Windows Vista is Even the Ultimate Version Really the Ultimate Os?: Exclusive Product Review

So Vista has been released, or unleashed on the world. However you want to look at it. It has several different options. Microsoft

has made 5 editions of its new operating system. They are trying to fit into every person’s needs. There are Ultimate, Home Premium, Home Basic, Business, and Enterprise available for your purchase in both 32 and 64bit versions.

What’s the difference? Well they are all the same basic thing with each having different added features depending on your application. Ultimate has every possible option while the rest have stripped out the options Microsoft thinks you will not need for your purpose. Over at Extremetech.com they wrote a good article “Which edition is right for you?“, be sure and check that out if you want to know which edition you should purchase.

So you know what edition would fill your needs? Now do you use 32bit or 64bit? The answer is, that depends. It depends on if your system has a 64bit capable processor. If not then surely you will want to go with 32bit. However, if you have a 64bit processor you have some choices.

The primary benefits of going with a 64bit edition is that 64bit applications will be taken advantage of and if you have or plan on having 4gigs of ram or more. Generally if you install 4gigs of ram into a system with a 32bit operating system you will notice that it only recognizes 3gigs or ram. This is because of limitations of the 32 bit architecture. I will not go into the technical details of it but if you want more than 3gigs of memory you are going to need a 64bit operating system.

The major downfall of 64bit operating systems is driver availability. 64bit operating systems are pretty new at the consumer level and with that many manufactures are just developing drivers to support it. That means that some hardware may not have a 64bit compatible driver available. Mainstream hardware manufactures are just now getting caught up with 64bit drivers, so in time everything will be 64bit capable, and if you buy a new computer with Vista 64bit installed it will have compatible hardware.

Now that we have chosen which edition and version to use I will tell you about Vista.

Vista installs easily, they have adapted a new method for installs to make them easier. However, Vista takes quite a while to install because of its size. With all of the good looks and new features comes added size. The added size for Vista is quite substantial when compared to Windows XP. Vista could be considered bloated. Sure it has all these nice new features and looks pretty good; but its size makes it too bulky to perform as fast as XP has.

Being that XP is faster doesn’t mean it is necessarily better. Many users will never know the difference in speed. Performance junkies and pc enthusiasts will definitely see a difference but after time will probably accept it as it isn’t too great of difference. One complaint I do have about performance is laptop battery life. With Vista being more demanding on hardware I notice a decrease in battery life when compared to XP.

Giving up some speed, you gain a lot of new security features and a great Visual interface. I think Microsoft was trying to copy OSX in security and looks. OSX has always been way more secure than Windows and looks better while doing it. The new security features are good and will help keep your computer safer from malicious intent. I say safer because nothing will ever be totally secure. Given time anything can be exploited. So the new security is definitely a step in the right direction and a good reason to have Vista installed on your PC.

As far as looks go, Microsoft did do some pretty cool stuff with Vista. Aero Glass is a transparent skin to make things not in use opaque. It looks really cool, and is something new to look at so that is something to look forward to when using Vista. However, if you get Vista Home Basic or Enterprise, Aero Glass will not be available.

So now you know what I feel are the Goods and Bad of Vista. I hope it helps even though you will eventually end up with Vista if you want it or not when buying a new Windows based PC. Make sure you know what edition is right for you when buying that next PC to make it the best experience possible. Vista is the future, get accustomed to it now.

Picture thanks to Microsoft.com

Article from www.exclusiveview.net

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