Windows vista

I won’t be able to make it, but I’d be interested in hearing if anyone on the list would be paying to upgrade to Vista from an existing system ( rather than getting it for free with a new system ).

Has anyone payed for a Windows OS upgrade before, out of their own pocket?

I have a Tablet PC here, and supposedly Vista has some pretty cool features for it ( not that I ever get to use it in Tablet mode! ), so I might actually upgrade myself this time. Or spend the money foolishly instead. Hmmm… tough times call for tough choices.

Mal

One of the guys here uses it…got beta version and got several keys for the release, been using it for several months now. Seems to quite like it.

Not going tonight, but been following Vista closely for a while now, trying to determine whether it’s worth my while upgrading from MCE’05 on my HTPC.

From a ‘prosumer’ POV, still not too sure about the trade off between Vista’s seemingly increased resource hungriness and better AV integration.

But then again my HTPC is very low-specced (mini-ITX, so small/silent preferred over raw power), so…

@ mal – I have upgraded several Win OS ‘incrementally’ before, it used to be the standard way (Kids, :wink: , I’m unfortunately old enough to remember every bloatware upgrade since 3.11). Best bang-for-buck was, and remains to this day, 98SE (but then I skipped 98 FE entirely).

Windows XP works perfectly fine for me, thank you. Come back in a couple of years and ask again. :P

Ah, but do you want to play the new FarCry. Isn’t that a DirectX 10 / Vista exclusive??

I’ve been using a evaluation copy of Vista RC2 for the last few months and quite like it. Had some problems with Video drivers in the beginning, but other than that it has been mostly a positive experience.

Ah, but do you want to play the new FarCry. Isn’t that a DirectX 10 / Vista exclusive??[/quote:0653913ff8]

You mean crysis?

I dont think its going to be a DX 10 exclusive. Recently read an interview on some website with one of the developers and i think he said it would run on dx9. but dont hold me to that?

Ah, but do you want to play the new FarCry. Isn’t that a DirectX 10 / Vista exclusive??[/quote:1b1e9f027b]

I’d say it’ll support DX9 and XP alright. It would kind of be commercial suicide if it didn’t, since there’s going to be a lot of people with DX9 cards and XP still hanging around for a few years to come yet.

That was the whole point, its a platform exclusive for what I heard, where the platform is Vista and DX10

That was the whole point, its a platform exclusive for what I heard, where the platform is Vista and DX10[/quote:66d8e386e4]

Nah that was Halo 2 wasnt it. Cant see EA publishing only vista, unless ms compensated them highly for the loss of sales on XP platforms.

Gaming. XP versus Vista. So far XP wins…

http://techgage.com/article/windows_vista_gaming_performance_reports

i used 98, till sept 2005, then I upgraded to xp ;)

According to the Crytek website Crysis will work on XP and Vista
http://www.crytek.com/games/index.php?s=xsis

I know that Alan Wake will be Vista only on PC though

The windows explorer in particular struck me as very odd looking and didn’t seem as friendly or a simple as the XP version.[/quote:a84aefe943]

I have been using it for a few months and initially found explorer to be a bit strange, but after getting used to it I think its an improvement. Its easy to see what folders are in each directory above your current directory without having to go back, additionally you can if you want to type in the location just like XP.

Personally i hate this lastest version of internet explorer. They totally fecked about with the ui and i cant find anything on it. Its like their hiding settings from ppl.

How’d it go?

I used beta for 2 months…. It’s nice, but I’ll stick with XP for the moment.

Halo 2 will be Vista only given that its DX10 only, its mainly being used as a hype tool for the gaming side of Vista. Personally I hope it flops so MS look towards Gears Of War for their saviour. ;)

As for Crysis, the game will run on DX9 but won’t have some of the spiffier features. The one thing that sticks out in my mind is the realtime weapon config change, it will be much less detailed and probably not as, well, realtime on the screen.

