Which edition of Vista should I buy?

[Ezergeezer]

I was given this link http://www.hotukdeals.com/deal/16642/best-prices-on-windows-vista-from-5 seems like a good deal or not? And which version is
the best to have for general use?

Geezer.

 

[Electronic Punk]

Re: Which version to buy?

For most home users I would easily recommend Home Premium, Ultimate has more - soon to include DreamScene - but the price hike just isn't good for general consumers.

Regarding the price, definately a good deal.

 

[Electronic Punk]

Re: Which version to buy?

Where is the pricing on step-ups?
I haven't read thru that information yet.

edit: ok, I would wait and see what it costs to upgrade Vista directly from Home Basic to Home Premium

I would seriously go for the premium over the basic tho, lots more in the box as well as Aero if your system is capable!

 

[Electronic Punk]

Re: Which version to buy?

Bizarrely just announced!!

Home Basic --> Home Premium: $79
Home Basic --> Ultimate: $199
Home Premium --> Ultimate: $159
Business --> Ultimate: $139

So go with the OEM Home Premium!

 

[Ezergeezer]

Re: Which version to buy?

Thanks for the guidence EP.

Keep seeing so many reports saying best to hang on till first service pack arrives, but those prices are the cheapest I've seen. So no point the extra £50 for Ultimate then?

Also no problem running 64bit edition with any of the existing software I use
at present?

Geezer.

 

[Electronic Punk]

Re: Which version to buy?

Well compare the differences and ask yourself if there is anything you really need in there.

Personally I remote to my home PC so I do need business or ultrimate, but then I also want MCE for some reason so ultimate it is.

Wait for SP1? This is the most stable OOTB OS MS has done for quite some time so I can't really agree with that, been using it for some time now and despite a few flaws that involve 3rd parties I have seen nothing that makes me crave XP.

64bit? Could go either way yet, my laptop is running 64bit and you wouldn't have known it. To be fair its performance index is lower than the 32bit, but again (and again with XP x64) its all down to 3rd party vendors and their perception of what the demand is.

 

[Ezergeezer]

Re: Which version to buy?

Thanks again EP, Ultimate it is then!
I'll say that almost everyone will want ultimate, for all the "bells and whistles", although it seems just a ploy by Microsoft, by having so many different versions, that we will pay in excess of £120 for something that is little better than XP knowing full well you'll buy Ultimate anyway.

No one will want what looks like a 'cut down' version.

Vista Basic £50 ish; "Not bad price, whats wrong with it".
Vista Premium £70 ish; "I can afford that, must be better than Basic eh!".
Vista Ultimate £120 ish; "Jeez how much, I was going to buy it anyway".

Geezer.

 

[Electronic Punk]

Well many people are happy with Home and even Media Center Edition, or on the flipside Professional - without MCE...

Can't go wrong with Ultimate tho if you want everything and more.

 

[kop48]

http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/winvista_02.asp

Good comparison of the different versions.

 

[Dublex]

I would wait for SP1 of Vista if you can bare it. As an alternative to EPs experience, someone here installed Vista and it broke their motherboard somehow with the installation of the OS - I guess it depends on if your system is supported or not.

 

[madmatt]

I have a difficult time believing Vista broke the motherboard.

 

[Electronic Punk]

Well my system, although 19 months since it was "the ****" was well prepared for it.

I would always recommend going for well known compontants and the "Certified for Windows Vista" program is alot more organised this time around.

There are lots of "Vista Capable" badges floating around, but very new hardware should be "Windows Vista Certified" like the latest Belkin stuff and of course the latest Microsoft peripherals.

If nothing else you can always dig out an old hard drive and give that a go, as for breaking a motherboard certainly a curious case as we were told there were very few cases during the beta program where MS actually asked people to ship their PCs to Redmond, unlike previous OS betas.

 

[kop48]

I also don't believe that Vista killed the motherboard, it was obviously weak to begin with (some cap or line somewhere) and Vista probably pushed it too far - it was bound to happen.

Also, you could 'bear' it till SP1, but you'll find that SP1 is a long way away. I WOULD, however, wait till Nvidia and Creative actually get decent drivers, but this only really applies to gamers who have these more complicated cards. Onboard manufacturers actually seem to have their acts together and have pretty damned good drivers out.

 

[ming]

I'm beginning to have 2nd thoughts about getting the 64-bit version of vista. Keep coming across articles where people suggest it's not as good as i thought it would be compared to the 32-bit version.
Have any of you beta testers had any major problems with the 64-bit version?

 

[madmatt]

I haven't seen any difference, but I've read reports suggesting it runs slower than 32-bit. The difference must be so minimal that I can't tell.

 

[Shamus MacNoob]

I would not go the 64bit route , because I use winxp 64 and we are left out in the cold often for support , I read somewhere that the way things are now 64 bit is still a couple of years away from being mainstream, so with that in mind, I say go 32bit.

 

[Electronic Punk]

I think it will be better this time around, MS really seem to be going for it but some vendors are still hesistant, hopefully it will be the norm by the time the next OS is winding up.

And yes on my laptop if it was 32bit it would have an index of 3.3, on 64bit its 3.0 - purely driver stuff though I reckon.

 

[Khayman]

i run 64 bit on mine. runs well. not run the 32 bit on it though so hard to say if its worse or not. Got drivers for just about everything, except webcam (and bluetooth which is annoying seeing as how one of the earlier ctps had it built in).
Might be different depending on how many peripherals you run

 

[Electronic Punk]

Picked up a lifecam 6000 yesterday, has both x86 and x64 drivers,a bit more basic and won't do what it says on the box, but the drivers work.

 

[madmatt]

EP, what doesn't it do that the box says it does?