Windows Vista vs. Windows XP on a new PC...

G

Gavinburt

New Member
Hey guys, this is my first post here. I'm a lurker.

Anyway, I'm taking my first stab at building a personal compute. :D But I need some advice from some of you professionals as to how to choose the operating system.

(ALL ASSUMPTION) I am hoping to have this done by early January, as I will get the parts around Christmas. However, I have a dilemma: buy Windows XP Professional, or just get Windows Vista Ultimate? There are two different ideas tossing around in my head.

1. Windows XP Professional would be cheaper, and is a reliable operating system and compatible with almost all software on the market.

2. With this computer being done in early January, what is the point of buying XP Professional with Windows Vista right around the corner?

One person told me to look at OEM versions of Windows XP. They ARE fairly cheap, but I am wondering how ones qualifies for OEM and what exactly OEM is.

This issue comes up because I am not a gamer, but rather someone who plans to get into a lot of audio recording. So onboard graphics from an Intel board should be perfectly fine (right?). So money would be saved by avoiding a new graphics card that would be able to run Vista.

Thanks for any and all help!
 
First of all any DX 9 capable card will work with Vista. You can order XP Pro or Home full install disks for under $90 from some online vendors while Vista Ultimate will see $399.95 retail when released. The term OEM generally refers to program disks included when buying a prebuilt system or included along with some other software. A new prebuilt system would see Windows already installed along with other programs and include a recovery disk. That would be the OEM release of Windows typically. No special qualifications are needed to buy a prebuilt system.

With both 32bit versions of XP running currently Vista can wait here since all of the bugs will have to be worked out with either a 2nd edition or SP1 released sometime later. SP3 for XP has now been delayed until at least 2008 having just dropped all support for SP1.
 
As far as I know, any copy of Windows XP is given a coupon for a free upgrade to Vista. And most, if not all PC manufacturers are also offering free upgrades to Vista when you purchase one of their PC's.

SP3 for XP has now been delayed until at least 2008 having just dropped all support for SP1.
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Where did you hear that? Last I heard of it is going to be released, it will happen soon after Vista is released later this year.
 
[-0MEGA-];482949 said:
As far as I know, any copy of Windows XP is given a coupon for a free upgrade to Vista. And most, if not all PC manufacturers are also offering free upgrades to Vista when you purchase one of their PC's.
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http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/003020.html

How much you'll have to pay for an upgrade ultimately will depend on where you buy your PC. As reported today by The Wall Street Journal Online, major OEM's will offer different pricing structures. For example, Hewlett-Packard will allow you to buy certain models and upgrade for free. Depending on the HP retailer, however, you may have to pay shipping and handling fees.

And the Journal reports that Dell will also allow you to upgrade by paying shipping and handling fees for systems using Windows XP Professional or Media Center editions. However, the Texas-based company plans to charge you $45 for an upgrade from Windows XP Home Edition to Windows Vista Home Basic.

Oddly enough XP Home and Vista Home Basic carry the same approximate prices: $200 new and $100 to upgrade.

More importantly, Harry McCracken, PCW's Editor in Chief, says that Vista Home Basic lacks some of Vista's more attractive features and will not hit the sweet spot for function and features that Windows XP Home does.
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So not everyone will get it "free".
 
I know that it costs a small free to upgrade to Vista if you have XP Home, but I didn't feel like researching it :)
 
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