As for Vista itself, I’ve considered upgrading but until I move Dual Core and get my hands on another gig of RAM, then I’ll move. :)

How can Halo 2 be Vista only, its on Xbox :p

Microsoft are also planning on releasing a version of Direct X 9 called Direct X 9 L which will work with Vista, im not sure if this will run along side 10, but should run any direct X 9 game. Im not really that impressed with Vista so far, just a tarted up XP

Halo 2 will be Vista only given that its DX10 only, its mainly being used as a hype tool for the gaming side of Vista. Personally )[/quote:36235da6f6]

Halo 2 will run on DX9 cards on Vista. The features of Vista are mainly in the new tools and the Multiplayer over Windown live, these will be the 2 main new features. The game looks a little better than the XBOX version from screenshots , but not much.

I am running Vista Ultimate and I really like it. Fast boot times, its been pretty solid, better than my XP install. The new sound system is much better, the ability to resize hard drive partitions is excellent. The Aero interface is Clean and "elegant", video wallpapers are very nice. The whole thing reeks of quality. The install was very simple. But I wiped the old XP, so I dont know how the "upgrade" works. Overall I am well pleased.
My spec machine is HP xn9420 laptop with 1.8GHZ core 2 duo, 80GB hard drive, radeon x1600 256MB Video Ram, 2GB ram.
2GB ram much needed.
Playing Condemned and F.E.A.R. on it at the moment. DX9 games, no problems to report.

vista can go suck my balls i dont want it. and y2kprawn do u work for M$

Is it going to be released on the PC at the same time as the 360 or will they wait like they did before and effectivly kill the game on the PC?

vista can go suck my balls i dont want it. and y2kprawn do u work for M$[/quote:83f4d21faf]

Nice. Yes, I am one of the students in Carlow and I am on placement in Microsoft. My opinions presented here are my own, as upgrading to Vista and all work I do is off my own back, there is no one here telling me to spread propaganda :)

I also love the Latest Version of Ubuntu, got it to do all the things i can do with Vista, I would definately use it more if it played my games, had better media support (Linux media Center anyone?) and was easier to use, command line still essential. But XGL and Beagle bring a better desktop experience in the Linux world to all.

Halo 2 for Vista is not being released on XBOX360 to the best of my knowledge.

no point of releasing halo 2 on 360 espicially when halo 3 is coming out

Halo 2 for Vista is not being released on XBOX360 to the best of my knowledge.[/quote:f04ad5193b]

Yeah…my bad thats what I get for not paying attention. Head full of Halo3 news :oops:

I’m just going to slink off this way and hope everyone lets that go…

On another aside, 2 things about Vista Home premium and Ultimate you should know.
The box install stuff says 1GB ram, this is a little mis leading and is the operating system requirements. If you are a serious multitasker like me, you need 2GB ram. Simple.

There are still issues with Visual Studio under Vista, get Service pack one (VS2005_SP1) and then the Vista update. Then you need to run the Application as Administrator. Consult MSDN from the Visual Studio home page via the Application.

IF you have a crash or hang, as I can get with Media Centre and a DVD every so often as my drivers as not up to date, you will have to start the DreamScene desktop from control panel when you start.

Changed Made with MSCONFIG are blocked on startup, you need to click the notifier and allow it. You can also change this in control panel.

De-frag is quicker and works in the background and does not grind to a halt, you can run it in a schedule.

Just a few quick pointers for anyone with this Upgrade.

vista can go suck my balls i dont want it. and y2kprawn do u work for M$[/quote:1c1d8b2bf4]

Ah prawn you propagandist scum!!!

I got a new PC with vista home premium a few weeks ago and the only problem I had with it initally was openGLs woeful performace. After letting windows upgrade itself and getting the ATI drivers, it now works fine.

Also, there has been alot of critism of the Aero interface putting a strain on lesser powered PCs, but hey, its better than XPs "Fisher-Price" UI eh?

