People have been starting to ask me if they should upgrade to Windows Vista.  I’ve been running it on my Gateway M675 laptop for awhile now and have been pretty happy with it overall.  Most of the issues I have encountered so far were caused by a lack of support from software and hardware vendors.  However, over the past few months vendor support has been getting a lot better.  The following article by Ed Bott goes into more details on how the hardware support has been improving:

The Vista driver outlook gets a little brighter by ZDNet’s Ed Bott — I’ve been watching for the past six months as PC hardware makers deliver updated drivers to make their products work with Windows Vista. Lately, the trickle has turned into a steady stream, with some high-volume hardware companies delivering solid 32- and 64-bit updates. But there are still some rough edges to deal with.

If you want to upgrade to Windows Vista the easiest thing to do is to purchase a name brand computer with it preinstalled.  That way you know all the hardware is compatible and has already been tested to work well with it.  In addition, it will probably end up being more cost-effective in the long run since it will cost a couple hundred dollars just to purchase Vista (the price varies depending on what edition you choose).  That isn’t figuring in the cost of any hardware upgrades or labor if you need to have someone help you get it installed.

If you are planning on upgrading to Vista from Windows XP make sure you do a little homework first to make sure your computer meets the recommended system requirements.  You also need to make sure all of your other hardware and software is compatible.  If you are already running Windows XP then a great place to start is by running Microsoft’s free Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor utility.  It will look at everything installed on your computer and let you know what steps you need to take before upgrading.  If you are running a computer that came with anything older than Windows XP you should probably consider purchasing a new computer to get the best bang for your buck.  Here is an excerpt from the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor website:

The Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor will help you to determine if your Windows XP-based PC can run Windows Vista. You can also use the Upgrade Advisor to determine if your Windows Vista-based PC is ready for an upgrade to a more powerful edition of Windows Vista.

This small software tool will scan your computer and create an easy-to-understand report of all known system, device, and program compatibility issues, and recommend ways to resolve them. Upgrade Advisor can also help you to choose the edition of Windows Vista that best fits the way you want to use your computer.

If you have an office with multiple computers networked together you might want to check out the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment.  It will scan all the computers on your network and make a comprehensive report on which ones are compatible with Vista.

It is impossible to give you the best advice for you without knowing your specific situation.  In general, Vista has made some nice improvements over Windows XP and I have been pretty happy with it so far.  Just make sure you do your homework first by checking to see if everything on the computer that you rely on is compatible with Vista.  Now, if only Gateway would release updated drivers for my M675 laptop :p

This entry was posted on Friday, July 6th, 2007 at 5:00 pm and is filed under Microsoft, Device Drivers, Windows Vista, Software, Tips & Tricks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.