My Vista review and pics

[Spyder007]

Okay, first, the pics.

 

The test system.

 

 

 

2.26 Ghz Pentium M (3.4 Ghz in desktop, about)

 

2GB Ram

 

6800 GO Ultra

 

 

One of my favorite things about Vista is the new WMP 11. A ton different than the other versions, it no longer list the songs and bands in a long, loonngg, list, but rather, split it by Artist, than Album, than list the songs as seen in this pic. Now the bad thing with this, is if you ripped the CD yourself and made any changes to the album, its going to split it up, and make things real messy. Overall, I like the style of it way more, and look forward to this.

 

 

This is interesting for me to try out. I have a notebook, and the new notebook controls are great. They also make it easy to change resolution, and generally there are improvements here.

 

 

 

Internet Explorer 7. A neat little piece of software, shows no resemblance to the last build what-so-ever. It's confusing for me, and with no refresh button (Well there is one, next to the address bar, try spotting it, let alone easily clicking it. All this needs is a refresh key. Comeon now!

 

 

This is interesting. Windows now rates your computer 1-5 on how good it is, than suggest programs for it, though in this build, it wasn't ready yet. I expect this to come along, and really be more of a showoff piece, and maybe, you will see instead of System Requirements, the System Number needed to run your newest PC game.

 

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Windows Vista. It is Microsoft's latest attempt at World Domination. The first thing you will notice is the difference in the design of the taskbar, and of the icons. You'll also notice a new button in the quick launch, which is two windows on top of one another sideways. You'll click it, but nothing will happen, yet.

 

 

 

As you boot up Internet Explorer, even if it is just to download Firefox, you will notice more changes. IE has also received a face lift. Beauty is only skin deep though, as the arrangement of the icons make it hard to control, and kind of hard to get a grasp on straight away. However, after you have learned your way around it, you'll start to like it.

 

 

 

Now as for the main structure of Vista, it's no more C:/Documents and Settings/, its just C:/Users/. However, this is slightly confusing. You do not have a My Documents folder, nor a My Music inside of that, or even a My Pictures, yes, those are separate folders. Why you ask, anyone's guess. Speaking of music, you now have WMP 11. A new stylish approach at handing you music and videos. Gone are the days of scrolling though song after song after song, instead, it's by artist, than by their album, and WMP 11 looks STUNNING too.

 

 

 

As for gaming. This is a beta, and I hope they fix it. It is horrible. I just finished up Half Life 2, and I was able to run it maxed with no stutter at all at a good rate of 60 FPS. Installing and playing it on Vista, I hardly managed 20. Nuff said.

 

 

 

Now for Windows little surprises, and your going to love these. The new alt-tab rocks. Instead of an icon, and having to think is this the window I want open, you now have a real time thumbnail. I could not take a screenshot of this.

 

 

 

Now this isn't the only thing that does this. Point your mouse over the taskbar icons, and you also get a pop-up of an icon. It's great, and helps a ton. Remember that little Window on top of Window sideways button I told you about? Have a few windows open and need to see everything? Click it. You now have a 3D desktop. All your windows are now on top of each other, like a filing system. Great! Another thing, you now have thumbnails on the desktop for pictures, GREAT!

 

 

 

The absolute worst thing about Vista. Windows Defender. Trying to move a file? It takes 8-10 clicks, after granting permission, and confirming you want to move it. It is one reason to stay with Xp. This little piece of software can tell your admin account that you don't have the right to move a MP3 or Word Document. FIX IT OR I'M NOT BUYING IT!

 

 

 

In review, Windows Vista rocks, it really does, with a brand new sparking interface, and some great features, but overall, Windows Defender makes it horrible, along with it being in Beta mode, which makes it unstable. I'll keep it updated right here.

[daybreak]

Thanks for the report! Personally, Vista seems to me to be the beginning of the end of a computing experience that I'm used to. The preliminary reports about Vista are sketchy at best, meaning that it doesn't appear to have any particularly new features, certainly nothing that OSX doesn't have already, or that aren't available in Windows XP via third party software. The system requirements may be a bit daunting to people. The eye candy is nice, but let's be realistic, completely unimportant in the grand scheme of things. What I truly cannot get past is the DRM issue, and especially the HDCP issue >_<

 

Here's hoping that Linux decides to become a viable alternative to Windows

[{GD}Independent]

Thanks 007. FYI, the <F5> button on your keyboard will refresh your browser faster than you can move your mouse to the refresh button!

