I have Xp running on my laptop but I've used one running Vista which I liked. "Can You instal Vista over Xp or is it a complete format ". Which is best/problem free. Would you do it??? Thanks [ Anyone have a spare Vista Disk ]

In my opinion you should stick with XP. I've just bought a new Dell Laptop with Vista on and I didn't even let it boot up, XP disk straight in and rebuild to XP.

You can upgrade from XP to vista although upgrades can sometimes bring more issues than performing a clean install. Have you checked that all of your hardware/software is vista compatible?

In my opinion you should stick with XP. I've just bought a new Dell Laptop with Vista on and I didn't even let it boot up, XP disk straight in and rebuild to XP.

You can upgrade from XP to vista although upgrades can sometimes bring more issues than performing a clean install. Have you checked that all of your hardware/software is vista compatible?

eeeeerrrrrrrrr....................NO. Bit green when it comes to technical stuff. If it works it works if it don't then it don't so to speak.??

i dont know if this applies to you, but vw/skoda parts system ETKA doesn't run on vista on my machine, but it runs ok in XP

XP.

Vista is just terrible.

Have the best of both worlds and dual boot?

I have a desktop system running XP Pro and my laptop runs Vista.

Haven't really had any complicated issues with Vista as it does what I need which is just surfing, typing and the media centre bit (with Home Prem) is really good.

The desktop i use for games

Actually I'd have to say Vista business 32bit now it's passed SP1 and I use XP and Vista.

Sure Vista requires a more powerful machine, but there are some nice touches.

Just make sure all the drivers you use are up to date and not some out of date ones. Out of date and poorly written 3rd party drivers caused most of the crashes we saw on our vista machine but it's now doing well

Problem is, more of the big name 3d party vendors (Yes, I mean you Netgear....to name but one) say their kit is Vista compatible, and provide Vista drivers....which then patently never work......

I'[d stick with XP. If you like fancy graphics in an operating system, buy a mac. If you want something that will run any software or peripheral you choose to throw at it from the last six years, and any new stuff, stick with XP.

A certain University has had Vista since RC1 and despite extensive testing and configuring, have made a policy decision to postpone rollout "indefinitely" and do not even suggest it to anyone who comes asking for advice......

I just bought a HP tablet laptop (tx2130) that had Vista Premium on it.

I have to say, against all the negative comments, I loved it. Looked so much better than XP etc and had a few usefull features.

Alas, I had to sell the laptop as now needed to buy a laptop for work (with serial port) and sold the HP. The Toughbook I now have has XP Pro and I feel somewhat deflated.

Although I am used to XP, Vista seemed so much better, if only visually.

Steve

Running Vista Ultimate here on a Dell XPS 420 and it's excellent.

Dave.

I've used both Vista 32 and 64-bit versions and they've been fine for me (both have SP1 installed and all the current updates).

Being honest though, unless your laptop is less than 12-months old, has 2Gb RAM and a decent sized hard drive I'd recommend you stick with XP.

I only run vista because the laptop came with it in ultimate flavour.

I wouldnt run any other flavour myself.

XP............ Unless Vista comes with a lifetime subscription of free porn, do not bother IMHO.

xp, ive had nothing but problems with my vista and still cant get a fix that cures the deleting problem even through microsoft have sent me dozens of different fixes known have worked.

If your laptop came with XP then I'd say leave it running XP or dual boot.

Unless its fairly modern chances are they may not be Vista drivers.

Saying that my mate ran Vista on his Laptop with 512MB rAM and it recognised all the devices.....

I can get a Vista Business licence key (fully legit nothing dodgy) as our works PCs run XP but have Vista licence keys emblazoned on the side.

I have Vista Home Prem but if it didn't come with my laptop I wouldn't have upgraded to it.

I just had a machine upgrade at work and took a punt on installing Windows Vista as opposed to XP. I am in fact pleasantly surprised, despite having been a keen XP advocate who campaigned to "Keep XP alive" on that online petition that was hanging around.

The interface is much more usable than XP, and it's a pleasure to work with for eight hours a day. Coming back home and working with the XP interface can be a bit dull!

As yet I've suffered only one compatibility problem with Logitech keyboards. Fixed with a software update!

i dont know if this applies to you, but vw/skoda parts system ETKA doesn't run on vista on my machine, but it runs ok in XP

Its running fine on my Vista install. The only place I use XP now is at work on my office computer. My desktop machine at home and 2 laptops are now running Vista, after using it for a short while you soon get used to it.

The Anti vista campaign, is a bit like the when XP came out. At that time when we were using Windows 95/98 and ME the sentiments towards XP were just the same as they are now towards Vista. People just dont like to see changes.

There are alternatives to either XP or Vista...

XP............ Unless Vista comes with a lifetime subscription of free porn, do not bother IMHO.

You mean a connection to the internet?

I have / am using both the 32 and 64 bit versions of Vista and don't get any problems, my hardware is up to scratch and when I go back to XP the operating system "feels" old. I don't have any performance issues either as most of the Vista drivers have now matured.

I only use XP via bootcamp on my MacBook for Vag-Com and I never thought I would say this, but for a work / general purpose machine, my MacBook is much nicer and easier to use than my previous windows laptops

Right, I am off for a sit down, I feel a bit dizzy after that last statement

There are alternatives to either XP or Vista...

A good point, however seeing as the thread title explicitly mentions XP and Vista it's therefore completely irrelevant...

There are alternatives to either XP or Vista...

Do you mean Window's based or Mac??..What are the alternatives please ??

I think he's going to say Mac, Linux etc etc.

For windows stick to XP or Vista IMHO.

I was, indeed, going to say Linux if pressed for clarification...

I know the title of the thread was specific, but sometimes it is helpful to think outside of the box as it were.

Download a Live CD image & burn it to a CD. Boot it up & see what you think! Or, try the WUBI installer thing if you've got a bit of free disk space. There was a recent thread discussing the merits of various Linux distributions. Ubuntu is popular & there must be some reason for that, but personally I'd go for Mepis or openSUSE. SuSe is the first Linux I tried & Mepis is the one I have been using for the last few years.

Hope that helps rather than adds confusion...

ME was just ****e

I used to dual boot 98 and XP then ditched 98 when I completed GTA3 (for some reason had a few glitches with XP on some games)

I'm tempted dual booting vista and XP now just to see how my desktop runs on it but otherwise there is no real incentive for me to upgrade yet as I dont have DX10 graphics hardware either.