I'm not a fan of Vista, in fact it pushed me to pick up a MacBook Pro. I love it. I haven't had a single issue with Leopard yet (although I've heard horror stories).
I have Vista, and I have had no problem at all with it. Nothing crashes, it is all fast, everything works and it is beautifully designed IMO. However I have been looking into getting a Mac for a while now.
I think I'm going to pick up a TimeCapsule on the way home. $299 for a 500GB wireless router/backup utility? That's just badass!
Vista ROCKS for gaming!! I get another 20 odd FPS after switching from XP to Vista! I love vista, the thing with it is you HAVE TO have a new computer, old ones just wont cut it, and at least 2gb ram for sure. but once you do have those, it runs sooo nice you will never look back, XP looks so shite to me now.
I too, am a PC tech, and will 2nd this emotion. I'm not a M$ hater, well... actually... after my 360 saw the 3 red rings, maybe I am becoming one, but, my point is, I agree with dburk. I work on PCs everyday and have had Vista on mine since beta. Now using Vista Business as part of Microsoft's Action Pack. Still using it because my clients are one by one coming over to it, so I need to stay on top of it. But as a PC tech, it's hard to let go of XP as strong and mature as it is and leave it for Vista. Maybe because of the various peripherals, software programs, etc. I'm challenged with due to variety of clients and needs. It's like leaving Win98 and going to WinME for me. Only I recognize Vista is a whole lot more secure and stable than WinME. It's just that it feels like the same when M$ put that OS out there. Feeling like a step back with bloat. I too, would like to look past this version and hope for the best in the next - or stick with XP.
If you end up getting a Mac, you're opinion of Vista may change. I work on PCs in the daytime, and play on a Mac Mini at home. BTW, you can run Vista inside OS X. Not only that, but you can run Vista and OS X simutaneously if you want. Both on the same desktop, running at same time. Windows Start bar on left. Mac OS Doc on bottom, with Windows Task bar just above it. Pretty cool, IMO
Nobody has answered my question yet though. Does disabling all the programs from running in the background speed things up on Vista like it does on XP?
I really hope the new service pack will improve Vista. I recently installed SP1 RC1 on my Vista. I haven't noticed much improvement yet though :-/
I use XP due to its better performance, which is too bad, since I really like Vista's improved visuals.
The answer is here. In addition, you can disable things working with the Desktop Window Manager (DWM), Turning off/on Desktop Composition Manager, etc. Vista IS different than XP and earlier versions of Windows. It's made for 3d environment so naturally going to be slower. But disabling things in msconfig may help with some things, there is more you'll need to do to get Vista working the way you like it. For example, Flash 8 Professional... there are places where when you clicked on something to edit, the window would slow to a snail's pace and the system will crawl. The fix for that is by running Flash 8 in XP Compatibility mode and turning of some of the rendering options. This is just one example and there are many other that are specific to various scenarios. Having all the latest and greatest hardware to run it will definitely help. Having older hardware can and will slow Vista down. But just because Vista "looks" better or fancier than XP doesn't make it better. There are other things to address that would make it better like Security, Performance, etc. Everybody has their own preference in what they deem necessary to call it better. As mentioned before, hopefully some service packs will help performance issues. I look at Vista as basically a transition OS. It's causing us all to buy the newer hardware to run it, and the next OS will be the polished one. (Like XP is). There are many factors that will need to be considered when wanting to speed up performance.
I think if you have more than 2gb of ram and a good cpu and video card then vista should be perfect for you.
Is 2 GB of ram becoming the standard on most computers? Will the Wal-Mart special have this much ram?
if i'll be given a chance I'll try vista! (it's because my hardware can't handle vista ) I like it's visual and security features but it still some compatibility issues with other softwares, like some games i like to play, but it's worth a try.