Windows Vista

[Grader4me]

Sooo...who has Windows Vista and how is it working for you? I hear alot of people getting rid of it and going back to Windows XP.

[95zIV]

Yeah pretty much, Vista is the worst thing to happen to computers since windows in general. The computers on my truck have actually been reverted all the way back to windows '98 because our programmers can't seem to get it right with anything newer. My laptop has windows XP and IT WILL NOT get vista because there's just way too many problems with it.

[RocksnRoses]

Sooo...who has Windows Vista and how is it working for you? I hear alot of people getting rid of it and going back to Windows XP.

We have two computors here with Vista, which my wife and I both use all the time and we have had no problems at all. I was just discussing it with her and we have heard the same thing. I think there are some compatibility problems with older software and hardware (printers etc.), but if everything is reasonably up to date, there does not seem to be a problem, we certainly haven't had any.

Rn'R.

[Squizzy246B]

I asked my mate at the computer shop and he likes Vista but said the reception from his business clients has been poor. Most of his customers have had some problem that has had to be ironed out. He likes Vista on his new build machines but recommends to stick with XP on the older stuff.

[Steve Frazier]

When I made the switch from 2000 to XP, my dot matrix printer wouldn't feed right and neither Microsoft nor Okidata has a solution. I'm eventually going to update the printer but for now I have to feed each page by hand for printing. I use it for invoicing.

I've got Vista now on both the PC and laptop, I could get by without it. My biggest complaint is the memory it uses, my laptop was a snail until I upgraded the memory, it's ok now. No major complaints, but some minor glitches along the way that have been fixed with updates.

[ATCOEQUIP]

I've got Vista now on both the PC and laptop, I could get by without it.

Now there's a statement! Are you listening Microsoft? If your not going to make it exceptionally better than XP, then don't bother us with your "new thing". There's an old saying "if it works...don't mess with it." If your going to mess with it, you've got to make it better, without glitches that you should have worked out before you told us it was "the latest and greatest thing". :)

[Squizzy246B]

Now there's a statement!

That seems to be the thing...there is no need whatsoever to rush out and upgrade, unless you are buying a new machine.

[Grader4me]

I have it on my laptop and have had no problems at all. Does anyone know exactly what some of the problems with Vista is? Steve shared a couple of problems that he found..

[PSDF350]

I have vista on my laptop and have noticed no problems. But then I am computer illiterate anyway, so probably wouldn't notice anyway.

[Wolfcsm]

Just when you thought that Vista was the newest, WINDOWS 7 comes on the horizon.

Info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7

Hal

[Steve Frazier]

It's all a marketing ploy. They keep updating operating systems, then we have to update our software to work with the new O/S, or vice versa. If you have a problem with an old program and call for help, nine times out of ten they'll tell you "We no longer support that version", so you have to get the new program which isn't compatible with your old O/S.

They've got us by the short ones....

[HEO Girl]

Windows 7 is comin out soon. Dunno how that's going to be but it's coming.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/

I think before they released Vista they should have done waaaay more to fix it. When they released it it was crap had a ton of things wrong with it. However they have done a lot to fix it and stabilize it. I wouldn't get it because I find the security features annoying and it slows down my down load speeds and such because it has a lot more security to go threw. Plus it takes alot of crap just to run ur desktop. But for other people they like Vista. There are still some people out there that are a little sore still because of how much it was messed up in the beginning.

[jimmyjack]

i got vista on my laptop which i use mainly for the web and stuff , no real problems yet .... it just has a fit if i try and close , say two pages to fast then it says its not responding but its ok. my desktop is xp and that thing runs slow as hell but that might be all the porn on it :rolleyes:......btw never look at porn on a laptop you'll mess that thing up so fast:Banghead trust me

[HEO Girl]

Haha Jimmy no you just gotta know how to keep ur computer safe while doing it

[cat 385]

Haha Jimmy no you just gotta know how to keep ur computer safe while doing it i was going to say something here,but Steve would probably send me on vacation,think I'll keep it to myself.:rolleyes:

[Cat420]

The main reason I refuse to use Vista is the resources it requires. Sure it does some flashy stuff, but you can't tell me it isn't also some lazy programming, because memory is cheap.

