Metropol

I'm still running XP on my PC. Is there cheap/affordable way of upgrading to Vista?

I'm running XP. Wouldn't change it for anything right now. As long as I look after it, it'll work for a while yet.

P.S. It's a 4-year old £399 laptop too....still does wot I want.

rts wrote:I'm still running XP on my PC. Is there cheap/affordable way of upgrading to Vista?

you're vetter off waiting for 7. seriously. and oem is always the way to go.

Hymagumba wrote:

rts wrote:I'm still running XP on my PC. Is there cheap/affordable way of upgrading to Vista?

you're vetter off waiting for 7. seriously. and oem is always the way to go.

you can get a 1 year beta licence for Windows 7, I am using it on my main pc - have been for a wile now. so much better than Vista or even XP. Not crashed once, only one app crashed compared to all the time using it on vista and XP strangely.

I'm still running XP on my PC. Is there cheap/affordable way of upgrading to Vista?

XP 'maintstream' support has ended in the last few weeks (meaning no more new features or bug fixes - fortunately IE8 got out the door just in time to make it), but 'extended' support (security updates only) for XP SP3 will last until 2014.

It is also still the most popular operating system in current use by some way, so only a particularly mad software vendor would discontinue support for the XP platform at the present time.

At present, there's no real disadvantage to staying with XP if you're happy with it.

As others have said, if you do fancy an upgrade there's not much point updating to Vista now as Windows 7 (or Windows version 6.1 as it seems to be in the about box) is now at release candidate stage and being that it's just an evolutionary product, this is likely to be relatively straightforward and I'd be very surprised if it's not released by the autumn.

'7' also seems to resolve most of the issues which have kept people from upgrading to Vista, and according to recent feedback from the latest beta versions will have much better backwards compatibility too, giving you both a decent new platform to move to (which also has the benefits of being mature at launch, just like XP did when it replaced 2000) whilst still being able to run older programs well.

And how much of a premium will we be paying for this product in comparison to those in the USA? Lots I expect.

I've never felt windows to deserve the price it demands, even at OEM prices. One thing Apple do right is their OS pricing for home users: One edition: £85 (65 for students) and something like £120 for a 5-license family pack. Microsoft would do well to learn from it. Alas, they'll maintain the same tskworthy cheap-for-business and lots-for-normal people approach.

I was a bit bored today. So I've done a clean install of Windows 7 on one of my machines, and I must admit it was reasonably straightforward. Installed all the drivers with little in the way of difficulty, though it's unhappy with my old scanner. I want a new one that'll do negatives anyway, so not too bothered about that, and I'm sure there'd be a generic driver for the old one if I poke around.

I've turned off most of the visual effects, as my graphics card is old and in need of replacement. That was also on the to-do list. So far so good.

It doesn't take long to do a clean install, especially since I was using a VM. I'm not sure if I will actually buy it though, XP will do me for now.

Hmmmm. Not so good.

It is freezing quite a lot. And when it does, it's a pull the power job, nothing will bring it back.

Turned off all the aero effects as I know the graphics card is crap but still doing it randomly.

Ideas welcome.