Dude, you're getting an obsolete Dell!
April 17, 2008 8:15 AM Subscribe
Will I regret buying a laptop with Windows XP, instead of Vista?
I need to replace our 2001-era Toshiba with a laptop that can handle ESRI's ArcGIS. Problem is, ArcGIS isn't offered for Vista yet. And, frankly, I don't much like Vista.
Dell still sells XP laptops, and I'm considering buying one.
This would make our lives easier, because my wife will still use the old computer (which runs XP) for work, and to have both on the same operating system, especially where our gaggle of iPods are concerned, would be nice.
Given that we'll probably keep this new laptop for another 8 years or so, will we wish we'd gone with Vista later? We run mostly open source software, like OpenOffice. Future software purchases could include Photoshop - may we assume that that will run with XP, say 2 years from now?
Or, are we doing the equivalent of getting one of those newfangled HD DVD players?
I need to replace our 2001-era Toshiba with a laptop that can handle ESRI's ArcGIS. Problem is, ArcGIS isn't offered for Vista yet. And, frankly, I don't much like Vista.
Dell still sells XP laptops, and I'm considering buying one.
This would make our lives easier, because my wife will still use the old computer (which runs XP) for work, and to have both on the same operating system, especially where our gaggle of iPods are concerned, would be nice.
Given that we'll probably keep this new laptop for another 8 years or so, will we wish we'd gone with Vista later? We run mostly open source software, like OpenOffice. Future software purchases could include Photoshop - may we assume that that will run with XP, say 2 years from now?
Or, are we doing the equivalent of getting one of those newfangled HD DVD players?
As the owner of a Vista laptop (running the SP Beta) and the previous owner of an XP laptop, I'll offer my opinion that you'll not regret having purchased an XP laptop until, say, when Vista SP2 comes out (if at all). At that point, the upgrade will not be terribly expensive.
posted by JMOZ at 8:18 AM on April 17, 2008
posted by JMOZ at 8:18 AM on April 17, 2008
In my view, the only thing you might regret is the support life cycle.
posted by netbros at 8:20 AM on April 17, 2008
posted by netbros at 8:20 AM on April 17, 2008
Lots of people are regretting getting a laptop with Vista, so you're definitely fine. And if you're sticking with open-source stuff, your chances of incompatibilities drop a lot.
Photoshop running on XP in two years is a pretty safe bet. Not quite 100% certain, but I'd be willing to stake my own laptop purchase on it, if that means anything to you.
And worst-case, you can always drop a little more cash and upgrade it to Vista.
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:24 AM on April 17, 2008
Photoshop running on XP in two years is a pretty safe bet. Not quite 100% certain, but I'd be willing to stake my own laptop purchase on it, if that means anything to you.
And worst-case, you can always drop a little more cash and upgrade it to Vista.
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:24 AM on April 17, 2008
Vista is an abomination. If you remember what a trainwreck windows me was you'll be on the right track.
posted by zennoshinjou at 8:24 AM on April 17, 2008
posted by zennoshinjou at 8:24 AM on April 17, 2008
As someone who bought the Vista laptop from Dell, then begged piteously for them to give me a copy of XP instead, and someone who has answered at least two Dell Vista Downgrade questions here, as well as walking three people in my regular life through the process of downgrading- you'll regret NOT buying the XP laptop.
At the very least, understand that your laptop with Vista may or may not open older programs, depending on how it feels, or how the window blows. Sometimes it would open AOL IM, sometimes it wouldn't. Only rebooting would convince it to try. Getting a printer to work from a laptop in Vista is a challenge, to say the least. Most MMOs have not managed to get their game engines Vista-compliant. Device drivers are scarce.
And I note that Windows has already moved onto working on Windows 7, so it doesn't sound like they think Vista is going to be the next big thing they hoped it would be, either.
posted by headspace at 8:27 AM on April 17, 2008
At the very least, understand that your laptop with Vista may or may not open older programs, depending on how it feels, or how the window blows. Sometimes it would open AOL IM, sometimes it wouldn't. Only rebooting would convince it to try. Getting a printer to work from a laptop in Vista is a challenge, to say the least. Most MMOs have not managed to get their game engines Vista-compliant. Device drivers are scarce.
And I note that Windows has already moved onto working on Windows 7, so it doesn't sound like they think Vista is going to be the next big thing they hoped it would be, either.
posted by headspace at 8:27 AM on April 17, 2008
I just dumped Vista and installed xp pro on a brand new Dell Desktop. My neighbor did the same with a brand new HP desktop. Welcome to the club!
posted by snowjoe at 8:27 AM on April 17, 2008
posted by snowjoe at 8:27 AM on April 17, 2008
You don't need Vista, it's poorly supported and while it does have some nice technical features, they are hobbled by the overall ineptitude of their implementation when Vista as a software platform is viewed as a whole.
