Are you planning to upgrade to Microsoft Vista?

[Bilar Crais]

Originally Posted by cncb

Well, the OS is not officially released and most drivers are "beta". It's not surprising you had problems. We'll see in a few weeks if everything is really ready...

Actually, I happen to know there are no further plans for Nvidia nor Microsoft to support Nforce2 series hardware.

Well...I should qualify that remark. Nvidia will release no further nforce driver updates for nForce2 chipset motherboards, and MS will offer nothing beyond rudimentary functionality.

[merrypig]

hmm. this caught my eye in todays posts about vista.

"Microsoft also plans a promotion that will let buyers of Vista Ultimate get $50 copies of Home Premium for two other PCs."

Now that.. is actually something I'd find useful and persuasive. If only I hadn't heard all the tales of woe.

[Bilar Crais]

It would be intersting to hear from someone who has modern, high performance gear who has run Vista; i.e., DDR2 w/ two gigs or more, dual core, NVIDIA 7950GT, etc.

[ZetaVu]

I saw the $50 deal and though about posting, I didn't know about the 2 additional computer limit. But then again it only applied if you bought the Ultimate version, $259 upgrade and $399 retail. Most people won't need more than the home premium if they want aero and mce ($159/239) or basic ($99.199)
2 computers
Ultimate - Upgrade 309, new 449
Premium - 318, 478
Basic - 198, 398
3 computers
Ultimate - 359, 499
Basic - 297, 597

So, it's almost a wash with home premium vs ultimate for 2 computers (assuming there are no restrictions) and it is cheaper for basic for 2 or 3 computers (although new, it is cheaper with Ultimate than home basic vs upgrade)

Again, assuming anything in Vista was worth paying this ludicrous amount of money for. Hell, I'd consider upgrading my XP computers if the upgrade were $50, but then not all computers, maybe one, and definitely not now (unless the upgrade was price sensitive). The only reason I'd consider upgrading is for high def possibities that they are going to try to restrict from xp (m$ will do their best to transform everything to directx10, forcing people to buy vista since they won't make it available on xp, can someone say monopoly?)

Ah, m$ rant, must be Friday.

[cncb]

There is another upgrade option that might be easier to stomach. I purchased a few copies of XP MCE with free Vista upgrades from NewEgg. Including shipping/handling for the Vista Home Premium upgrade it ended up costing me $120 each. This doesn't seem that unreasonable to me especially considering you're getting a whole new operating system for the same price of BTV plus BM.

[ZetaVu]

Were those OEM? Because you may have issues when you try to upgrade those.

[cncb]

Originally Posted by ZetaVu

Were those OEM? Because you may have issues when you try to upgrade those.

Yes, MCE only comes as OEM. I assume the Vista upgrades will be retail but I'm not sure.

[ZetaVu]

There was discussion that even though you could install the oem in xp, if you tried to upgrade without also having purchased a new computer, you would not get the automatic upgrade. I believe we covered it in the forums, I'd be interested how you get along come end of the month.

[cncb]

My upgrade order on the dedicated MS website seemed to go through fine and if there are any issues fulfilling the upgrades NewEgg certainly is going to have a serious problem on their hands (they assured everyone that no hardware purchase was even necessary). I guess we'll see in a few weeks...

[Bilar Crais]

It seems I owe Vista a small apology. My Blue Screens of Doom were a result of using a Vista specific SATA driver, but not updating the SATA BIOS to the corresponding build number. I've got 24 hours on Vista with no BSODs; I would have had half a dozen by now under the old bios.

[jnaranjo]

Well now that MS has relaxed the pricing of Vista somewhat (take a look at the academic pricing $70!) I am getting ready to pull the trigger. My main BTV server will still run XP but think I am going to run Vista on my client machine which is really my workhorse anyway.

By the way academic pricing is valid even if your child is attending pre-school!
Nice to know!

[myktek]

fyi, my friend that works at Best Buy told me they will be selling retail copies on Saturday...

[cgtrott]

from another post i saw someone said.....
I have found that BeyondTV works even better in Vista that it does on XP. I have a dual-monitor setup, and while in XP I had to set my TV output to be the primary to get HW Acceleration, this is no longer the case in Vista since the entire desktop is accelerated . That is reason enough for me to upgrade.
I have been using vista for a couple months now, and simply could not go back to XP if you paid me. I know just about eveything could be achieved with add-ons and plug-ins, but I really love the serch cabapility everywhere and the gadgets and the new media player and the improved networking, and Windows Defender, and the large number of embedded anti-virus technologies, and photo management. I have found that it manages resources better than XP, so background tasks like showsqueeze run better.

i like his attitude and if what he says is true, my biggest complaint about btv and directx limitations is resolved.

i have been a computer tech for 10 yrs and i am 43. i dread the day my attitude towards new OS's change and i start to say "the old one was so much better".
i will then know my brain is hardening and i will always miss the old ways, unable to learn new things.
the resources and thought MS put towards this is bigger the any one brain can understand or comprehend.

"dont fix it if it aint broke" is what old people say. that attitude would kill all inovations we experience in the world of computers. (and this upgrade DOES fix some thing)
a younger attitude would be "dont knock it till you try it"

[jnaranjo]

nevermind... I read the post incorrectly....

[hoglander]

I too am 43. I must have this Vista thing, even if I don't need it. I can not help but want it yet I don't know why? I will wait for some time then I will get it then I will be very very happy!!! Then I will complain and want something better and then it will come and at last I will be happy again.