Ok so I'm getting a Toshiba A200 laptop with all the good stuff. 120GB HDD, 2GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 256 video card, etc. But it comes with Vista. Now I realize there are already tons of topics about Vista and info on it, but I'm looking for a first-hand opinion on it. Don't need a lecture or anything, just some of the negative things about it from someone that owns it. So for the Vista owners, what are things that aren't so great about Vista, becauses program compatibility?

Thanks.

I apologize for this post as I can't help you but I was just about to make a similar thread with a more specific question and it seems pointless making a new thread when this exists.

Basically could someone just tell me if Visual Basic 6 works on Vista? Just that I'm getting a laptop myself tommorow with Vista on for work and we use Visual Basic 6 in my computing class.

Please do make your own topic if you have a (be it similar) question of your own.

It might be a bit sluggish at times on 1GB RAM, however other than that, I can't see any issues. Vista has been out for almost 13 months now, so program compatibility isn't really a problem. Only old software may cause trouble.

I do not own Vista, but I have been told it likes to "hog" resources.

What does that mean? It means it will take up more RAM, more processing power, and more anything it can get its hands on. Which is why it requires a more "upgraded" computer.

It's quite good. I personally love the new GUI and I have the 64-bit edition. Support is quite good for hardware and most more-recent software. Anyways--it is an excellent OS--better than WinXP in my opinion.

I just turn Aero off.(Transparent windows)
And every day I get about twenty "are you sure you want to continue? [Allow][Block]"

The only problems I've had have been the results of my *Ahem* "Unrecommended adjustments" to "options" that *technically* are not able to be changed.

Compatibility issues? None.

Speed drops? Even though I'm a multitasker on a low-end machine, noticeable speed drops are few and far between, even when running winXP or Ubuntu in a virtual machine

Networking issues? None.

And, personally, I think it looks much nicer than XP

There have not been many problems I can think of. The only problem I have really seen is people with low end laptops with Vista Home Premium....that does not work well.

Also Service Pack 1 is coming out soon so...

I've had Vista for five months now, and I've so far only had one incompatibility - Lexmark P6250 Printer. But I just had to download the Vista driver which was a bit reduced in features, but then it got working.

Personally, I experience a lot less crashes than XP - on my old machine I had to do a cold reboot every three days at the most. With this, I'm so far running at around 13 days - and that's because I had to do an update.

Sometimes the Desktop Windows Manager which manages the thumbnails previews and those neat gimmicks hogs around 80MB of my RAM, but since I have 2GB it's not a problem for me.

I would say, take the plunge and go for it!

I have not got Vista but I have heard that it runs quite slow compared to windows XP. Not quite sure, could be a load of rubbish, I would like to know the outcome of this, if it is OK or not.

~ Mat Bateman2

It runs well, providing your PC is up to date.

Vista
Pros
- Better designed start menu
- Enhanced prefetching
- Somewhat improved usability (though I would disagree)
- Longer support
- DirectX 10
Cons
- Bad driver support
- Terrible Pre-XP support
- Bad game support (MANY games need patched before they work on Vista)
- Terribly designed control panel
- Badly designed shutdown menu
- Resource hog
- Bad explorer GUI
-

Resource Hog and It exepects you to have a really good Graphics card.

Reasons Why I haven't upgraded to Vista:

Things are different and hard to find. I have the steps on how to do things on XP memorized. If I were to switch, I would have to re-memorize how to do everything. However, some things like the annoying UAC, can be disabled. That's the thing that asks you "are you sure?" every time you double-click on something.

I have a Pentium 4 computer with 512 MB RAM. Me upgrading my Operating System to Vista would be the stupidest thing I could do. I would rather have a fast computer running XP than a slow one running Vista. And even if I had the fastest, most up to date computer out there, XP would run faster on it since it uses less resources. Less resources is better; everything will be faster and you will get at least an extra hour of battery life if you use XP.

Compatibility is a problem, but it will go away over time. The software and games we love will only get older and newer software will be released which will replace what we're using now.

What I'm doing right now is just waiting. I'm happy with the computer I have, and it does everything I need it to do so there's no point in me building a better one. When the prices drop on everything drop and all the bugs get worked out and faster computer components are built, I will build a new computer and put Vista on it.

Microsoft's strategy is to release their software before it's fully complete. They use the consumer as the Beta tester and instead of paying us to test and find bugs in their software, they charge us, the consumers, $200+ to test it for them.

It works fine with current hardware, if you have outdated hardware, what you expect?



Takes getting used to, but eventually you do. As for UAC, it pops up very occasionally.



Current hardware (not low end PC's), would have no problem. But as it is your reasons, then it makes sense.



Haven't experienced this myself. Remember Vista has been out for 13 months now.



I haven't experienced any bugs, I think the bugs issue is taken out of proportion.

