Windows Vista |
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Last Updated: December 31, 2008
Windows Vista was released for businesses on November 30, 2006 and for consumers on January 30, 2007.
There are 6 versions: Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise and Ultimate. The prices range from $100 for an upgrade version to $400 for the full version of Ultimate.
Home users will want the Home Premium version because of the cool new looks offered by Aero Glass. ExtremeTech has a one page summary of the differences between the versions while Paul Therrott's Windows Super Site is more detailed. If you accidentally get the Home Basic version and can't live without Aero Glass or other features of the premium version, then Microsoft will provide an "anytime upgrade" for $40 to turn Home Basic into Home Premium.
New Computer with Vista
There aren't any issues with Windows Vista preinstalled on new computers.
Upgrading from Windows XP
Upgrading from Windows XP to Vista or building a computer with Vista is mostly error free. A few reports pop up on the web from time to time talking about Vista not working with certain hardware when the same hardware works fine with Windows XP. Most, if not all, of the reports were written before June 2007. I suspect many vendors have updated their drivers by now (Sep 2007) to work with Vista to increase their sales.
Hardware Requirements
Windows Vista recommends more powerful computer parts than what Windows XP recommends. Despite what Microsoft has on their web site for recommended hardware requirements, here is what many web sites are recommending:
- Processor: Any dual core processor, 3GHz Pentium 4 (single core), or 2GHz AMD Athlon (single core).
- Memory: 1GB of RAM for single core, 2GB of RAM for dual core or quad core.
- Video card: Buy a new one, preferably in the $150 and up range with 256MB of RAM (ATI Radeon X1650 or nVidia GeForce 7600 and above). Otherwise, these ATI and nVidia video cards meet the minimum requirements.
- DVD drive: Required.
- Hard drive: For notebook computers, a 7200rpm drive is ideal while a 5400rpm drive will perform well. Any drive manufactured in 2005 or earlier is most likely a 4200rpm drive and should be upgraded.
AMD offers a Windows Vista Readiness Advisor that compares your computer to minimum Vista requirements.
Tom's Hardware, TechGage, and other web sites found Windows Vista to be almost as fast as Windows XP. This has been the case for every new version of Windows over the years, so it comes as no surprise.
Tips and Tricks
I don't have Vista at home or at work, so I don't have any favorites.
- Vista Made Easy: 50 Tips And Tricks from ExtremeTech (Sep 2007)
- Top 12 Vista Tweaks from [H]Enthusiast.com (Apr 2007)
- Windows Vista Top 10 Tips and Tricks from BTXFormFactor.com (Feb 2007)
Making a Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) DVD
If you ever have to reformat the hard drive and reinstall Windows, it's nice to have most of the updates and fixes already installed when you install Windows. Digital Inspiration has a great article on how to upgrade your Windows Vista DVD to Windows Vista SP1 using vLite software (free).