One of the reviews I saw on Windows 7 indicates that they have taken seriously a lot of the complaints from Vista and the beta version anyway is less resource hungry than even XP. I'll reserve judgment until using it for myself, but it sounds like a step in the right direction.

edit, forgot to add this. Students get a huge discount from Microsoft, so if you need something, just get them to buy it for you.

[jimmyjack]

Haha Jimmy no you just gotta know how to keep ur computer safe while doing it

do we know this from expereince :beatsmelol yea i do have drivecleaner on it , that helps.....but anyway trying not to get in trouble for talkin about porn:D

[Steve Frazier]

.....but anyway trying not to get in trouble for talkin about porn:D

I think we've had quite enough talk of that here already

[Grader4me]

i got vista on my laptop which i use mainly for the web and stuff , no real problems yet .... it just has a fit if i try and close , say two pages to fast then it says its not responding but its ok.

Mine does that as well. Must be the nature of the beast.

[Dountman]

Upgraded end of last year. Took me a few days to get some of my drivers correct for a few things but after that no problems at all.

[jimmyjack]

I think we've had quite enough talk of that here already

damn:Banghead:Banghead:stirthepot

[bear]

Vista mostly has a bad rap. Yes they did force Intel to say it could run on minimal resources and it does but not very fast I have it running on my two computers for my college work one of which is my CAD and parametric modelling workstation the other is for papers and stuff. I have a nice little box running Linux around here too. Just like any other tool being used for specific jobs.

[Squizzy246B]

Vista mostly has a bad rap. Yes they did force Intel to say it could run on minimal resources and it does but not very fast I have it running on my two computers for my college work one of which is my CAD and parametric modelling workstation the other is for papers and stuff. I have a nice little box running Linux around here too. Just like any other tool being used for specific jobs.

bear, your starting to worry me with your obvious computer savvy:rolleyes:

[RonG]

I get my porn on the cooking channel.Ron G

[Grader4me]

I get my porn on the cooking channel.Ron G

:lmao The Naked Chef?? lol.

[Squizzy246B]

I get my porn on the cooking channel.Ron G

Whens the tool channel starting....or the construction equipment channel??

Back to Vista...sounds like I should hang on with XP then leapfrog to Wundows 7

[bear]

bear, your starting to worry me with your obvious computer savvy:rolleyes:

How so Squizzy? I've always been pretty good with nuts and bolts computers are somewhat of an extension of that. That old movie Wargames got me started just because if some idiot had gotten a decimal place wrong and was going to end the world because of it I might know why it happened. :beatsme I just hate not knowing. Another idle thought is, we are almost through our first decade of the 2000's dangit I want my nuclear powered car motercycle and D-11. :eek: :cool2 know what I mean? From a technical standpoint it wouldn't be difficult it's just not politically favorable like many things that get flushed until some emergency happens or something. I always liked being able to say " I told you so" as well, doesn't keep me popular with the family either. :Banghead :tong :Pointhead

Back to topic....

Windows 7 does look good and runs good so far. I've got a beta copy running on my old crap " if it blows up no loss" computer and it's running it better than it did Xp. I think it'll be a good O/S if they don't screw it up. Which being MS it's not impossible.

[Squizzy246B]

Bear, I was hacking on you for being Geeky:D (its just jealousy)

and its a D12 or D13 your looking for in the 21st century....and maybe a Delorian with a flux capacitor.

[bear]

Bear, I was hacking on you for being Geeky:D (its just jealousy)

and its a D12 or D13 your looking for in the 21st century....and maybe a Delorian with a flux capacitor.

