New Laptop/Windows XP/Vista

[Mark H]

I thought Microsoft brought out a controling share of Apple Computers about 3 years ago

don't let Apple hear you saying that

[gabrielcrowe]

so when are we going to see OSX and Linux versions of Actinic hit the shelves?



Apple has a 7.31% share of the desktop market as of december '07, you'd be fools not to port Actinic to OSX.

[Mark H]

Top selling computer on Amazon over the Christmas period was the Apple Macbook, beating all Windoze machines.

[Darren B]

Horses for courses

I use Vista, XP Pro, W2K W98 and a Mac osx 10.3 or something, not sure really, hate the thing but needs must sometimes and have a couple of sco unix boxes around here which i never mess with until i have to, now that is a stable system, its been on for about 7 years and only turned off to change a back up drive and because some twat dug up a the big fat cable in the street and it took 18 hours to get the electric back on

Well vista for me is the most stable (apart from the unix), i still get the blue screen of death with XP on a regular basis, Actinic runs fine on vista, well apart from that annoying place to store you files.

Why do most companys opt for XP, well in my opinion, its more than one reason, they are comfortable with XP, if you have not tried vista and read the horror stories you wont, vista is confusing with all the different flavours, people dont know what one they need, so go for what they know.

Speed issues, well as people said, vista is hungry for vital resources so if you get a vista model then at least 2gb or ram, mind you i have systems happy with 1gb and it currently doubles as an internal mailserver for 2 sites.

My main reason for the vista m/c, xp needed rebooting to often, not desirable for a mail server really.

So just depends what you want to do, oh and im on a laptop at present with vista and running various versions of actinic and XP applications without any problems at all

D

[NormanRouxel]

its been on for about 7 years

Yep. That's Unix / Linux for you. I've got some Linux based Snap Servers and they've been running in the back of a cupboard for years. They only stop if the power goes off.

There was a bug in Windows 98 that only showed up if the system was on for 43 or 47 days. It was years before it was found as very few people had managed to keep a Windows system alive for that trivial amount of time.

[TraceyHand]

because some t**t dug up a the big fat cable

ahem!
I thought we agreed to ban that word!

[Stereo Steve]

I think we all agree that Linux is by far superior but it's not an OS suitable for running a full business on - yet.

XP does wind itself up sometimes and needs rebooting. One thing Vista is very good at, as Darren says, is running 24/7 for ever. The only exception to this I have found is if you have a file open which is hosted on another PC or server. After a few days it starts to drag the whole thing down and you need to close it and open again. Guess it's all the back up stuff.

Oh, and for any MCE2005 users, the Vista version is by far superior and very stable. My main back up machine is also the PVR which we watch telly with and record, pause and rewind all that kind of thing. More stable than any PVR I have ever used. Have not needed to reboot once since I got it months ago.

Yes, you need some serious RAM but that's cheap nowadays. To get an XJ6 to accelerate as fast as a Dolomite Sprint, you need a bigger power plant and a lot more juice. I'd still take the Jag any day.

[kathynewman]

Well I'm more bewildered now than when I posted the question

Decided on OS of XP and and ACER as make, then had look at Dell - so much choice - then re-read this thread and now wonder if Vista is way to go - oh decisions, decisions.

Yours truly confuggled of Puddle Pet Care

[TraceyHand]

lol Kathy
You certainly started a hot topic, that's for sure!

I'm still dubious about Vista and we've hunted down XP laptops recently (either Dell or independant stores) just because I *know* all my stuff works fine on Vista and..well, if it aint broke etc

You're gonna have to make your own decision though coz otherwise you might come back and blame us if it goes wrong

[Darren B]

ahem!
I thought we agreed to ban that word!

Sorry Miss Bumps we did, please forgive me

Well I'm more bewildered now than when I posted the question

Decided on OS of XP and and ACER as make, then had look at Dell - so much choice - then re-read this thread and now wonder if Vista is way to go - oh decisions, decisions.

Yours truly confuggled of Puddle Pet Care

Kathy if you unsure then xp pro would be my advice, if you really dont feel the need to play with the fancy bits or just mess getting older programs to work under vista then stick with XP, As has been said (norman i think without reading this thread again) give vista a bit of time to settle in and by then 95% of software will be happy with vista and the little bugs willbe better suited.

I have to say though vista is better with network connections than XP and it happily finds all my pc's on different ip's and subnet's on the my cross network, this maybe another reason why i like it these extras suit me, for alot they are probably never used.

D

[Darren B]

You're gonna have to make your own decision though coz otherwise you might come back and blame us if it goes wrong

Your sister will hang you for this. Tut Tut miss bumps all thoughs years of a decent education

[RuralWeb]

Windows vista is a big holy mistake, akin to the torture that was windows ME

Well said gabe - and you are right it does look like the great ME cockup all over again. What is the use of a new OS if you have to turn it into XP (XP compatability mode) when you want to use it.

[TraceyHand]

Your sister will hang you for this. Tut Tut miss bumps all thoughs years of a decent education

pmsl, you're right, of course!
grovelling apologies to my sister, if she's reading
and Darren....

[Darren B]

What is the use of a new OS if you have to turn it into XP (XP compatability mode) when you want to use it.

Well yes and no, turning to xp mode is to run software not written for vista, not to fix something that should work? Most people struggle to use vista because it has loads of security settings and you need to learn to by pass these for software that is not written to adhere to the requirments.

D

[george]

Been thinking about this.

If its a work horse machine, get XP, no question.

If its a some work, some play, but maybe less pressure on the machine than say your office pc(s), then consider Vista.

I have two `consultants` who work in this industry and both say Vista is fine now. Although one hates Dell and the other swears by them.

Although one does also trump it by saying a Mac is better still.