Topic: Windows Vista released!

[filopastry]

I've had no bother running games on Vista personally

[polared]

i had quite a few problems myself, so in the end i gave up and i´ve gone back to xp for the time being on my gaming rig. but stuck with vista on the htpc and very happy with that.

once the high performance DX10 cards have dropped in price and crysis etc have been released i´ll reinstall.

any of you guys running with readyboost?

[AthaElvis]

i had quite a few problems myself, so in the end i gave up and i´ve gone back to xp for the time being on my gaming rig. but stuck with vista on the htpc and very happy with that.

once the high performance DX10 cards have dropped in price and crysis etc have been released i´ll reinstall.

any of you guys running with readyboost?

I'm with filo on this, not had any problems really with games on Vista (other than the aforementioned BF2 stuff).

What's a htpc?

What do I need to do for the readyboost?

[filopastry]

i had quite a few problems myself, so in the end i gave up and i´ve gone back to xp for the time being on my gaming rig. but stuck with vista on the htpc and very happy with that.

once the high performance DX10 cards have dropped in price and crysis etc have been released i´ll reinstall.

any of you guys running with readyboost?

Any particular games which caused issues?

I have 2 gig of RAM anyway so I've never really bothered with readyboost

[Ken-Obi]

High speed USB drive.

[polared]

HTPC = Home Theatre PC, basically a computer hooked up to the telly and used for watching TV, Vids, Films, listening to music etc, and using media centre or similar as a front end.

for readyboost you just need a usb memorystick.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/features/details/readyboost.mspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/tomarcher/archive/2006/06/02/615199.aspx

as nobody else that i know is using vista, they all use macs so i haven't heard any first hand accounts from people using it and was just wondering if it was worth it or not. i'll probably give it a try anyway when i get some time.

[polared]

Any particular games which caused issues?

mainly i had problems with civ4, x3 and oblivion all of which i must admit are modded beyond recognition and a combination of getting bored trying to troubleshoot everything and also the possibility of not being able to use said mods put pay to vista for me, for the time being atleast

[iSmiff]

not all usb sticks are readyboost compatible, i have a few older ones it wont accept

[The dude abides]

I'll be starting a thread soon, re the possibilities of going back to XP.

Vista is ok, but it runs slower than my XP, and has no pros at all that I can see.  It is hungry for resources.  I'm able to open new firefox tabs til the cows come home in my old computer (made in 2000) with xp onboard....but in this new computer, I start to feel the strain after 40 or 50 tabs.

and for some reason, vista doesn't seem to free up ram when i close down programs, to free up memory....i end u having to reboot.

gonna upgrade to XP soon.

[iSmiff]

if you have vista installed and want to install xp but keep your vista install to dual boot it requires a bit of trickery


going from xp to vista and dual booting is simple though

[The dude abides]

if you have vista installed and want to install xp but keep your vista install to dual boot it requires a bit of trickery


going from xp to vista and dual booting is simple though

yes dual booting was something i have thought about, smiff.

to be quite honest tho, I see no benefits whatsoever in having vista anywhere near my house.

if i could be sure that i can get the drivers, i'd move to XP this evening.

My Toshiba laptop, bought in mid May, came with vista on it.

[ttnbd]

I'll be starting a thread soon, re the possibilities of going back to XP.

Vista is ok, but it runs slower than my XP,

Out of curiosity what is the spec of your machine?

[The dude abides]

Out of curiosity what is the spec of your machine?

let's see

    * Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T5200 - 1.6GHz (x2), 533MHz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache
    * RAM: 1GB DDR2-533MHz
    * Hard Drive: 100GB
    * Screen: 17" Widescreen TFT (1440x900 - 16:10) with TruBrite Technology
    * Optical Drive: DVD±RW Super Multi Double Layer
    * Graphics: Integrated Graphics supporting 128MB
    * Wireless LAN: 802.11a/b/g - Call for advice on Wireless Networking
    * Battery Life (Depending on Use): 3.5 Hours
    * Weight: 3.2kg
    * Warranty: 1 Year Collect and Return
    * Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium Edition
    * S-Video Output
    * Firewire Port
    * Fast Ethernet 10/100
    * built-in Harman Kardon stereo speakers

someone said earlier in rawk that the integrated video card is sore on resources

[polared]

someone said earlier in rawk that the integrated video card is sore on resources

the thing is they use the system ram to create vram, so you've got less available for your applications

[filopastry]

The combination of 1 gig of system memory and an integrated grapics chip stealing some of that memory kills Vista's performance

[The dude abides]

cheers polared and filopastry.

would it be fair if I took this laptop back to curry's and asked them about the system's inability to work vista?

