Are you Ready for Windows Vista?

Hardwarezone.com ^ | Sunday, 15th April, 2007 | Vijay Anand

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Introduction

Microsoft is understandably touting its new Windows Vista operating system with as many superlatives as they can fit in a sentence but the response from consumers seems to be rather muted so far. Half a billion in marketing dollars can certainly make a flashy entrance but for all the publicity generated in the weeks leading to its 30th January release date, there hasn't exactly been the kind of maniacal rush that we had witnessed when tech gadgets like the new Sony PlayStation 3 were initially released.

There wasn't even a decent queue of any sort when CompUSA organized a midnight launch in the US , a somewhat disappointing turnout compared to the success of previous versions of Windows. Similarly in Singapore, there was no hint of a queue when we turned up for the official launch

, in stark contrast with the Windows XP launch here in 2001, which saw shoppers queuing for up to six hours to get their hands on it. It seems that despite the massive publicity promoting Vista's new features, the public is not biting yet.

************************SNIP************************

So how would your ageing systems perform when upgraded to Windows Vista? Would you be better off continuing with an existing operating system like Windows XP? To answer these questions and more, we have configured three systems that span the performance spectrum from an Athlon XP to the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processor. But before we see how they fare running Windows Vista, let's first review the 'minimum' system requirements listed by Microsoft.

[Silly]

Buy a Mac.

[angcat]

I just bought this laptop.

[Silly]

Can I ask you, really, after so many reports from so many people about Windows computers, why you would buy one?

[angcat]

Who knows, my husband bought it for me as a gift.