Go with XP, Vista is not an "upgrade" from the perspective of most users.
posted by iamabot at 8:28 AM on April 17, 2008
Go with XP, Vista is not an "upgrade" from the perspective of most users.
posted by iamabot at 8:28 AM on April 17, 2008
I bought a new Dell laptop in the fall and asked if I could get it with XP. They said no. I wish I would have pressed the issue because I've had some serious problems with Vista on this machine. Within a few months of getting it, I lost everything to a "corrupt files" problem. I never had that happen with XP (I also had a 2001 era Toshiba Satellite). The tech support on this issue with my Dell so far has been a nightmare as well. If I could do it over again, I'd go with XP.
posted by kclassic at 8:29 AM on April 17, 2008
posted by kclassic at 8:29 AM on April 17, 2008
I recently did this and I'm glad I did. I bought a D830 and it's worked out great. We have a couple of Dell Vista machines here in the office and IMHO they suck. Vista just isn't there yet. Another option you should check out is Ubuntu linux on your Dell. My machine is dual booting Windows XP and Ubuntu. I haven't booted into Windows in weeks.
posted by trbrts at 8:35 AM on April 17, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by trbrts at 8:35 AM on April 17, 2008 [1 favorite]
I believe that Dell and Microsoft offer the option to downgrade to XP with a Vista license.
This is something we do with our corporate laptop users. I can't guarantee this works for Vista Home, but it does for Vista Business.
(A PDF from Microsoft about this.)
I would ask Dell if they will let you purchase a Vista license, but also provide you with XP downgrade installation disks. You may have to install XP yourself when you get the machine, but the laptop should also ship with restore disks for Vista if you decide to "upgrade" later.
posted by dosterm at 8:39 AM on April 17, 2008
This is something we do with our corporate laptop users. I can't guarantee this works for Vista Home, but it does for Vista Business.
(A PDF from Microsoft about this.)
I would ask Dell if they will let you purchase a Vista license, but also provide you with XP downgrade installation disks. You may have to install XP yourself when you get the machine, but the laptop should also ship with restore disks for Vista if you decide to "upgrade" later.
posted by dosterm at 8:39 AM on April 17, 2008
I believe in the comparative merits of every operating system, and haven't particularly hated any of the ones I've interacted with, including Vista. That said, if this laptop is for the purpose of ESRI software, I would get XP and worry about upgrading to Vista (or whatever comes afterward) later. Unlike buying HD DVD, you're adopting a widely-used operating system that most people and companies are avoiding moving away from at the moment. Software manufacturers are probably going to stay with developing for the operating systems that have the most users.
If you don't know this already, get as much RAM as you can afford. ArcMap eats RAM like candy, and it's one of the only programs I use where this actually makes a difference.
posted by that girl at 8:43 AM on April 17, 2008
If you don't know this already, get as much RAM as you can afford. ArcMap eats RAM like candy, and it's one of the only programs I use where this actually makes a difference.
posted by that girl at 8:43 AM on April 17, 2008
Forgot to mention - Adobe is set to support Windows XP for CS4, which is likely to be the only release in the next two years.
All signs point to XP as remaining dominant for several years to come. There's little movement in business to upgrade. Corporate users drive Microsoft support cycles, so don't worry about getting left out in the cold. XP is a much more solid and usable OS. I think in your case it makes sense to stay with XP.
posted by dosterm at 8:47 AM on April 17, 2008
All signs point to XP as remaining dominant for several years to come. There's little movement in business to upgrade. Corporate users drive Microsoft support cycles, so don't worry about getting left out in the cold. XP is a much more solid and usable OS. I think in your case it makes sense to stay with XP.
posted by dosterm at 8:47 AM on April 17, 2008
Response by poster: that girl - yeah, the RAM thing was one of the reasons I was worried about this purchase.
My Toshiba was a bottom-shelf cheapo, but I know that to run ESRI, I'd need to get something a little beefier, and consequently more expensive, so I don't want to make a dumb purchase.
You've all offered great advice - I'll go with the XP! Thanks!
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 8:48 AM on April 17, 2008
My Toshiba was a bottom-shelf cheapo, but I know that to run ESRI, I'd need to get something a little beefier, and consequently more expensive, so I don't want to make a dumb purchase.
You've all offered great advice - I'll go with the XP! Thanks!
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 8:48 AM on April 17, 2008
XP Service Pack 3 is scheduled to be released sometime in the first half of 2008, so Microsoft isn't planning on dropping support so quickly.
