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- Average user rating: 2.5 stars out of 361 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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14 out of 17 people found this review helpful
2.5 stars
"Many pros but just as many cons..."
Pros: More stable, looks beautiful, more features
Cons: requires a great deal of hardware, expensive, lower battery life...
Summary: Well I recently got to try Windows Vista. I'd have to say, this was an OS that Microsoft delayed releasing for years (originally Longhorn, 2004), so naturally, my expectations were high.
The first look of Vista is glorious--I have to admit, Microsoft did a great job in terms of graphics. Aero is awesome-the new alt-tab features, screen previews alone are great to look at. Furthermore, the 3d screen flip is amazing. However, Vista came with more than looks--theres many new features, such as a Search feature (which is STRANGELY similar to Mac OS X's spotlight feature), data encryption (ultimate), gadgets (which is nothing but a rip of Mac's widgets), sidebar, new start menu, added security for protection from viruses, worms, etc. The installation was also really clean and effortless. BUT MOST OF ALL IT IS MORE STABLE-NO SYSTEM CRASHES!!!
Unfortunately, while vista may be more stable, other outside factors cause it to crash. For example, Vista took up over 490MB of my RAM, even with no programs running!! TO get premium performance, especially with Aero, you are going to need at least 2GB of RAM. Furthermore, many applications and games are not compatible with Vista-I tried to load counterstrike on Vista but it failed. Furthermore, it is fairly expensive-Premium, which gives you aero starts at $300 and up.
The worst part has to be the obvious rips from Mac Tiger--it really is pathetic how many aspects of Vista have been taken from Mac and have given a small remix, and then have been called amazing Windows features. Just to name a few: every window in Vista (ex: explorer) has a search feature, which was not present in windows XP. It perfectly resembles Mac's search feature, which was available on Mac years ago. Furthermore, Windows "gadgets" are the saddest thing-it just shows how Microsoft has lost its innovation, and as a result, has to take Steve Job's ideas, such as widgets which were available several years ago on Tiger,and change the name and put it on Vista.
Whats interesting is how Microsoft has put alt of effort into graphics-Mac has been known for looking stunning, and Vista seems to be Microsoft's response. However, their response requires top of the line hardware--with a Mac, the same stunning looks can be achieved on slower hardware.
Moreover, if your a laptop user (such as myself) you will be pleased to know that because of Vista, all laptops with Vista only have half the battery life of XP-so it is not convenient at all for business or heavy users.
ALL IN ALL, IF YOUR BUYING A NEW COMPUTER, AND WANT A MICROSOFT OS, VISTA IS NOT A BAD CHOICE--IT HAS MANY PLEASANT FEATURES. BUT FOR BUSINESS USERS, HARDCORE GAMERS, AND PEOPLE WHO WANT ALL THESE FEATURES AND MORE, GET A MAC OR STICK WITH WINDOWS XP.
- 1 reply to this review
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1) Vista and OSX have similar RAM requirements. When I used OSX, it was recommended to have at least 1 gB RAM. OSX is a slug on anything less.
2) OSX has higher CPU requirements. The extra CPU cycles are the reason OSX has more thermal issues and power management issues than Windows.
3) the "copied" features in Vista aren't copies. Widgets and gadgets are based on features of "Windows Live Desktop," which was unsuccessfully introduced in the 1990s. The desktop search features were under development concurrently for Windows and OSX. Apple got it to market first. It wasn't very useful until the faster Intel Macs were introduced.
Where to buy
Windows Vista Home Premium:
$129.91 - $182.99
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