Vista vs XP

offshorematt · Post by **offshorematt** » Wed May 16, 2007 10:14 am

Following a brief fight with my laptop last night (long story but I won), it has finally been retired from service. In the near future therefore, I'm going to need to get a new machine and am not keen on being an unpaid Microsoft bug tester. Is it possible to still buy a laptop with XP on it?

Alternatively are the gripes with Vista ones that will really affect me seeing as I generally use just the web, Office and a bit of Photoshop? Put it this way, I quite liked XP but I think that was another one that was slated was it not?

Be interested to know before I commit, as I have a low patience threshold when it comes to computers

TIA

Matt

tuscan_thunder · Post by **tuscan_thunder** » Wed May 16, 2007 10:15 am

...or buy a Mac and do the job properly....

thinfourth · Post by **thinfourth** » Wed May 16, 2007 10:24 am

tut · Post by **tut** » Wed May 16, 2007 10:29 am

I have been running the Beta Vista versions from the start on a second hard drive, and now have the commercial version installed, but I still boot up into XP.

I bought a new desktop for Verian recently, it had Vista Home Premium installed, and though it works OK, it will not drive the Canon scanner, even though I have updated the drivers, does not work with Quicken, which is essential, and again despite driver upgrades, says no to the TV card, and a couple of other ancillaries.

So sticking to XP for the present.

tut

Post by **pete** » Wed May 16, 2007 10:55 am

I think Dell are still selling XP. They did a recent survey inteh US and teh one thing their cusomters wanted most was XP back...

offshorematt · Post by **offshorematt** » Wed May 16, 2007 11:35 am

tuscan_thunder wrote:...or buy a Mac and do the job properly....

Hadn't actually considered this to be fair. I seem to remember someone teling me that you can open Microsoft Office documents on both systems without having to convert anything. Is that right? Are there any downsides?

Sorry for all the questions -would rather have an idea before the salemen tell me lies.

tuscan_thunder · Post by **tuscan_thunder** » Wed May 16, 2007 11:53 am

I work a Mac and have Word for Mac, Excel for Mac etc etc.

Every file seems to open perfectly. I use Safari for internet use and it's great

Having used Macs in various forms for the last 5years or so, there's no way I'd go to a Windows based system.

It is, in my view, far easier to use, more straightforward, less prone to viruses (but obv not infallable) and less prone to crashing.

If you're not doing a lot of serious stuff a Mac Book would probably more than suffice.

mac · Post by **mac** » Wed May 16, 2007 12:00 pm

Mac's are just great IMHO

tut · Post by **tut** » Wed May 16, 2007 12:02 pm

matt

The M/S Operating System will not affect your Microsoft Office docs.

However if you go onto Office 2007, this now uses a .docx extension, and Office 2003 will not open these unless you install the convertor from the Microsoft site.

tut

jamie · Post by **jamie** » Wed May 16, 2007 12:58 pm

I have two work pcs which I hate. Had a play with Vista and just thought it was a bad copy of a Mac (my non work on is a Mac). Loads of issues with Vista at the mo anyway - the rule is dont go near a new PC sytem until they are at least 1 year old.
Macs are more expensive but are sooo much better built (I have droped mine loads of times and its still fine 2 years later)

timmsky · Post by **timmsky** » Wed May 16, 2007 1:06 pm

Mac Mac Mac Mac ..... Mac Mac Mac Mac ..... Mac Mac Mac Mac ..... Mac Mac Mac Mac ..... Mac Mac Mac Mac ..... Mac Mac Mac Mac ..... Mac Mac Mac Mac ..... Mac Mac Mac Mac ..... Mac Mac Mac Mac ..... Mac Mac Mac Mac ..... Mac Mac Mac Mac ..... Mac Mac Mac Mac ..... Mac Mac Mac Mac ..... Mac Mac Mac Mac ..... Mac Mac Mac Mac ..... Mac Mac Mac Mac ..... Mac Mac Mac Mac .....

Get a Powerbook 17" with the Intel chip and grab a copy of Parallel's - and a copy of XP, and you're in the 22nd Century

Sanjøy · Post by **Sanjøy** » Wed May 16, 2007 1:34 pm

linux & open office

offshorematt · Post by **offshorematt** » Wed May 16, 2007 1:50 pm

tut wrote:matt

The M/S Operating System will not affect your Microsoft Office docs.

However if you go onto Office 2007, this now uses a .docx extension, and Office 2003 will not open these unless you install the convertor from the Microsoft site.

tut

So if I buy a new copy of Office 2007 for a Mac at home, I may find issues opening the files at work... that's the kind of thing that would pi$$ me off I think... Although I could probably install my current copy of Office 2000 on a Mac and prevent any issues?

Something to consider anyway. Either way, everyone is pretty condemning of Vista...XP or Apple it is then. Thanks for the input

timmsky · Post by **timmsky** » Wed May 16, 2007 1:57 pm

Matt,

If you need a copy of M$ Office for Mac, I can help you out.

You're better off using the M$ Office for Mac pack rather than operating M$ Office for Winblows through Parallels or similar on the Mac... it would just be too slow...

I chop and change between a Mac and a PC (XP) and there are no issues. I need to use a PC for some of the proprietary applications we use here, but 90% of my work is done on a Mac...

Once you've tried a Mac, you'll never want to go back to a PC...

RDH · Post by **RDH** » Wed May 16, 2007 1:59 pm

timmsky wrote:
Once you've tried a Mac, you'll never want to go back to a PC...

That's what Mac's always telling us - Mandy - do you want to confirm?