I bought a couple of Vista PCs for work to play with. It really is as pants as all those posts above suggest.
Stick with XP!
Vista vs XP
I was running an "evaluation" copy of XP Pro and as such couldn't find a way to load SP2. I was slowly getting p'd off as more and more apps were requiring it. I therefore decided to go legit.
I knew that Vista may be a bit of a punt and a pain as was XP back in the day, but figured that I only wanted to do this once so opted for Vista.
I really, really wish I had just gone for XP home. Other than one or two gimmicky things, Vista does the same job as XP, even looks the same, but just slower & worser (sic).
As Tut mentioned, it doesn't like my TV card. I have managed to get this to work to a degree, but without the FM tuner. Sure I can use t'internet to listen to Radio 1 but that eats up my bandwidth allowance and the quality isn't as good.
The Windows Mail program (new OE) doesn't now allow you to check hotmail.com. Unexplainable. Does MS not own Hotmail now?
There are a couple of other things not working relating to gaming, both hardware & software. I am sure these will be resolved, but I didn't really want to waste hours looking for solutions for a £70 software purchase.
In summary don't do it. As others have suggested, wait a year.
I knew that Vista may be a bit of a punt and a pain as was XP back in the day, but figured that I only wanted to do this once so opted for Vista.
I really, really wish I had just gone for XP home. Other than one or two gimmicky things, Vista does the same job as XP, even looks the same, but just slower & worser (sic).
As Tut mentioned, it doesn't like my TV card. I have managed to get this to work to a degree, but without the FM tuner. Sure I can use t'internet to listen to Radio 1 but that eats up my bandwidth allowance and the quality isn't as good.
The Windows Mail program (new OE) doesn't now allow you to check hotmail.com. Unexplainable. Does MS not own Hotmail now?
There are a couple of other things not working relating to gaming, both hardware & software. I am sure these will be resolved, but I didn't really want to waste hours looking for solutions for a £70 software purchase.
In summary don't do it. As others have suggested, wait a year.
Stewart
Couldn't agree more with all the Mac comments. I converted almost a year ago (although had used Macs in a previous job). Never looked back and have actually converted a few friends/colleagues too. People who knew nothing about Macs and were a bit afraid of it and now they love them.
With the Intel chips now being in them, you can install a Windows XP partition and use that if you really need to. I did that in case I ever needed it, but I've maybe only opened the Windows partition once or twice, and that was just to show people it works! Never actually had to use it.
Plenty of us here can give you Office for the Mac and I've also heard that Neo Office is really good (and free). Been told it's even better than MS Office.
The Macbooks (I've got one) are also a lot cheaper now than Macs used to be. Go for it! You won't regret it!
With the Intel chips now being in them, you can install a Windows XP partition and use that if you really need to. I did that in case I ever needed it, but I've maybe only opened the Windows partition once or twice, and that was just to show people it works! Never actually had to use it.
Plenty of us here can give you Office for the Mac and I've also heard that Neo Office is really good (and free). Been told it's even better than MS Office.
The Macbooks (I've got one) are also a lot cheaper now than Macs used to be. Go for it! You won't regret it!

2009 Mini Cooper, Midnight Black
2008 Elise S, Solar Yellow
2008 Elise S, Solar Yellow