Should I Upgrade XP Pro SP2 to VISTA???

sirantonycartwright · 11-20-2006, 12:43 PM

Hello Everyone...

I'm A Computer Science student at Chester University and I'm not sure whether I should upgrade or not. See what you think.

My Laptop's Spec:
AMD Mobile Sempron 2600+ @ 1.6GHz (I love this processor, its extremely efficient!)
512MB RAM (upgrading to 1GB)
40GB HDD (upgrading to 80GB)
64MB Shared Graphics (S3 Unichrome PRO IGP)

What Do/Will I Use the System For?
I never use very resource demanding app's (EG. state of the art games, etc.)
I tend to play the older games more, like AOE2, AOM, some Flight Sims (ps, FS X runs OK on my laptop even though its just under system requirements!)
and some shooter games.
I use VS2003 IDE, Netbeans IDE, to do my programming.

Other Info:
I have tested my laptop using Microsoft's VISTA ready tool and it can run VISTA without AERO. I dont want VISTA ultra since i wouldnt use all of the features. I will probably get home premium or business.
I'm very impatient with computers, at the minute ive, MSCONFIG'd my system to disable everything! I like a fast boot and starup. So i wont get VISTA if its dead slow.

I will be getting VISTA for free, since im part of the MSDN Acedemic Alliance, so that rules out the dissadvantage of having to pay for it!

Please reply to this post stating what you think i should do and why you think that way...

Your help will be very much appreciated... Ant

Jet · 11-20-2006, 01:32 PM

I don't think so, because your laptop isn't the best. However, as long as you have 1GB of RAM, it shouldn't be too bad, except for the integrated graphics, which will really slow you down.

Camper · 11-20-2006, 02:00 PM

Since you more than likely wont be playing new games that need DX10 I would wait until they release the first set of updates before you install it.

meanman · 11-20-2006, 07:59 PM

give vista a while after its release to iron out some of the problems it will be released with

[-0MEGA-] · 11-20-2006, 08:24 PM

Running Vista on that laptop, even after upgrading, will be on the low side, and it may cause the laptop to seem slow while doing normal tasks. I would recommend just using XP on it.

sirantonycartwright · 11-21-2006, 11:34 AM

Thanks Everyone,
So generally we are saying wait for a while...

Quote:

Jet Said: I don't think so, because your laptop isn't the best. However, as long as you have 1GB of RAM, it shouldn't be too bad, except for the integrated graphics, which will really slow you down.

Im under the understanding that you can disable the "AERO" GUI, therefore would it not be similar to XP?

On this laptop here, i run everything altered in order to give maximum speed, for example my windows system is set to run at 16bit colour depth.

Would this and the fact that i wont be using "AERO" make any difference?

It does make a small difference in XP. Has anyone tried those XP skins? One of them is the AERO skin, my laptop can use them still working at a good speed, so i cant understand why my laptop will struggle with "AERO" let alone VISTA without AERO...

What do you think?

kof2000 · 11-21-2006, 11:41 AM

it takes around 8gb of hdd space just to install ultimate editon. it will be slow for a 512mb ram and a card without wddm and directx9 with ps2.0 you might as well just stick with a modified xp if you just gonna modify vista because vista classic is pretty similar to xpclassic aside from colors and buttons.

sirantonycartwright · 11-21-2006, 11:47 AM

im not going to have ultimate edition, im upgrading ram, the card does support wddm and dx9! ^^^!

jp198780 · 11-21-2006, 07:59 PM

use XP SP2, it will run great..

cdanik · 11-22-2006, 02:33 AM

Yea, I would never go with an OS until some updates come out, with those specs and what gaming you do, I would wait.