The bugs are few and far between. From what I've experienced... Vista has less "common" bugs than XP does. I have been using Vista for almost a week now--and even with Vista 64's incompatibility issues, it's a welcome upgrade and a relief. The GUI, as said before, is amazing. I got tired of WinXP's GUI a long time ago--and I'm happy that Aero is so pretty. I have no problems on what could be called a budget machine with a good graphics card, even when I'm at stock speed for my processor. Boosting it by 87.5% gives a large improvement for me, but Vista is still just as smooth.

Anyways--don't worry about it. Toshiba has probably worked out all of their bugs with the hardware--so you should have no problem with anything except for old scanners, printers, and some old programs.

There are so many myths about Vista that the population has taken to be the truth because of those Mac advertisements.

Myth #1: You need a very good Graphics card.
No. I'm running Aero on Intel GMA 950 - that's an integrated graphics chip, not a card. I even have transparency enabled and have experienced no lag in graphics.

Myth #2: You need to re-memorize things from XP.
No. Most major functions are the same as XP. Only some things, such as Defragger, is changed slightly. Start menu will save you tons of time because you can search for the program by typing in the keyword instead of opening the never-ending cascading windows in XP. I've found Vista to be very adaptable and straightforward, and this is coming from a former XP power user.

If you're afraid to explore new things, then you'll never be able to stay with the current thing. Just like when you get a new cell phone or another electronic, you explore through its menus, functions, etc. That's the same thing on Vista, just on a slightly larger scale. It took me a few hours to get used to it, and it's all good now.

Myth #3: UAC (User Account Control)
Can be disabled in as little as 4 clicks.

Myth #4: Compatibility.
Not exactly something you should be worried about. Unless you still have a Parallel port printer, or a game from 1993, compatibility should not be an issue for you at all. I've only so far had one hardware compatibility issue, Lexmark P6250 printer, and that was solved by downloading an updated Vista driver from Lexmark site. Software-wise, I've had one: Simcity 4. But even my 1998 Tiberian Sun: Firestorm works on this machine. So this problem has been exaggerated to its death by opponents.

Myth #5: Requires a brand-new computer.
No. My brother's friend's ancient Celeron with 256MB RAM is somehow managing to run Vista Home Premium, albeit very slowly. My old machine, which was a Pentium 4 2.8GHz, ran the Vista component superbly - I just needed a new graphics card. If your hardware is less than 3 years old, it is possible to run Windows Vista. Don't be scared away by the requirement of the Aero. It's just effects, and if you're a down-to-earth, no cool tidbits person then you won't even need Aero anyway.

Myth #6: It's a resource hog.
Not quite. Sure, some processes do take a bit out of the RAM, but if you have at least 1.5GB then it will not even be a problem. I have 2GB, never been lower than 40% physical RAM left. 1GB is the recommended amount to run Vista Home Premium; however now that the market is full of machines sporting 2GB of RAM at $500, I don't see why anyone will go for 1GB. Even if you still have 1GB, another 1GB RAM stick is about $70 CDN. It isn't that expensive.

On a side note, the process that always hogs the most resource (RAM, CPU) on my laptop is Runescape.exe. Most of the time it uses 150MB of available RAM. On the contrary, the most RAM a Vista process has taken on my machine is dwm.exe at 80MB.

I have never actually used Vista myself, but I have heard from others that you need a machine with a bit of RAM. To put it in their words, "Vista is too good for most computers." So no, Vista is not bad, it's good. A little too good, as it takes more than what most computers have got in it to give.

It runs fine with 1GB of RAM. 2GB is better, but 1GB is fine. So it doesn't really take more than what most computer have got - unless it is a old computer.

A system process eating up 80MB of RAM is HUGE compared to XP. The biggest system process on my XP rig is 11K at most.

For anyone who doesn't know - dwm.exe is Vista's Desktop Window Manager, making "it's a resource hog" hardly a myth.

Codex_ ! i haven't seen you around in ages.

Pushing the system requirements up for Vista would mean the resources consumed would be higher anyway. The one thing that I'm not impressed with is that i don't see much notable difference.

My machine is running Vista ATM, and has been since... August '07. I havn't encountered a single problem or bug.

A large chunk of people who say that Vista sucks A. Just can't afford it or B. Are bandwagon people.

80MB? Mine is at 268KB.

If your going to run Aero, then of course you expect it to use up more memory. Don't like it? Disable Aero.

They say you need 1GB to run Aero, so is 80MB really too much to ask for? 2GB is becoming the norm for RAM in PC's. Vista is a current operating system, which uses resources available in current computers. If your trying to run Vista on something which isn't current, what do you expect?

Vista is not a resource hog, it just expects you to have an up to date computer.

I just got Vista on my brand new Compaq yesterday so i'm not an expert but so far the only problem ive had was installing the wireless software, i solved it by using my dads XP to make a copy of the diskand the creating a zip and installing it that way, but it being a laptop it should be wireless as standard so you sholdnt have to worry about that, unless your using a wired internet connection which i know nothing about.

I totally agree, Vista is a hogger for sure. UAC can sometimes be annoying, but it can be good sometimes. I think if your getting a laptop; Vista might boot up slowly... It definatly has a cool interface. Oh yea compatiblility issues... <--- Old software only.