No sweat, not the sharpest tool when it comes to human to human interfaces :rolleyes:

D 12 or D13... you're right a puny D11 would never handle the raw power. :D :eek:

[Dwan Hall]

Looks like if you stick to xp on older machines and not up grade everything will be fine but if you are getting a new machine then Vista is fine on them.

inotherwords an upgrade should include a new computer.

[HEO Girl]

Got this right off the Mircorsoft.com website
Windows Vista recommended system requirements: Home Edition
*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 (fees may apply)

Additional requirements

Actual requirements and product functionality may vary based on your system configuration. Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor can help you determine which features and edition of Windows Vista will run on your computer.

While all editions of Windows Vista can support multiple core CPUs, only Windows Vista Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise can support dual processors.
___________________________________
Those specs are a joke!!! Sure if you want to wait around for Vista to take hours to actually do something and have no hard drive space whatsoever then sure I'd recommend these specs . . .

Vista is an absolute memory hog. Vista caches applications to help them respond more quickly, but the caching process consumes a lot of RAM. If you are buying workstations today with an eye toward an eventual upgrade to Vista, I would order them with at least 2 GB of RAM. Even if you don't end up ever deploying Vista, XP can benefit from having a couple of gigs of RAM.
*Atleast 2 GB of RAM
------------------
Windows Vista will ship on DVD discs, so a DVD-ROM drive, at a minimum, is required to install from the Vista discs.
*DVD-ROM drive
-------------------
The 80 GB Hard Drive will do you more good then that 20 GB one they recommend up there because they even say you have to keep 15 GB of that free to run Vista so at the very least an 80 GB one. I suppose you could get by with a 40GB one to.
*40 to 80 GB Hard Drive
-------------------
They recommend a 1 GHz Processor. . I don't even run a 1 GHz processor in my XP machine and I'm pretty sure if I did I would cry. With Vista being such a hog with resources go with a 2 GHz processor or if you wanted to go better more power to ya.
*Atleast a 2 GHz Processor
-------------------
Every single thing in Vista is 3D so when they say a Graphics Card with 32MB of memory they are retarded!! Get a Graphics Card with at least 128MB of memory, a 256MB of memory would be better depending on what you want to spend and what you do on your computer. Remember though it should support DirectX 9.
*Support for DirectX 9 graphics and 128 to 256 MB Graphics memory
------------------

[Wolfcsm]

VISTA will probably not work well on a two year old system - even one that was at the time on the bleeding edge of technology.

I have it running on a total of four systems today. Each had 1 to 2 GB of RAN per processor. Remember that new systems are mostly all milti processor systems right now. I have a 4 processor desktop, two 2 processor laptops and a 3gb single processor system.

Hard drives are very cheep today.More is better! 1TB is good, 2TB in a RAID configuration is even better. Video cards are the same way. Unless you are a hard core gamer, you can get a card that will run anything with 256 or 512mb of ram for not too much money.

E-machines makes a lot of low cost and fairly powerful systems. They are not going to be able to run the latest game at full speed.

For those who are gamers and want the latest, fastest, greatest gaming system Falcon Northwest http://www.falcon-nw.com/ or Alienware http://www.alienware.com/ have some of the fastest and most expensive systems that WILL play and game as fast as you want - for up to and over $10k.

A system NEVER runs well at the MICROSOFT minimum configuration. That is just fact. The RECOMMENDED configuration is probably the minimum to be able to use the system. Well above the RECOMMENDED configuration is going to get you the experience you figure you should have from the software. Then you can talk about the quirks of the operating system or program.

Hal

[Grader4me]

Deleted post

[HEO Girl]

Wolfcsm - Although http://www.falcon-nw.com/ or Alienware http://www.alienware.com/ have some pretty neat machines there they are all WAY over priced for what they have in them. You are just basically paying for the name and those neat cases they give you. You could build something probably the same or even a bit better for a much lower price.

Edit: Also in Alienwares laptops they have been notorious for overheating processors. Always see them comin into the shop. Not to mention they are wicked heavy

[Squizzy246B]

G4Me: My computer shop reckons they don't put out a Vista system without 2Gb of RAM.

