xp or vista

[j3wcl@w]

Hi Quick question i have both xp and vista64 bit can anyone wth 64 bit vista tell me if sp1 has made any diffrence

[Gigos]

I believe that most bags have been fixed.

[Mak213]

Difference in what way? I mean being so generic with your question will only get you comments that have no meaning. Give some specific questions. Like if it solves certain issues you have had. Then you will get real answers.

[veedubfreak]

SP1 for the most part is just a rollup of all of the hotfixes.

[TommyT]

I'm in the same boat, and since this is a common question these days I will add some more detail within the same question.

I'm in the process of building a new pc and it will be used for pretty everything, from processing school programming homework, gaming, and other general media around my apt. I have the option of using the latest XP, or the latest Vista Ultimate 64 bit (thanks to my school we get it for $10 can't beat that!). I like the customization that XP currently has and I am satisfied with the current performance as it meets all my needs, however I am not that opposed to Vista as long as I can get the same (if not more) accomplished without much hassle.

Should I just stick with the XP to which I am accustomed, or should I venture into Vista which could/would lead to better performance for my computer? ( I could always have 2 drives and/or dual boot )

[Mak213]

I would suggest dual boot. Since we do not know if the current apps you use for school work in Vista since you dont mention it, a dual boot is your best option.

This way if you can see the results you like form Vista x64 then you can stay with it and get rid of XP. If not you still have XP to fall back on.

[TommyT]

Ahh sorry. Progamming is a wide range actually: C#, Dreamweaver, and Photoshop are probably the most used.

I'm leaning towards running 2 drives. One drive will be used for dual booting in which I could test the performances and my liking to Vista over XP, and the second drive will be purely for backup (XP).

[veedubfreak]

This is how i look at it. IF you are going to BUY an OS get vista home premium. If you have a copy of XP that you can use already just stick with XP. At this point in time there is almost no reason to buy XP for a new computer. 99% of the bugs have been worked out of vista, so there is really no reason to buy a 7 year old OS.

[Mak213]

Well i can speak from experience that Photoshop might give you some trouble installing on 64 Bit as we have had that question brought up a couple of times here already.

But my biggest suggestion is to partition and run the OS's on 1 drive and use the 2nd drive as backup/storage. I currently have 3 drives and my setup is similar to that. I have all my real data on the drives that are not connected with the OS's i run. This way if i have to format, like i do this week, then i do no lose anything. But i always have the information.

I also use a external which is my main backup source.

Veedub...he has Vista 64 already. got it from school for $10.

[TommyT]

Well as I had mentioned about my university, we are able to get the latest version of XP for free, and just recently Ultimate 64 for only $10.


*Edit* - Thanks, looks like this is the route I'll take when all the new parts are in and ready to go!