Choppy scrolling?

[X-Istence]

Hey guys,

Since my MacBook Pro is at the shop, I decided I needed an OS, and I have wanted to try Vista for a while, so out I went and bought a copy with my student discount.

Anyway, on my P4 2.4 Ghz, with 1 GB of ram (Rambus), 40 GB HD (7200 RPM), and ATI X800 Pro, scrolling in my browser FireFox, Safari, or IE is really slow and choppy. It does not feel like it is scrolling as much, as rather it is taking a samurai blade and cutting the page, then just leaving bits and pieces out while it shows others.

It really irritates me, and I can't seem to find a fix for it. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

Oh, and Windows automatically enabled Aero. To quote Borat: "Is nice!"

 

[j79zlr]

That is because you have a lowly 2.4 GHz processor, only 1GB of RAM and a measly X800. What did you expect. Don't you know you need a quad core, 4GB of RAM and atleast a 8800GT to get the full effect of windows, jeesh. The fix is easy, you need a $1500 new PC to run Vista, that is why it is being adopted at an alarming rate [to Microsoft].

 

[Psyborg]

I googled a bit, and it seems your issue is fairly widespread-

http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&q=choppy+scrolling+in+vista&meta=

some suggestions relate to smooth scrolling, etc, but have you tried installing the latest vista drivers for your grapphics card?

http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/vista32/common-vista32.html

 

[X-Istence]

Yes, I grabbed the latest Catalyst drivers from AMD/ATI for my X800. No difference.

 

[j79zlr]

I know you thought I was being a sarcastic as s but that is basically the response I received when I was testing Vista on an older P4 2.53, 1GB of RAM and a X700. It really does need a newer video card, dual core processor and 2 GB of RAM.

 

[LordOfLA]

j79 is right. Your PC is under specced for vista to run at its best. I can send you SP1 which has a bunch of performanc enhancing patches or you can search OSNN for the links to the standalone performance hotfixes.

 

[LeeJend]

If you are using VISTA with Aero Desktop, turn off AERO. That machine just is not adequate for Aero.

If you strip down to bare bones, turn off Aero (i.e. basically use VISTA Home) you will get unnspired but adequate functionality. Note that from my testing on a low end system you really need 1.5 MB minimum RAM. A 2.4 gig P4 is pretty wimpy too but mgiht be acceptable. It's hard to compare a P4 to the newer Core generation of Pentiums. If it were a core processor the speed would be fine.

 

[X-Istence]

j79 is right. Your PC is under specced for vista to run at its best. I can send you SP1 which has a bunch of performanc enhancing patches or you can search OSNN for the links to the standalone performance hotfixes.

Is it on the FTP?

I really think that it is retarded that Windows Vista would require that much power. Hell, that machine flies when running other OS's. I might just sell my copy of Windows Vista and go buy another copy of Windows XP. The next time I am buying a computer it is going to be because of the need for a new file server, not because some retarded new OS from Microsoft needs some insane specs to even want to run.

So far I have not had any complaints about Vista other than the choppyness of the scrolling, hell scrolling even works better on my P3 1 Ghz laptop, with 256 MB of ram, running FreeBSD with xfce 4/FireFox.

That is PATHETIC!

 

[LordOfLA]

Yes SP1 is on my FTP server. The performance hotfixes and SP1 made a huge difference on my high end gaming PC, I don't see why it wouldn't achieve the same for you.

 

[LeeJend]

So far I have not had any complaints about Vista other than the choppyness of the scrolling,

Try installing some more app's on it and running some more. I currently have $1500 worth of software that will require me to spend $800 to upgrade to VISTA compliant versions. It isn't even fully compatible with office 2000.

Also, I get periodic crashes on VISTA, some requiring me to pull the laptop battery to be able to shut down.

The best indiator on Vista performance is the extremely deep discounting all the laptop manufactures were forced into this summer ($600-800 laptops sold for $329-400 because they had VISTA and low end processors). Now all the laptops are back up to the 500+ range and sport 1gig+ RAm and dual core processors. Those low end laptops run great with XP but were dogs with the pre-installed VISTA Home.

Hopefully SP1 will resolve the performance issues. There were some nice features in VISTA to go with the excessive security features. Of course no SP will solve the massive expense for aplication upgrades.

The real irony was my laptop came with an upgrade disc and coupon. LIke this machine will ever be able to run Premium or Ultra...

X-istence how much is VISTA and/or XP with a student discount. Windows OS is the only thing my company doesn't get employees good sofwtare discounts on.

 

[LordOfLA]

To be honest I wouldn't run vista on a laptop at all.

 

[indyjones]

weird it ran fine on my system which I guess it not a million miles different in spec level? It was just the games it was really slow on

 

[X-Istence]

To be honest I wouldn't run vista on a laptop at all.

My room mate bought a brand new Core 2 Duo laptop, with 2 Gigs of ram, and it came pre-installed with Windows Vista. We tried installing Windows XP on it, but it failed becaue the SATA drivers from Intel screwed up, we tried installing Linux and it failed since the Intel SCH7 chipset or something along those lines does not work.

And the company the laptop was made by did not have the proper Vista drivers on their website, and still does not offer any XP drivers. So, the only OS it is willing to run is Vista. Eventually we got the manufacturer to even provide us drivers for his laptop model, but only for Vista. So he really has no choice!

X-istence how much is VISTA and/or XP with a student discount. Windows OS is the only thing my company doesn't get employees good sofwtare discounts on.

On MSDNAA which I get access to through my school you pay for the CD and the shipping. $20 for Vista Ultimate. You can only do it once though, so you only get one CD, but the key is good for a lifetime, as long as you stay a student. And I fully believe in life long learning, so I am always a student 😛