[Wolfcsm]

Wolfcsm - Although http://www.falcon-nw.com/ or Alienware http://www.alienware.com/ have some pretty neat machines there they are all WAY over priced for what they have in them. You are just basically paying for the name and those neat cases they give you. You could build something probably the same or even a bit better for a much lower price.

Edit: Also in Alienwares laptops they have been notorious for overheating processors. Always see them comin into the shop. Not to mention they are wicked heavy

Maybe, but I doubt that you could get liquid cooling, 2 X 1.7GB video cards - overclocked, etc. You do get what you pay for.

A lap top for gaming, at the bleeding edge of technology is going to be both heavy and hot - think about how much cooling is in a desktop gaming system, at the bleeding edge. Auxillery coolers for laptops have been avilable for years that can bring down the temperature of the system quite a bit. But, I would say that for real hard core gaming you must have a desktop system. Any lap top is going to be a compromise.

My experience is that when building a system it tends to cost more. Mostly because of the choices made and the cost of those choices. A company like AlienWare can take some advantage of quantity discounts, when buying the same hign end components.

Hal

[HEO Girl]

Sorry to pick at you wolf :( buuuttt
Overclocking severely lowers the lifetime on anything and is not recommended. Take it from some one who thought she was cool by overclocking her processor . . Well guess what, ate right threw the thermal paste and burnt the motherboard. It was still usable however I had to keep a huge fan on it and take the side panel off or else the thing would just go into melt down mode. Had to put more thermal paste on the processor but the thing would still overheat and overclock itself (after I had taken it and put it back to regular). That computer went threw thermal paste like candy, every 3 months I was reapply thermal paste. Sooooo needless to say I will never EVER overclock a processor again. There is a reason they are set the way they are.

Some of what you say is true but I built my computer much cheaper and tad bit better then the prebuilt massive computer companies. And believe me it was on the bleeding edge of technology :). Now not so much anymore what with those quadcores out :tong.

I do agree that doing heavy gaming on a laptop of course will make it run hot and possibly have a better chance of overheating no matter how good you build it.
However having those outside fans running on your laptop puts more strain on the ones actually on the inside and could also shorten their life. I would not use them as it is just in my preference but I have herd people have good luck with them.
Had them on my Xbox . . Killed the inside fan . . Got them famous Red Rings of Death Haha.

[Wolfcsm]

Sorry to pick at you wolf :( buuuttt
Overclocking severely lowers the lifetime on anything and is not recommended. Take it from some one who thought she was cool by overclocking her processor . . Well guess what, ate right threw the thermal paste and burnt the motherboard. It was still usable however I had to keep a huge fan on it and take the side panel off or else the thing would just go into melt down mode. Had to put more thermal paste on the processor but the thing would still overheat and overclock itself (after I had taken it and put it back to regular). That computer went threw thermal paste like candy, every 3 months I was reapply thermal paste. Sooooo needless to say I will never EVER overclock a processor again. There is a reason they are set the way they are.


Cooling, cooling, cooling.

Any attempt at overclocking is a ballance between heat and performance. You are correct, the processor is set by the maker at a certain clock rate and voltage. Most of that has to do with heat - that produced by the processor and the heat that the heat management system of the computer can disapate.

I have seen and heard about systems running at 6GHZ today - cooled by liquid nitrogen. Fairly stable. One should not expect a system overclocked by 25% to last forever. Most who do the overclocking will want the latest and fastest processor out anyway.

Overclocking is for a very specific user who understands heat and can manage it. Understands the risks of overclocking and accepts them. Or someone who does not understand and ends up with expensive melted junk.

At one time there was a company that made a case with a refrigeration unit at the bottom blowing freezing air up into the system. Went out of business as things got faster and there were far less willing to take the risks of overclocking.

But, hardcore gamers want every last small bit of performance out of each and every component they have and use every trick to get there.