[Eliteone]

Thanks for the report! Personally, Vista seems to me to be the beginning of the end of a computing experience that I'm used to. The preliminary reports about Vista are sketchy at best, meaning that it doesn't appear to have any particularly new features, certainly nothing that OSX doesn't have already, or that aren't available in Windows XP via third party software. The system requirements may be a bit daunting to people. The eye candy is nice, but let's be realistic, completely unimportant in the grand scheme of things. What I truly cannot get past is the DRM issue, and especially the HDCP issue >_<

 

Here's hoping that Linux decides to become a viable alternative to Windows

 

 

Most of the computing public though goes GA GA over eye cany on PCs seems Microsoft banks on that.

[{GD}Independent]

Most of the computing public though goes GA GA over eye cany on PCs seems Microsoft banks on that.

 

I don't think it's even that, E1. I think most of the computing public is so brain dead about viruses, spyware, bloated manufacturer software installs, not doing "custom" installs for the software they buy, etc. etc. etc. that they believe their computers only have a 2 or 3 year life cycle. Rather than seek help when their computer becomes dead slow, they just go buy an new one. After all, they're pretty darn cheap these days. Why would someone spend $100 to fix their 3 year old machine when they can get a new Dell (albeit a stripped down one) for $400? Anyway, my point is, I think most operating system sales come with new machines. The vast majority of existing machines out there won't be able to run the eye candy on Vista anyway, right?

[Eliteone]

Independent' date='Feb 19 2006, 05:37 AM' post='33006']

I don't think it's even that, E1. I think most of the computing public is so brain dead about viruses, spyware, bloated manufacturer software installs, not doing "custom" installs for the software they buy, etc. etc. etc. that they believe their computers only have a 2 or 3 year life cycle. Rather than seek help when their computer becomes dead slow, they just go buy an new one. After all, they're pretty darn cheap these days. Why would someone spend $100 to fix their 3 year old machine when they can get a new Dell (albeit a stripped down one) for $400? Anyway, my point is, I think most operating system sales come with new machines. The vast majority of existing machines out there won't be able to run the eye candy on Vista anyway, right?

 

 

Good points

[Slngsht]

Sorry to bring up an old topic here, but I felt this may be important to mention. I have tried vista RC1 on my machine and I am impressed with some features, but unimpressed with others.

 

Pros: parents, you now have complete control over what your kids do while on the computer. Parental controls included with vista are top notch and completely customizeable. It uses a rating system that websites voluntarily do themselves. However, most websites don't do this and, therefore, don't register with the parental controls. One day, it may be a standard thing, but I kinda doubt it will be widespread, and it will be years before it will be if it ever does.

 

DirectX 10. Unsure about this one sofar, due to the fact that there aren't any video cards out there that support it yet and no games built on it. The Geforce 8800 will be released this week, which is directx 10.

 

Cons:

It's bloated. It's slow, even on a smokingly good computer. New statements from M$ recommend 2gb of ram for it to run well. Don't pay attention to the specs that they say are decent! Remember that F.E.A.R. was built to run on Geforce4Ti cards and a 1.7ghz pentium4! I tried this and it ran, but it was unplayable!!! Same goes for the specs for Vista! They woefully underestimate what it will run on!!

 

Games: they run 15% slower on vista than they do on XP. Even M$ states this.

 

Upgrading your computer? Forget about it. Your very pricey copy of Vista will not transfer to new hardware. This is a big problem IMO.

 

I'll be running XP until it is no longer supported, or until they address the problems I mention here.

[blue]

im running rc2 on my laptop (and before on my PC)

 

concerning the ram. both of my machines have 1 gig, and rc1 and rc2 both ran fine for me. although another gig would've made things much nicer. 1 gig is adequate

 

nolf2 ran fine for me on vista, but FEAR wouldnt even install on either rc1 or rc2 for me (7600 gt and ati 1100 express)

 

i've been reading up on the EULA stuff for vista, and with such hardware enthusiasts in such an uproar, M$ change the EULA agreement where you can uninstall and reinstall on another machine, or upgrade certain pieces of hardware, although the original EULA was pretty crappy and only limited your $400 copy to one machine and one machine only.

 

my university should be getting vista a month or two after January. im hoping the price will be somewhere below $100. (we currently get xp pro 32bit and 64bit for $20 total )

 

with the RTM build im sure many of the driver incompatibilities will be resolved.

 

i really dont use vista at all for work. office 2007 is too difficult to use changing inbetween the different formats. although it is pretty snazzy

 

anyhoo, i like vista, though. the eye candy is

 

all in all vista is nice but not necessary. i'll most likely be keeping my dual-boot until....well, for a while

[Vegabondsx]

Windows Vista's compatability problems will not go away. They are a side effect of the need to make the operating system more "secure". Vista's interface will also use as much of your video card to render the interface as it can. Both will cause programs and games to run slower, and also keep in mind like every pervious version of windows it contains many files to keep compatibility. These are all "features" and will not be "fixed". Most of the other features including the widgets are clones of features in MacOS X.

 

Being a Mac user I'm glad I will no longer have to worry about the troubled world of Windows.