So... XP now or Vista later?

[ravenvii]

I haven't seen this question pop up yet. So I am pondering whether I should get Windows XP Professional now, or should I wait for Windows Vista to come out? I plan to run it on Boot Camp, and I am aware that Apple hasn't added Vista compatibility to Boot Camp yet, but they should soon... right?

And for the love of god, can anyone put in clear terms the differences between the bazillions versions of Vista? Which one should I get?

 

[balamw]

I think it all depends on what you plan to do with Windows....

XP Home OEM is a great deal right now and it is unlikely that even Vista Home Basic will be available for $90.

Here's my basic take on the Vista versions.

Home Basic = XP Home. Nothing really new, no Aero.
Home Premium = ~MCE. XP Home + Aero + some more media stuff
Business = XP Pro. Still has Aero. Less media junk, domain integration, finer permissions.
Ultimate = MCE +. Combines the benefits of all the otherh

B

 

[wako]

I haven't seen this question pop up yet. So I am pondering whether I should get Windows XP Professional now, or should I wait for Windows Vista to come out? I plan to run it on Boot Camp, and I am aware that Apple hasn't added Vista compatibility to Boot Camp yet, but they should soon... right?

And for the love of god, can anyone put in clear terms the differences between the bazillions versions of Vista? Which one should I get?

Do you need XP Professional? Do you know the diferences there are between Professional and Home? If not, you are wasting money and you are definitely better off just getting XP Home.


To be honest, I would go with XP Home until Vista SP1 comes out. Vista is still buggy and will be a lot more stable when the service pack rolls through.

 

[ravenvii]

I think it all depends on what you plan to do with Windows....

XP Home OEM is a great deal right now and it is unlikely that even Vista Home Basic will be available for $90.

Here's my basic take on the Vista versions.

Home Basic = XP Home. Nothing really new, no Aero.
Home Premium = ~MCE. XP Home + Aero + some more media stuff
Business = XP Pro. Still has Aero. Less media junk, domain integration, finer permissions.
Ultimate = MCE +. Combines the benefits of all the otherh

B

Thanks, that clears things up... For curiousity's sake, I heard there's six versions of Vista though, what are the other two?

Do you need XP Professional? Do you know the diferences there are between Professional and Home? If not, you are wasting money and you are definitely better off just getting XP Home.


To be honest, I would go with XP Home until Vista SP1 comes out. Vista is still buggy and will be a lot more stable when the service pack rolls through.

Well, Home doesn't support multiple processors. That's sort of a biggie, don't you think?

But you talk sense about getting XP now and getting Vista after SP1. I think I'm gonna do just that.

I'll get Professional, unless anyone tells me differently regarding the multiprocessor issue (I have a Core Duo MacBook).

 

[apfhex]

Thanks, that clears things up... For curiousity's sake, I heard there's six versions of Vista though, what are the other two?.

Wasn't there actually 7 versions? IMHO the only one "worth" getting is Ultimate, but the $400 price tag is ridiculous no matter what anyone says. Home Premium is probably what all the legitimate buyers will get.

I agree, get XP SP2 Pro. There are simply things missing from Home. Wait a while for Vista, because not only will the first release be buggy, but there will be crappy driver and application support (just like there was when XP was released). At the minimum I'd wait until Apple releases a Vista compatible Boot Camp.

 

[twanto]

I think it all depends on what you plan to do with Windows....

XP Home OEM is a great deal right now and it is unlikely that even Vista Home Basic will be available for $90.

Here's my basic take on the Vista versions.

Home Basic = XP Home. Nothing really new, no Aero.
Home Premium = ~MCE. XP Home + Aero + some more media stuff
Business = XP Pro. Still has Aero. Less media junk, domain integration, finer permissions.
Ultimate = MCE +. Combines the benefits of all the otherh

B

Sounds like you are reducing Vistia in general to the new fancy Aero nonsense, which is what most people on this forum seem to do. It's a new OS for chrissake- there is plenty new over XP Home (just not fancy visual stuff.) The Ultimate is the only version with all the features of the others. If you really want to know the difference between all the versions, a simple google search will give you plenty of articles which spell out the difference. I like the one from extremetech.com personally.

 

[balamw]

I'll get Professional, unless anyone tells me differently regarding the multiprocessor issue (I have a Core Duo MacBook).

Home supports multicore processors, it just doesn't support multiple multi-core processors. (i.e. the Mac Pro).

1 CPU with no matter how many cores will work. I'm running XP Home on my CD iMac and it sees both cores.

EDIT Here's a link to the ExtremeTech article mentioned above. http://www.extremetech.com/print_article2/0,1217,a=195652,00.asp

(See in the comparison table that Home Basic, like XP Home, supports as many cores as you can have in one processor.)

I would still argue that there is very little difference between Vista Home Basic and XPSP2 (+ IE7 + WMP 11) for the vast majority of users.

B

 

[emptyCup]

I think it all depends on what you plan to do with Windows....

The discussion is veering into the technical but this is still the most important question.

 

[balamw]

The discussion is veering into the technical but this is still the most important question.

Which is why I tried to keep it simple. Most home users will not need the features of Pro over Home.

FWIW the four versions of Vista I mentioned are the only ones that will be available through retail channels. The others are (even more) specialized. Like Windows Vista Starter (an even more stripped version for places where piracy abounds) and Windows Vista Enterprise which is only available to volume license customers.

That makes six editions, but there's also the OEM/Upgrade versions of many of these versions and the "N" versions for Europe which have WMP11 unbundled.

Also FWIW two significant reasons to upgrade to Vista (IE7 and WMP11) have already been made available free for XP users, even though some lesser features are only available in Vista. I really don't think that the Home Basic upgrade will sell all that well, or will merely be a gimmick to get people to buy codes for Premium down the line... Maybe if all you want is DirectX10?

B

 

[Shadow]

That makes six editions, but there's also the OEM/Upgrade versions of many of these versions and the "N" versions for Europe which have WMP11 unbundled.

Theres 16 versions of Vista (I think), including the N and K versions.