Should I upgrade to Windows Vista? I’m asked this question at least twice a day. My answer? Probably not…
Should you plan on using Windows Vista? Probably…
Simply put, I recommend:
If you can refrain from upgrading to Vista for a few months, wait. Wait to see what happens with DRM, better hardware support, and better hardware prices.
If you upgrade now, be sure your hardware can handle it.
If you’re buying a new machine, test drive it. Expect to pay more for a machine that will run Vista the way you need it to.
Let me explain. Like any new operating system, Windows Vista has teething troubles. Hardware support is limited and some software applications will need patched. We went through it with XP, and we survived it. And in my opinion, Windows XP was/is a decent operating system. However, the biggest issue when making the move to Vista is hardware. When XP launched, most hardware was running Windows 98 and 2000 like a rocket. A high percentage of machines running Windows 2000 (or 98) could be upgraded to XP with at most an upgrade to 256 Meg of RAM. Not so with Vista.
If you’ve recently purchased a new machine upgrading to Vista may be your only practical choice. Minimum RAM requirement for Vista is 1 Gig. If your not living in a dream world, the requirement is more like 2 Gig. And remember, you’ll likely be buying a pair of chips and replacing (rather than adding to) the RAM you currently have. If your processor was sold in the last year or so, it’s going to be ok. If your planning on using the fancy Aero interface (and why wouldn’t you if you just dropped $200-400 for an OS), you’ll need a high end video card with at least 256M of video RAM. If you plan on using BitLocker (with Vista Enterprise or Ultimate) you’ll need a board that has a TPM 1.2 chip.
If your in the market for a new machine, you’re in a bit better position. Where mid-grade machines were in the $400-600 range for XP for the past 6 months, mid-grade machines for running Vista are somewhere in the $800-1000 range right now. My recommendation is simply to go into Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. and test drive Vista machines. When you find the one that runs the way you want it to, select a machine that’s one step up from that one. Remember, when you load the base Windows XP operating system on a machine, it runs fast. When you start adding in SP2 and all the security patches it slows way down. I wouldn’t expect Vista to be any different.
If you prefer to buy your machines online, I still recommend test driving machines at the retailers. Just write down the system specifications from the one you like and use them for reference when buying online.