OS

[Rosco]

A word of advice on operating systems please.

I've been operating the PC's on XP Pro for quite some time now, but I'm considering adding a lap top to my stable.

What would be the recommended OS for same. My only exposure to Vista was on a lap top (granted it was almost 2 years ago) and I was singularly unimpressed at the time.

Has it improved? Is it adequate for higher end apps (AutoCad, structural analysis progs etc)

It would appear to be the only OS loaded these days. Is it now an improvement on XP?

Ta muchly ;)

[Chucaro]

What I have heard is that Vista can read the full ram and userav swith is not required like in XP pro for Adobe Photoshop and Cad software.
Some Asus boards and others have problems with the user switch and would be better if you make enquires about it.
I am using XP pro on an Intel based PC

[Roadrunner]

Hi,

Vista Business and Ultimate can also be downgraded to XP Professional. Also some brands don't offer all drivers for XP any more.
Vista with SP1 is not too bad. Make sure you have enough RAM (4GB ). I still get Vista Business for my clients and downgrade to XP but that's me.
Also whomever you ask will give you a different answer.
By the end of the year there will be a "final" Vista version so far called Windows7 so what ever you buy now will be outdated by Christmas :p
Looks like Vista is to fill the gap between XP and Windows7 like WindowsME in the old days.

You have to buy it when you need it. Tomorrow it will be old anyway.

Matt

[4bee]

It would appear to be the only OS loaded these days. Is it now an improvement on XP?On certain Dell Laptops ( Vostro 1501 just to mention one, for instance) it comes with XP Pro loaded, with Vista on a CD for possible future installation if required.
I was used to XP Pro & took advice & so have left it on.

[Psimpson7]

From my experience of XP and Vista on CAD machines I would go for either XP32 or Vista64. I wouldn't use XP64 or Vista 32. XP64 can be a pain for drivers, and Vista 32 is IMO not great.

[dmdigital]

Just remember MS is about to release Windows 7. My understanding is this may improve a few things on Vista - one can hope they have improved things!

In my opinion Vista 32bit is just bloat-ware and if AutoCAD is anything like Photoshop on Vista then it really is a poor choice. From what I've seen Vista also doesn't improve much with more than 2GB (despite tuning). I haven't used the 64bit version so this may be better.

Anyway I've moved over to Mac and life's much better now. Except for yesterday when I had to do some stuff on my Vista laptop:(

[miky]

I had Vista Ultimate on a desktop with 2GB ram. Took me about 2 days before I could get it working to my satisfaction. Was never that good with Photoshop or any other large programmes. And as for running several programmes at the same time... yawn, go make a cup of tea etc.
Think bloatware!

Stuck with it for several months but eventually it was time to reformat (needed to clean up a bit) so put XP with sp2 back on.

Never looked back.

[mjm295]

Structural Analysis -> Solaris 10 (or linux) for a lap top.

Autocad -> never used it, but I guess its Windows Based? Win98 v2? was pretty good.

[Rosco]

Thanks for your thoughts chaps.

Looks like I should stick with XP for the time being .. at least I'm familiar with it.

Cheers