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Picked up new 24" iMac today
- Thread starter viking396
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I've found this thread really interesting, especially the stuff about Vista. I've often thought about running Bootcamp and installing windows, but I'm not really sure which version to use/get.
I must admit I really know very little about Vista. I'm just curious, viking, which version of Vista were you running on the iMac, 32 or 64 bit? Which one would you recommend? I have a Macbook Pro 2.2 with 4Mb RAM.
I apologize for the lengthy response but can't just answer with a simple sentence. People hate Vista, plain and simple but I have yet to see anybody show me something really wrong with it. Saying Apple hates it, or see the Apple TV ads, or web sites whos agenda is obviously anti Microsoft or the kiddies that mirror what they hear instead of trying it for themselves does not a bad OS make. Almost to a tee people who tell me they hate Vista have never used it or even had problems with it, they just want to be part of the "in hate Microsoft crowd", still not a good reason. I never had an opinion on Leopard till I used it and even now will reserve overall judgement until I have more time under my belt with it.
Trying to install old programs not listed as Vista compatible (even then I have gotten most to work properly) is asking for trouble and isn't Microsoft's fault. Users stated they wanted old code removed so the OS could become more modern and thats what they got, when they got it they were upset including many reviewers who themselves wanted it to be modernized, they're like kids for petes sakes, give me this or that and then when they get it, complain about it.
99% of any issue I have seen was because of the person not the OS. Install Vista on an old machine with 32megs of video, 256 megs of memory and a 4200rpm big foot drive and you get what you deserve. Even more modern computers sold with Vista were under-built for it and yeah Microsoft could have done with a better base config to handle lowered powered machines but then hardware companies knew what they were in for so really both are at fault just as any user who doesn't research before they buy (anybody remember Packard Bell?) gets the lousy computer they deserve.
XP had lots of haters at first and in fact Leopard got off to a not so stellar start as well. I think people on both sides of the OS fence can state miles of issues they have had and I could file a nice post of what I have found and dislike about Leopard but being somewhat new to Leopard I need to insure it's not me causing the issues, it would be nice if people on the Apple side did the same thing. Service Pack 1 has taken care of many of the issues that people talked about and I have to agree the little things have been cleaned up.
I have about 50 (give or take) machines running Vista Ultimate/Business in either 32bit or 64bit form and we never have the issues people complain about on YouTube or Apple fan sites. Many people have an agenda and Apple obviously has one as anybody with a brain can tell watching the ads making it seem as if Apple hardware was made by aliens and regular PC's are made by lowly earthlings, a Mac is nothing more than an Intel x86 platform running a different BIOS. My Mac Pro has proven itself to be less reliable in Leopard than in Vista, since I don't spend as much time in Leopard as Vista this doesn't make a great impression with me yet (I'm working on it), Front Row on this machine is useless, hopefully Apple will have a fix soon, I digress this is about Vista.
My experience with Vista is it needs memory, lots of it to run the way Microsoft describes it should run. The minimum laptop config I order has at least 3gigs of memory and a dedicated video option, not Intel integrated crap. 1gig is a joke as a minimum, 2gig should have been the minimum and 3gig the recommended which of course Microsoft couldn't do. Vista64 is a fantastic OS when running 12gigs of memory but then not everybody can or will run the 64bit version or buy that much memory.
Also MS shouldn't have released so many versions, just plain stupid. In my view if you're never going to join a domain then all you need is Home Premium and if you have available to you or the budget for more than 3gigs of memory then I would opt for Home Premium 64 and make use of the memory. They should have made one OS or at most two, Business and Ultimate 32 or 64.
On my iMac I installed Vista64 Ultimate because I had 4gigs of memory and wanted all of it usable. It ran fine however Slingbox liked to make the dock stick for long periods so you had to wait with your cursor over the dock or turn off hiding completely, but then the icons would take forever to react, could be an issue with Slingmedia however, will try it on the Mac Pro tonight.
For home use on a machine with 2gigs of memory Vista Home Premium is fine, if you go 4gigs then Home Premium 64bit should be fine.
This of course is all just my opinion and the opinion of many of the people I work with in this field and I wouldn't lie about it, I have no reason too. I use it everyday and have no dislike of Apple (or I wouldn't have bought the Mac Pro), just their attitude.
Your MBP will run it no problem, don't expect much from the video but performance in typical apps should be fine. If you go 32bit then you'll only have access to a tad over 3gigs.