Whats this about Vista

[Jonnywhy]

Is it worth upgrading to 64 bit Vista? I can get it for free from Uni, so I am considering doing this. In order to do so, I know I'll need to upgrade to 4 gig of ram, and check that my CPU can handle 64 bits, but is it worth the effort, what sort of benefits can I expect to get?

[[U2OP] Willy]

Well Until they acctually start writing the software for 64 bit you wont see much of a difference Jonny. Right now most of what you see is in 32 bit. I know a couple that is in 64bit like a program I use called Blender. They write a 64 and 32 bit version.

[BBloke]

Many pre-built systems are being sold with a downgrade option to XP. This is normally in the form of a CD that installs XP as an image to the harddrive so all the hard work is removed.

I've purchased a couple of laptops recently and I've always searched for those that offer such a downgrade. Time is sadly running out for this option but in general if you have an old XP license then there is nothing stopping you installing XP onto a laptop with Vista just to get rid of Vista.

[Jonfon]

Vista is actually better behaved for me than my old XP was (but that had been on the PC for a long, long time).

UAC is a useless pile of shite though, it's so annoying.

How do you turn off Indexing in Vista actually? The disk accessing really irks me too.

[Jonnywhy]

Vista is actually better behaved for me than my old XP was (but that had been on the PC for a long, long time).

UAC is a useless pile of shite though, it's so annoying.

How do you turn off Indexing in Vista actually? The disk accessing really irks me too.

Control pannel - > System and Maintenance - > Indexing Options - > Modify - > Uncheck all boxes

[MountieXXL]

Many pre-built systems are being sold with a downgrade option to XP. This is normally in the form of a CD that installs XP as an image to the harddrive so all the hard work is removed.

I've purchased a couple of laptops recently and I've always searched for those that offer such a downgrade. Time is sadly running out for this option but in general if you have an old XP license then there is nothing stopping you installing XP onto a laptop with Vista just to get rid of Vista.

over here they have something called "student notebooks", they come with FreeDOS or Linux pre installed which saves you a lot of money.

[Del]

yes and no. You are still paying for your 'free' software, the cost isnt zero, it's just less than windows. If you dont have a windows licence to use on said laptop, it's gonna cost you more than what an oem will charge for it preinstalled.

If you have no intention of using windows, have a spare licence or are a durty pirate, then yes it can save you money

[MountieXXL]

or go really cheap-o and buy an XP pro for 35-40€ off of Ebay =D, price difference between w/ and w/out OS is usually larger than that I think.