The average user (95+%) would not put even a 20% load on their systems and could never take advantage of an overclocked system. There is a small group that just wants to talk statistics and has an overslocked system just to have the numbers.

Hal

[Squizzy246B]

Sorry to pick at you wolf :( buuuttt
Overclocking severely lowers the lifetime on anything and is not recommended. Take it from some one who thought she was cool by overclocking her processor . . Well guess what, ate right threw the thermal paste and burnt the motherboard.

I had a chuckle at your expense:rolleyes:. Any overclocking starts with a Bigger Power Supply with twin fans (normally speed controllable), a little program to monitor the CPU temperature and a great big extra case fan, that is usually noisy. And thats just the start for novice over-clockers.

It always best to start be reading all the overclocking geek forums:rolleyes:

[HEO Girl]

Haha glad you got a good laugh Squizzy :). Thats how I learned many things about computers, by making mistakes to my old one. Such as that time my power supply blew up (smells horrible by the way), my friend actually gave me one he found at the dump (I did check to make sure the voltages were correct though and they were) it worked well I still have it in there today although that computer doesn't run anymore. Just needs a HD but I'm so done with that piece of poop. Then there was that time that my Disc Drive stopped working randomly . . . Had to get another one of them. That computer also ate HD's for breakfast!!! I swear every couple of months I was replacing the HD in that darn thing. Actually let me rephrase that, every couple of months I was replacing SOMETHING in that darn thing!!! This is why I got myself another one . . and I'm still paying it off :Banghead. Gotta love parent loans :D. Although this computer now still has a HD problem (now that I think of it this HD did come from my old computer). :beatsme I just can't escape it. Basically I touch it, it breaks haha :crying


This summer I'm going to get a laptop and although those Alienwares sure are pretty I wont get one. Although I really do want one, my computer tech friends have to slap me once in awhile.

Thanks for that info Wolfcsm that made some things much clearer for me on the overclocking :drinkup

[bear]

Overclocking is nice and can be usefull. I always looked at it like running an engine way above safe RPM for tool long, eventually something will go wrong.

[Cat420]

For gaming laptops with similar guts to alienware, check out www.sagernotebook.com Their high end stuff is made by Clevo, which is where alienware gets the base units and adds their own look to them.

I have one of the smaller ones (2096). It will play most normal games, but still gets 4 hours of battery life. The bigger ones are just nuts with one offering dual 1gb graphics cards and 3 hard drives.

[Wolfcsm]

For gaming laptops with similar guts to alienware, check out www.sagernotebook.com Their high end stuff is made by Clevo, which is where alienware gets the base units and adds their own look to them.

I have one of the smaller ones (2096). It will play most normal games, but still gets 4 hours of battery life. The bigger ones are just nuts with one offering dual 1gb graphics cards and 3 hard drives.

I was able to price one just over $6k. Not too bad for what the system had in it. But would still be concerned about the heat.

Good site.

Hal

[HEO Girl]

Jeez haha I'm lookin to stay around the $1.5k range . . Since I am a poor college student haha. Just so long as it plays Star Craft 2 and Diablo III I'll be a happy camper!

[Cat420]

For that price, this is the one you want http://www.sagernotebook.com/product_customed.php?pid=51114

No need to thank me for having them run a sale. I just bought a lesser model for the same price about a month ago, just my luck:Banghead:bash

[HEO Girl]

Did you here anything about Nvidia having issues with there higher end video cards such as the 9800? Just curious I heard that they were failing. Had 2 friends with higher end cards by them that failed out. I know they were having a recall awhile back. Just wondering if that's fixed or if you've herd anything. I do love Nvidia :)

[Cat420]

I had heard some, but supposedly they changed some things. Kind of like car recalls and problems, who really knows in the end. I got the 3 year warranty for $139, so I'm good to go. My brother had some issues with his laptop and Sager was good to deal with and made it right.

[HEO Girl]

Ya I'd most likely go with a 3 year warrenty . . You never know what will happen. Haha I probably know that more then anyone here.