Vista is, in almost every way possible, technologically and fundamentally superior to XP. However, like anything in this world that gives you choices, I think that Vista should be purchased depending on your needs. However, certain situations make it near impossible to upgrade, whilst others make it imperative.
Here's what I think, in list form for your convenience. Anything with a star is a mandatory reason, meaning if you fulfill this requirement, DO AS IS SAID.
Don't buy Vista if...- ...your computer sucks (Vista uses almost 3 times as much memory and CPU to run compared to XP).*
- ...you don't own the computer you plan to upgrade. Unless the actual owners, for instance, your parents, are perfectly okay with it, or you know what you're doing, do not change the OS.*
- ...you're an idiot and feel like wasting money on Home Basic (which isn't nearly different enough from XP to warrant $200; trust me on this).*
- ...you're perfectly content with XP.
- ...XP never crashes (Haha... yeah right).
Buy Vista if...- ...you're planning on buying a brand new computer.*
- ...you have a GeForce 8 card (if you have one and you haven't bought Vista yet, you're either severely lacking funds or extremely mental. Or both).*
- ...XP crashes a lot, or is riddled with bugs, virii, and spyware.
- ...you have $250 or more and don't know what to do with it.
- ...your current computer is nice and fast (meaning 2+ GB RAM, 40+ GB HDD, and 2.0+ GHz processor).
- ...you've always loved the fluid interface of Mac OS X.
- ...you're a hardcore gamer.
- ...you think Luna looks disgusting (I do).
If you're a Mac user...- Forget it. Most likely you're too much of a close-minded fanboy who thinks Mac is better simply because you use it. However, if you're not that, then don't anyways. Most likely you have good reason to use a Mac over a PC and it would defeat the purpose if you switched to Windows. Besides, it wouldn't be worth the upgrade; Windows runs horribly on Mac.
In almost every scenario, I'd upgrade to Vista. If Home Basic were less than $100 USD, I'd also recommend that to XP users under any circumstance. But alas, it isn't, so therefore, it is a complete ripoff.
But I'm glad to finally see a thread where the majority opinion is in favor of Vista. Most of the other forums have threads like this that eventually boil down into Vista-bashing. But then again, most of the forums I go to are filled with idiots.
This post has been edited by Takeru-kun: Jul 5 2007, 07:10 AM