Until you start seeing "Vista-only" software on the shelves (DirectX 10 doesn't matter since you didn't mention gaming), I think you should be safe, especially if that new software doesn't offer a compelling reason to upgrade.
posted by meowzilla at 9:37 AM on April 17, 2008
Until you start seeing "Vista-only" software on the shelves (DirectX 10 doesn't matter since you didn't mention gaming), I think you should be safe, especially if that new software doesn't offer a compelling reason to upgrade.
posted by meowzilla at 9:37 AM on April 17, 2008
I talked my mom into buying a new but 'obsolete' XP laptop instead of a new one with Vista by saying I wouldn't be able to help her with problems because I don't use/know Vista (I switched to Mac a few years ago, but still have an XP laptop and use XP at work). That convinced her.
posted by DandyRandy at 9:52 AM on April 17, 2008
posted by DandyRandy at 9:52 AM on April 17, 2008
I regret going with vista and will be upgrading to Ubuntu soon.
posted by Slenny at 9:59 AM on April 17, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by Slenny at 9:59 AM on April 17, 2008 [1 favorite]
Vista is a half-baked mess. My new laptop came with XP.
posted by kenchie at 10:38 AM on April 17, 2008
posted by kenchie at 10:38 AM on April 17, 2008
Guess I'll be one of the few votes who actually likes Vista. I prefer my home machine running on Vista over XPPro. I have a lot of random parts from different manufacturers, including RAID and overclocking a lot, and I haven't had any problems whatsoever. Regardless of what MS says, Vista is not best run on pre-2008 supplies and requires decent hardware and lots of RAM. They have a habit of intending an OSs hardware spec a year from when it was released. The same thing happened with XP was released.
That said, I don't see much a problem with sticking with XP. Due to how the kernel's built, almost all software for Windows works with 2000/XP/Vista, and that's not destined to change anytime soon. The only place you might have a problem is with DX10 (MS has no plan to support DX10 under XP) and Device Drivers. I've noticed a trend with current hardware having specific notes that hardware may not work under 2000, and I suspect this may become true of XP some day.
posted by jmd82 at 10:52 AM on April 17, 2008
That said, I don't see much a problem with sticking with XP. Due to how the kernel's built, almost all software for Windows works with 2000/XP/Vista, and that's not destined to change anytime soon. The only place you might have a problem is with DX10 (MS has no plan to support DX10 under XP) and Device Drivers. I've noticed a trend with current hardware having specific notes that hardware may not work under 2000, and I suspect this may become true of XP some day.
posted by jmd82 at 10:52 AM on April 17, 2008
This headline just turned up on Yahoo news:
Windows XP going off market in June.
posted by anastasiav at 11:30 AM on April 17, 2008 [1 favorite]
Windows XP going off market in June.
posted by anastasiav at 11:30 AM on April 17, 2008 [1 favorite]
Windows end-of-life (no support) won't be for a year or more. I honestly and diligently gave Vista a chance, regrettably.
It was 'nice' to see a news article purporting that Vista's UAC was meant to be annoying, because it really, really was. More than any software firewall I've used.
posted by prodevel at 11:39 AM on April 17, 2008
It was 'nice' to see a news article purporting that Vista's UAC was meant to be annoying, because it really, really was. More than any software firewall I've used.
posted by prodevel at 11:39 AM on April 17, 2008
Well, I already regret buying my laptop with Vista instead of XP.
Well 'tiburon' pretty much says it all.
I got a new laptop with 'vista' (XP was not offered) and sold it few weeks later and went back to my old laptop with XP.
posted by WizKid at 11:49 AM on April 17, 2008
Well 'tiburon' pretty much says it all.
I got a new laptop with 'vista' (XP was not offered) and sold it few weeks later and went back to my old laptop with XP.
posted by WizKid at 11:49 AM on April 17, 2008
I just ordered a new system from Dell with XP instead of Vista because Vista is a Teletubbies horror show of user abuse in which I refuse to participate.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:10 PM on April 17, 2008 [2 favorites]
posted by DarlingBri at 12:10 PM on April 17, 2008 [2 favorites]
Excuse my language, but Vista blows. I heart my Dell Inspiron E1405 with XP.
posted by cachondeo45 at 12:56 PM on April 17, 2008
posted by cachondeo45 at 12:56 PM on April 17, 2008
Run far, far away from Vista. Get XP while you still can.
posted by mazienh at 7:47 PM on April 17, 2008
posted by mazienh at 7:47 PM on April 17, 2008
Response by poster: Get XP while you still can.
I just did. Thanks for all of your advice!
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 8:15 AM on April 18, 2008
I just did. Thanks for all of your advice!
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 8:15 AM on April 18, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by tiburon at 8:17 AM on April 17, 2008