Which OS?

[lacereza]

I'm sorry, I know that this is covered in new threads daily, but the recent ones seem to be about gaming and I have no idea what they're on about!

It's a Vista or XP question. I'll be doing lots of word processing, browsing, the usual stuff. My usage will only be interesting or different form the norm in that I'll be using Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice operated software to do a lot of writing (master's thesis, articles, reports and other docs for work) into Word. I hope to find a way to do this with Endnote and have it all working well in a window inside OSX ie so I'm in the Mac environment with my Windows programs running in a window rather than having to look at a Windows desktop -- sorry if this explanation isn't very clear! I'll use VMware Fusion for this.

I'm getting a Macbook Pro when I arrive in the States at the start of August (just in time for the NC tax holiday)

Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[ayeying]

XP especially if your gonna use it in a virtual machine. Unless you have 3-4GB ram, I wouldn't recommend using Vista in a virtual machine. It can get slow at times.

 

[lacereza]

Thanks, I should have mentioned that I'll be upping the RAM to 4GB.

 

[Carrot007]

XP unless you are weird.

I still use XP on my windows machine. I got the Vista Business edition upgrade free (was what you got when you had Xp Pro), installed it, decided I didn't like it and went back to XP.

There really is no reason to use vista yet. Possibly a few DX10 games but since they don't interest me (I use my PS3 for gaming) there is nothing compelling me yet!

 

[Stridder44]

I've had Vista since SP1 and have had no issues whatsoever. I haven't run a virtual machine in Vista though so I can't say about that, but I'd imagine it wouldn't be any different than XP. Another nice thing about Vista, 64-bit (to take advantage of all 4GB of RAM; not 3.5 or some "fix" that shows 4 GBs. And XP-64 is a joke).

 

[Infrared]

I'm sorry, I know that this is covered in new threads daily, but the recent ones seem to be about gaming and I have no idea what they're on about!

It's a Vista or XP question. I'll be doing lots of word processing, browsing, the usual stuff. My usage will only be interesting or different form the norm in that I'll be using Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice operated software to do a lot of writing (master's thesis, articles, reports and other docs for work) into Word. I hope to find a way to do this with Endnote and have it all working well in a window inside OSX ie so I'm in the Mac environment with my Windows programs running in a window rather than having to look at a Windows desktop -- sorry if this explanation isn't very clear! I'll use VMware Fusion for this.

I'm getting a Macbook Pro when I arrive in the States at the start of August (just in time for the NC tax holiday)

Any advice greatly appreciated.

I'd recommend giving Vista a spin. Vista installation disks have
a trial/evaluation mode. That is, you can install without entering
a serial number and try for month or so.

So, you just need to borrow a disk off a friend, say, and you can
see if you like it.

 

[amusiccale]

Since you are upgrading to the 4GB of RAM, it's closer to becoming a question of your personal preference. Xp would have a lower overhead, certainly, but I'd recommend you stick with whichever you prefer. If you could find a way to use each for a day or two, your preference may become clear. Or, when you're shopping around for copies of windows, follow your wallet.

 

[retrofraction]

Vista

If you are running it though VMware or Fusion use xp hands down takes less system resourses because you will need to run two os at the same time. but it you are going to use boot camp read below.

You should get vista If you want media center (note it only comes with home premium and ultimate ) , because boot camp will not work with xp media center.

Vista is going to be supported and will run better than xp in the future though If you have 2gigs of ram or less I would go with xp.

ON vista ultimate you can encript your hard drive so other people can not use it.

Vista's firewall is 100% better than xp ( so if you go with xp get an anti-virus ) but get an anti-virus anyway.

Vista has more driver than xp has

If you want to play the new games go with vista, if you want to play old games use xp.

if you want 64bit get vista, if you want 32 bit vista or xp

If you want to connect to wi-fi networks easly go with vista

I went with vista because I want to play games, and if you get ultimate you don't have to choose between 32bit and 64bit because it comes with both, though make sure to buy the retial edition not oem edition if you want both 32 bit and 64 bit!

 

[Mr. Zarniwoop]

boot camp will not work with xp media center.

Works fine here.

 

[ayeying]

boot camp will not work with xp media center.

Works fine if you have a Media center DVD. Media Center XP comes in 2CDs and during the middle of an install, you can't "remove" the disk for disk 2.

 

[PNW]

XP will do what you want nicely and uses fewer resources than Vista. The fewer resources your virtual machine uses the more are left for OS X.
e.g. XP cruses with 1 GB of RAM so with 4GB on your MBP that will leave 3 for the rest of your OSX apps.

 

[kabunaru]

XP unless you are weird.!

There is no such thing as weird in this world. Everybody is weird in their own way that it's considered normal.
Anyways, I agree with XP. XP would be better.