of view, but as an IT professional and former support consultant, I also have concerns about the overall picture

I don't have any good numbers, but I think they are generally a little lower than Vista's requirements. I would be interested to know how much though...[/quote]