Falling into the Vista Trap

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Falling into the Vista Trap
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jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28111
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 08 9:42 am Post subject:

Sorry but that does not work, they don't really sell it as something that will run on a strictly limited set of hardware, it is sold as an upgrade you can use assuming you have a certain degree of machine power, and in fact they have been exposed as bodging even this, as some machines labeled Vista compatible do not have the power.

Meanwhile the poor mug who "upgrades" or tries to add peripherals to a Vista machine finds a lot of problems.

vegplot

Joined: 19 Apr 2007
Posts: 21301
Location: Bethesda, Gwynedd

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 08 10:19 am Post subject:
Isn't that an issue with the hardware vendors, labeling product which they say is compatible but isn't?

jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28111
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 08 10:23 am Post subject:
For the punter where the blame lies is not much of an issue.

Barefoot Andrew
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Joined: 21 Mar 2007
Posts: 22780
Location: In the 17th century

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 08 10:32 am Post subject:
Wot Jema said. A.

vegplot

Joined: 19 Apr 2007
Posts: 21301
Location: Bethesda, Gwynedd

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 08 10:34 am Post subject:

jema wrote:

For the punter where the blame lies is not much of an issue.

How does installing an free OpenSource OS with compatibility issues fit in with this?

Lorrainelovesplants

Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 6521
Location: Dordogne

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 08 10:37 am Post subject:

As a complete computer numpty, I need to buy 2 new towers to replace this old thing ansd small sons tower which 'fell over'.
We looked in Currys, Comet etc and everything is Vista, which we were told by someone in the trade back in Scotland not to touch with a bargepole.
OH is scanning ebay for towers, but Im concerned as to what we will get.
Ideas folks please how to cheaply replace towers. Mine only has to run office and photoshop (for occassional use), small son only plays games.
Lorraine

bagpuss

Joined: 09 Dec 2004
Posts: 10507
Location: cambridge

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 08 10:40 am Post subject:
it might be worth finding a local independent shop who will talk to you about your budget and what you want and build something probably better for a similar price than you will get off the shelf in the large stores

Barefoot Andrew
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Joined: 21 Mar 2007
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Location: In the 17th century

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 08 10:42 am Post subject:

vegplot wrote:

How does installing an free OpenSource OS with compatibility issues fit in with this?

Can't speak for all flavours of Linux distro, but Ubuntu runs effortlessly on the various specs of machine I've tried it on. I.e. no compatibility issues.

Besides, this is hardly justification for poor performance and quality in an OS product one has paid for.
A.

Lorrainelovesplants

Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 6521
Location: Dordogne

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 08 10:43 am Post subject:
Thanks Bagpuss - will try this.

vegplot

Joined: 19 Apr 2007
Posts: 21301
Location: Bethesda, Gwynedd

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 08 10:47 am Post subject:

Lorrainelovesplants wrote:

Don't believe all you hear about Vista. It has it's faults but we've deployed it on our 7 desktops (some new, some nearly new)without a single issue. You should get a better deal by buying online from retailers such as Dell. I personally wouldn't touch Curries or Comet or PC World.

You could try Linux if you want to keep costs down on an older system but you wouldn't have Photoshop unless you ran Windows emulator.

vegplot

Joined: 19 Apr 2007
Posts: 21301
Location: Bethesda, Gwynedd

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 08 10:53 am Post subject:

Barefoot Andrew wrote:

Can't speak for all flavours of Linux distro, but Ubuntu runs effortlessly on the various specs of machine I've tried it on. I.e. no compatibility issues.

I've tried Ubuntu on two machines and had terrible compatibility problems, both of which prevented the install from completing and left both machines unusable afterwards.

Barefoot Andrew wrote:

Besides, this is hardly justification for poor performance and quality in an OS product one has paid for.
A.

This is a hardware/software mix not a software one alone. My own personal and business experience of Vista has not shown poor performance or quality.

Barefoot Andrew
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Joined: 21 Mar 2007
Posts: 22780
Location: In the 17th century

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 08 11:02 am Post subject:
We'll have to agree to disagree then... my own personal & business experiences of Ubuntu have been seamless. A.

vegplot

Joined: 19 Apr 2007
Posts: 21301
Location: Bethesda, Gwynedd

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 08 11:28 am Post subject:

Barefoot Andrew wrote:

We'll have to agree to disagree then... my own personal & business experiences of Ubuntu have been seamless.
A.

What's your personal experience of Vista?

jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28111
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 08 11:29 am Post subject:

I'm not about to claim any OS is flawless, I am running well on Ubuntu on my main machine currently, but came to grief with all versions of Linux on another machine (that did once work well under Linux) as current graphics drivers are now failing on the card that was in the machine and a new card

It is very annoying, but then Ubuntu costs nothing, whereas Microsoft want silly money if you buy Vista off the shelf.

Barefoot Andrew
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Joined: 21 Mar 2007
Posts: 22780
Location: In the 17th century

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 08 12:08 pm Post subject:

vegplot wrote:

What's your personal experience of Vista?

Limited. Indirect involvement with some Vista/laptop problems led me to advise a colleague against getting Vista for now (this scenario was about 6 months ago). I have seen it running perfectly of course, but on a monster machine...

Agree with Jema - none of them are perfect. Ubunbtu is great, but I'd still think twice about recommending it for a complete non-techie. It's fine in its day-to-day use, but still requires a little but of know-how when installing new stuff.

A.

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