11-20-2006, 12:43 PM	#1 (permalink)
sirantonycartwright Bronze Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 40	Should I Upgrade XP Pro SP2 to VISTA??? Hello Everyone... I'm A Computer Science student at Chester University and I'm not sure whether I should upgrade or not. See what you think. My Laptop's Spec: AMD Mobile Sempron 2600+ @ 1.6GHz (I love this processor, its extremely efficient!) 512MB RAM (upgrading to 1GB) 40GB HDD (upgrading to 80GB) 64MB Shared Graphics (S3 Unichrome PRO IGP) What Do/Will I Use the System For? I never use very resource demanding app's (EG. state of the art games, etc.) I tend to play the older games more, like AOE2, AOM, some Flight Sims (ps, FS X runs OK on my laptop even though its just under system requirements!) and some shooter games. I use VS2003 IDE, Netbeans IDE, to do my programming. Other Info: I have tested my laptop using Microsoft's VISTA ready tool and it can run VISTA without AERO. I dont want VISTA ultra since i wouldnt use all of the features. I will probably get home premium or business. I'm very impatient with computers, at the minute ive, MSCONFIG'd my system to disable everything! I like a fast boot and starup. So i wont get VISTA if its dead slow. I will be getting VISTA for free, since im part of the MSDN Acedemic Alliance, so that rules out the dissadvantage of having to pay for it! Please reply to this post stating what you think i should do and why you think that way... Your help will be very much appreciated... Ant

11-20-2006, 01:32 PM	#2 (permalink)
Jet Diamond Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 5,288	I don't think so, because your laptop isn't the best. However, as long as you have 1GB of RAM, it shouldn't be too bad, except for the integrated graphics, which will really slow you down. __________________ Macbook/Intel Core Duo 1.83Ghz/2GB DDR2 667/60GB HD/OSX 10.4.11/160GB 3.5" Firewire External/160GB Maxtor One Touch 4 Mini External/

11-20-2006, 02:00 PM	#3 (permalink)
Camper Diamond Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: /dev/null Age: 22 Posts: 1,227	Since you more than likely wont be playing new games that need DX10 I would wait until they release the first set of updates before you install it. __________________ Dell Inspiron 530 Q6600 Quad 3gb RAM Nvidia 8600 GT 500GB HD

11-20-2006, 08:24 PM	#5 (permalink)
[-0MEGA-] Diamond Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Concord, NH Age: 20 Posts: 27,082	Running Vista on that laptop, even after upgrading, will be on the low side, and it may cause the laptop to seem slow while doing normal tasks. I would recommend just using XP on it. __________________ Desktop // Laptop Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 4.0GHz // Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26GHz Asus Rampage Formula X48 // Intel PM45 ATI 4870X2 2GB GDDR5 // 512MB GDDR3 9800M GTS 4GB (2x 2GB) DDR2 940 // 4GB DDR3 800 750GB SATAII w/32MB // 200GB SATAII 7200RPM Creative SB X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty SilverStone 750W +12V@60A 3DMark06: 21391 // 9179

11-21-2006, 11:41 AM	#7 (permalink)
kof2000 Diamond Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Oahu Age: 27 Posts: 6,273	it takes around 8gb of hdd space just to install ultimate editon. it will be slow for a 512mb ram and a card without wddm and directx9 with ps2.0 you might as well just stick with a modified xp if you just gonna modify vista because vista classic is pretty similar to xpclassic aside from colors and buttons. __________________ QX9650@4.2 swiftech \|9600@3.0 9700 nt 780i \| 790fx 8gb ddr1200 \| 8gb ddr1200 2x150gb 3x1tb \|2x250gb 3x8800gtx \|3x2900xt 1gb 2x20xdvdrw \|2x20xdvdrw 15in1 card reader \|15in1 card reader ng15/g9 \|ng15/g9 1200w psu \|1200w psu 2x28" LCD \|2x28" LCD

11-20-2006, 07:59 PM	#4 (permalink)
meanman Diamond Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: england Posts: 1,788	give vista a while after its release to iron out some of the problems it will be released with

11-21-2006, 11:47 AM	#8 (permalink)
sirantonycartwright Bronze Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 40	im not going to have ultimate edition, im upgrading ram, the card does support wddm and dx9! ^^^!

11-21-2006, 07:59 PM	#9 (permalink)
jp198780 Diamond Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Deptford, New Jersey Age: 18 Posts: 4,090	use XP SP2, it will run great.. __________________ My computer:Amd x2 4200+@2.20ghz 1gb ram 200gb 7200rpm hard drive X1950XT xp home

11-22-2006, 02:33 AM	#10 (permalink)
cdanik Silver Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: USA Age: 16 Posts: 130	Yea, I would never go with an OS until some updates come out, with those specs and what gaming you do, I would wait. __________________ Free Hosting http://www.yfchost.com

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