is vista basic enough?

[infra_red_dude]

i haf a fren who has a desktop. its not very powerful (P4 2.6ghz, 512mb ddr, onboard gfx etc.) his primary work is on linux. however he's now required to use some classic windows apps (like tally etc.). i suggested him to buy vista basic instead of xp. how can the MS gurus justify my suggestion?

some of the points which i kept in mind while suggesting vista basic:

1) he'll use 3rd party apps for everthing else (dvd/cd burning software, media player, backup, vnc etc.)

2) he's a casual gamer and since he's got a not so powerful computer, i thot vista basic is like the "nlited" edition of its heavier cousins. hence most of the resource hogging elements wud be absent. this wud enable him to play some games at fairly playable frame rates.

3) he doesn't haf kids yet! so won't miss all those 'parental controls' and stuff.

4) he's happy wid the basic user interface (not interested in aero, jus wants the thing to work)

since he'll save quite an amount by buying home basic instead of home premium i suggested him this. of corz if he upgrades and feels that he shud get home premium at a later date he can do so anytime by going in for windows anytime upgrade, rite?

plz pour in ur views. this is kinda bit urgent as he has to decide fast. btw, plz do not suggest anything abt piracy. he won't.. rather can't pirate!!! :)

[sai_cool]

actually, xp professional would be better. there are some technical and software limitations to basic version of any OS. so xp pro would be better.

[techtronic]

Completely agreed with sai_cool
I feel XP Pro would be better than any of the Vista Versions ;)

[gx_saurav]

Hmm,. both XP Por & Vista basic will be enough for his needs. Vista basic is prefered due to superfetch etc. It will run fine on 512 MB RAM.

Buy whichever you can find for cheap :)

[vish786]

better go for xp pro then issue of compatibility problem wont come if he wants to use different softwares.

[infra_red_dude]

hmmm.. yeah. points noted. also whats is the differnce between the regualar and the corresponding "N" version? (home basic and home basic N?) just that it has a different market? (region of sale??) thats it?

[vish786]

visit this sites u will find your answers here

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/choose.mspx

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_editions.asp

[infra_red_dude]

thanks for the link :) i've already gone thru them. actually what i'm looking for is not just info or review from biggies but something practical. someone's who's already used it can gimme a rite opinion.

[Zeeshan Quireshi]

u can try vista Home Basic for 30 days without activation after which it'll not work .

Otherwise i've tried home basic n it runs perfectly fine n interface is good too(Flip3d n some effects missing) but overall it is recommended over XP coz newer software wil obviously support vista and it has much more core functionality feature than those meet the eye .

[vish786]

i suggested winxp coz in vista har ek saas lene ke liye woh ejajat puchta hai(which is quiet bugging)and also configuring few softwares in vista is a pain and softwares which we require won't work sometimes and that too if they are old enough.

[infra_red_dude]

well buddy uac is not a problem. can be disabled! he's a responsible comp user and knows what to install and what to shun!

yeah trying out is a good option. will download vista image and try out for a few dayz. he can't coz messing around his system will cause probs.

and afaik the basic services are available wid the OS its fine.

hmmm... was browsing MS site and gotta know that there's no Anytime Upgrade for India. can anyone confirm this?

[gx_saurav]

I don't think it is here in India. You can mail MS support regarding this.

Both Vista basic & XP will do the work. Vista is prefered cos it is new

[infra_red_dude]

hmmm installed vista basic on a spare partition. except the boot time other things are pretty fine on my system. did install office 2k7 trial too. its running fine. i haf 32mb shared. except that it takes a long time to boot other things are just fine. theres minimal lag and its pretty usable. guess i can recommend it to him!

only thing is that i'm not able to get vista standard theme (all 3d effects and transperencies off, just the title bar and buttons) its only vista basic. my gfx is not aero compliant but vista standard is the default theme i guess. i tried the registry work around but its not working.

[gx_saurav]

If your graphics card is not aero compliant, that registry hack will not work.

You can minimise the boot time by disabling DEP. Which CPU are you using?

The recommended way to use Vista is to hibernate it instead of shut down. It will boot within 8 seconds, as it does here. Shut down is not required. Maybe once every 5 days. If I don't need to boot into Mac, I don't shutdown Vista.

One warning, if you are using Vista in dual boot then if u hibernate then next time on restarting your computer from power on it will boot directly to Vista & will not show the dual boot menu.

[infra_red_dude]

If your graphics card is not aero compliant, that registry hack will not work.
yep! bit of research led to this. man! vista basic is ugly. is there any msstyle that mimics vista standard?

One warning, if you are using Vista in dual boot then if u hibernate then next time on restarting your computer from power on it will boot directly to Vista & will not show the dual boot menu.
yep sir! know this and thats why i gotta shut down to boot into my normal xp. so what is the average boot up time you ppl got? i've tried disabling unused servicer and the startup list is empty. me and him both using p4 northwood. dep is software only. no hardware support!

i'll also try installing an antivirus and see what happens to the performance. the sore point here is my gfx card. for 3d it gets a 1.0 rating while for aero it gets 1.9. i guess 2.0 is the threshold, but it jus misses out. my fren's situation will be something similar.

[gx_saurav]

yep! bit of research led to this. man! vista basic is ugly. is there any msstyle that mimics vista standard?

HilledSE

dep is software only. no hardware support!

Then disable it.


A cold boot here takes 32 seconds.

[infra_red_dude]

HilledSE works only on aero compliant cards! :( already tried it! any other hope?

yeah i'll disable DEP and so should my fren. it'd be useless for him too. cold boot in 32secs is quite fast! :)

[infra_red_dude]

exactly! i want the ugle min/max/close buttons to be replaced not just the colour theme! any hope? so far so good. i'll upgrade to home premium trial and see the performance so that i can be sure of what to recommend to my fren.

[vikassethi]

I have Vista business on my R&D machine and my development machine has XP pro. I hated Vista initially - but I must confess it is very good - once you configure it according to your needs. I have switched off all irritating messages and am able to run applications in backward compatibility mode now. The speed factor and feel good factor is more in Vista than XP pro SP2.

Also, be very sure that Vista is the Microsoft's roadmap for future OS versions and XP would be discontinued in early 2008.

So I would bet for Vista as now a days almost all new hardware devices have Vista support drivers. Of Course I have an excellent graphics card and 2 GB RAM to support Vista :-)

[gx_saurav]

Also, be very sure that Vista is the Microsoft's roadmap for future OS versions and XP would be discontinued in early 2008.

Nope, 2012 atleast