[Graeme]

The combination of 1 gig of system memory and an integrated grapics chip stealing some of that memory kills Vista's performance

My laptop has got the same setup, and I don't find it too bad having turned Aero off, do intend to upgrade it to 2GB though.

[Mudface_]

cheers polared and filopastry.

would it be fair if I took this laptop back to curry's and asked them about the system's inability to work vista?

I thought that was what you were doing?

[The dude abides]

I thought that was what you were doing?

i'd held back mate - was hoping the disabling of aero would improve things dramatically.  It has helped a fair bit. 

i know a couple of the staff to see in my local store - not keen to have a row.

don't get me wrong, this is a good laptop, but it's annoying when your old xp machine was able to load up programmes and firefox tabs til the cows came home....while vista stumbles very quickly.

but the colours management issue is possibly the final straw......the colours i can see don't always match up with what friends see on their screens/websites.   Bit of a prob when you work with photoshop and website design.

[iSmiff]

i see MS are being taken to court over their "minimum" specs in the USA

[Circa1892]

The combination of 1 gig of system memory and an integrated grapics chip stealing some of that memory kills Vista's performance

Is 1gb system memory with a dedicated graphics card much better?

[The dude abides]

i see MS are being taken to court over their "minimum" specs in the USA

interesting!

what are the min specs specified?

i can well imagine large organisations being mightily pissed off on discovering that they have to update their hardware.

[filopastry]

Is 1gb system memory with a dedicated graphics card much better?

I find that ok personally although 2 gig is undoubtedly better, as Graeme said if you're on a lower spec system turning aero off will make a fair difference if you find its struggling

[The dude abides]

if I decide to forego the warranty, take off vista, and install windows xp......what are the chances that i will get totally snookered i.e. unable to get something crucial like sound working?  Or is there always a solution.

[iSmiff]

the chances of a manufacturer not having xp drivers for a piece of hardware are Zero i should think

[The dude abides]

the reason i asked was i had saw some reference in some computer forums re the lack of a sound driver for my toshiba laptop for xp.

some guy found a workaround, but it was well off the beaten path.

Forgive my ignorance mate, laptops are new to me.....but is it do-able, it needs be, to get a different soundcard?  or are you stuck with whatever toshiba has in your machine.

[BazC]

i'd held back mate - was hoping the disabling of aero would improve things dramatically.  It has helped a fair bit. 

i know a couple of the staff to see in my local store - not keen to have a row.

don't get me wrong, this is a good laptop, but it's annoying when your old xp machine was able to load up programmes and firefox tabs til the cows came home....while vista stumbles very quickly.

but the colours management issue is possibly the final straw......the colours i can see don't always match up with what friends see on their screens/websites.   Bit of a prob when you work with photoshop and website design.

Just get it back to the store. You've spent the best part of a grand and you're obviously not happy with the product... wouldn't matter if your family owned the damn store- doesn't stop you from having the right to get it sorted! And in any case... having people you know working there- wouldn't that help you get it 'sorted' quickly and easily?

[The dude abides]

true mate.  But the whole thing is pretty subjective.  Are they gonna give much ground when I tell them that it slows after 40 firefox windows, when i could load 100 plus without an issue in xp.  Or that I now have to regularly reboot to clear the ram/mem resources.  Or that it runs faster with aero turned off.  It's all the type of stuff that irks us, but are they gonna be sympatheic and take the time to open a load of windows and prgrammes.

The only hard hitting objective aspect will be the failure to display colours properly.  But I'll need a pc monitor that does work properly alongside mine, to show the issue to them. 

I could show them the crappy performance level thingie - 3.1 (very poor given the cost of the pc).    But that might be of little interest to them.

I dunno.....sorry for taking up folks' time....just frustrating for me, a lot of money, and a poorer system than my old xp one. 

[John C]

Can I use outlook express in Vista - cant seem to set it up. If not, any other suggestions as I hate BT email.

Thanks

[JohnSullie]

Windows® Mail is the samething just upgraded a bit and is on Vista.

[Mudface_]

I quite like Live Mail.

[John C]

Windows® Mail is the samething just upgraded a bit and is on Vista.

Thanks - why is my view small in this reply but large for the rest of the forum?

[oojason]

Vista Drivers!!! (to the tune of Rocky )

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/K0PddvmUrrM?fs=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/K0PddvmUrrM?fs=1</a>

https://www.youtube.com/user/PaletteSwapNinja/videos

(from the same lads who did the recent & quality Star Wars / Beatles 'Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band' mash-up)