Well Vista with a 128MB DX9 card is fine, as far as load is concerned, the Aero Hardware Acceleration is there to take the load of the CPU and look pretty.
Now as far as versions are concerned, the Vista Home basic laptops that are out are not great, I think that home basic was a poor idea, as hardware gets better we are still keeping manufacturers lazy by not getting them to move to more powerful hardware acceleration. I always get calls from people who cant watch HD videos on their "new" laptop because they were not informed that they should have hardware GPU stuff to work.

The studio install problem was to do with UAC. Turned it off :)
Performance in games in fine, as good as it was on XP, need to see what the new Vista games are like , I have flight sim X, still need to install it though.

WoW started to run very slow for me in Vista. It used to run smoothly in Vista but went of WoW for a while and only played it for the first time in 3 months a few days ago and the Frame rate was very poor, even with the graphics options turned down. Not sure if it was patches to the OS or game, or a bit of both that caused it :(

I got vista with my the laptop I bought in march. Its grand but it runs some things kinda odd. Like itunes, that runs kinda funky sometimes, and theres some issues when it closes. Also, there isn’t vista versions of programs that I want to run. Such as sony vega studio for example. Just wont install.

Might be worth checking with sony support for that. I have the same problems with installing acrobat reader. Try copying the install to the machine , right click on the installer and select properties, select windows XP service pack 2 in the backwards compatability list. This normally works fine. You might need to try to so the same with the .exe when it is installed.

If you guys want to know more about the guts of vista check out http://channel9.msdn.com, lots or programming/developer talks, especially about what happens "under the hood" of Vista.

I always get calls from people who cant watch HD videos on their "new" laptop because they were not informed that they should have hardware GPU stuff to work.[/quote:51d104638a]

Embedded vs Standalone GFX in laptops is a perennial problem, which neither manufacturers nor MS are addressing comprehensively.

Not that I’d expect MS to address it, mind, and I suppose the built-in "performance rating" thingy is quite a step in the right direction in a long time.

But I’ve lost track of how many people I’ve replied to on here or on Boards.ie, who were trying to run *say* BF2 with a brand new Turion/CoreDuo etc. lappy, to no avail (evaaar!) because they’ve got integrated GFX chipsets instead of a standalone ATi/nVidia GFX chip.

The continuing lack of "comprehensive, base-user -accessible information" information as to the pros and cons of integrated vs standalone GFX in lappies should be addressed by retailers, really, with some form of ‘rating’ of the GFX capabilities of laptops for various generic tasks (3D gaming, video, etc.).

FNAC in France (same as…erm, a ‘classy hi-tech Dixons’, I suppose) have been doing that for years, but I’ve yet to see anything like it in the UK or IE.

Arent there GFX add-on cards coming out for laptops that you can use even if you have a crapo integrated gfx card.

Its a little box like a HD that sits external to the laptop…

(cant be arse to google)

Arent there GFX add-on cards coming out for laptops that you can use even if you have a crapo integrated gfx card.

Its a little box like a HD that sits external to the laptop…
[/quote:1421bff245]

I’d be amazed, considering the bandwidth of USB vs a motherboard bus (even assuming they’re USB 2). Then again… :?:

Yep, that’d be the Asus XG Station. More info here and here. Haven’t a clue how it will preform but its certainly a novel idea for those who wish to use their laptops for business on the go and then entertainment at home.

Wow.. And I thought having an external sound card was a bit odd. Whatever next ?

Cheers y2kprawn, i’ll give it a try! I’m sure everything will eventually sort out anyway.

Oh and sony are still issuing vaios with software that wont even install in vista! like photoshop elements etc. So they are worthless! I’ve contacted them but have yet to hear back.

Cheers y2kprawn, i’ll give it a try! I’m sure everything will eventually sort out anyway.

Oh and sony are still issuing vaios with software that wont even install in vista! like photoshop elements etc. So they are worthless! I’ve contacted them but have yet to hear back.[/quote:375216f88f]

How did you get in with this ?