I'm getting a new laptop today, Core 2 Duo, 2 GB DDR2. I have MSDN so I have access to Vista. I've only played around with Vista for a couple of hours at most. My questions are:

Should I go ahead and wipe it to put Vista on it?
Is is solid enough for me to be instantly productive, or will I end up dicking around for hours with incompatibilities?
I've heard incompatibilities are worse with x64 version. Should I go with x86 or 864?
How will performance and memory usage compare with XP?
What's a general memory footprint of the base OS and services?

12/19/2006 9:17:06 AM

i have the x64 version and its a pita. i would make sure you can find vista x64 drivers for everything before you do it.

12/19/2006 9:39:52 AM

for a dev machine, especially a laptop, stick to XP.

[Edited on December 19, 2006 at 10:39 AM. Reason : (I tried Vista on my work laptop, went back two days later)]

12/19/2006 10:39:18 AM

I've got a Vista machine in the corner that I don't really use. I haven't had any compatibility issues. The memory footprint is rather large however... between 500-600MB IIRC. That may be due to the machine running aero on an integrated video card. I haven't thried taking aero down and looking at the memory footprint. I could do that and post in an hour or so.

12/19/2006 12:44:21 PM

I've played around with it a bit at home but I don't see the point of using it at work until software or security requires it. i'm also worried about not having drivers for all the various hardware i use so i'm doing the wait and see thing right now.

if you're really curious you could always set it up to dual boot.

12/19/2006 12:55:01 PM

Vista + aero + sidebar: 560MB
Vista + aero: 549MB
Vista: 530MB

On a 2 gig of RAM system. Windows tends to use memory where it sees memory. Not sure what experience others are getting. I've also got a laptop right next to it running XP at 89MB.

12/19/2006 1:36:39 PM

im having a hell of a time getting vista to recognize any "LCD native resolution"

i can only get 1600x1200 -_-

12/19/2006 2:15:20 PM

Quote :

"I've also got a laptop right next to it running XP at 89MB"

wow this is phenomenal

12/19/2006 2:19:17 PM

^granted I had to tweak it a bit to only start the services I need.

12/19/2006 2:24:19 PM

Quote :

"Vista + aero + sidebar: 560MB Vista + aero: 549MB Vista: 530MB On a 2 gig of RAM system. Windows tends to use memory where it sees memory. Not sure what experience others are getting. I've also got a laptop right next to it running XP at 89MB."

Do you know if Vista still uses this amount of memory in games, leaving 1.5 GB if I have 2 GB? Or does it somehow free up the RAM to let the game utilize most of it? And BTW, I emailed NCSU's CSC dept. about when Vista will be up on MSDNAA and they said January 17th or a little bit after.

Oh, and to those with regular MSDN...can you get all versions of Vista including Ultimate or are you limited? Thanks!

[Edited on December 19, 2006 at 2:46 PM. Reason : .]

12/19/2006 2:42:45 PM

I don't have any games on that PC. I doubt I'll try - since it only has an embedded graphics card.

I got ultimate on MSDN - it was the only available version at the time.

12/19/2006 3:28:00 PM

^^ my MSDN subscription only gives us access to Vista Ultimate

[Edited on December 19, 2006 at 3:28 PM. Reason : .]

12/19/2006 3:28:01 PM

Wow, glad I asked. I assumed it would be painless. I'm still burning it, but I'll stick with XP Media Center Edition or whatever is on it until I can mess around with Vista on a non-production machine.

Is there anything you guys would do to a Dell laptop to clean any of the preinstall shit off of it? Or just leave it as is? Or should I do a clean XP install? If I do a clean install, do they give me OS media by default, or should I just get XP MSDN also?

I just hate how IAP.EXE (which is some dell bullshit) seems to leak handles on the machines here at work.

I'm only seeing a product key for Vista Business in my MSDN.

12/19/2006 3:38:00 PM

If you did manage to get cds from dell then you probably have a win xp install cd. The usually add some custom Dell stuff, but its mostly just weblinks to help docs and stuff.

If you have an MSDN copy of XP that would probably be "cleaner".

Also, I'd format the dell once i get it. Though you might want to keep the system utilities partition.

12/19/2006 3:48:04 PM

Quote :

"Is there anything you guys would do to a Dell laptop to clean any of the preinstall shit off of it? Or just leave it as is? Or should I do a clean XP install? If I do a clean install, do they give me OS media by default, or should I just get XP MSDN also?"

I setup brand new Dell machines for customers all the time and the main thing I do is go thru add/remove programs and remove anything they don't need (which is alot considering all the crap they ship with their systems.) Then I go into MSCONFIG and prevent whats left from running in the background on startup. If it were my machine though, I would do a clean install of XP from MSDN. Oh and the media they ship with your laptop (if any) will be factory restore cds...so if you use them you'll still have all the crap.

12/19/2006 4:00:17 PM

Quote :

"I got ultimate on MSDN - it was the only available version at the time."

Quote :

"my MSDN subscription only gives us access to Vista Ultimate"

Dang, I hope that's the case when they put it up on MSDNAA...I really want Ultimate but if they don't offer it dont' want to have to spend $200+

12/19/2006 4:01:31 PM

^^Do the clean MSDN XP install.

I'm currently running MCE2005 on my laptop, and it eats a good chunk of performance just running all the background services. I'm going back to regular ol' XP Pro soon, as they finally have allowed xbox 360 media streaming without MCE.

The Dell cd's have too much garbage on them, and the preinstalls have TONS of strangely configured oem fluff. We always did vanilla XP reinstalls on our client's Dell machines and regularly saw considerable, visible performance differences.

[Edited on December 19, 2006 at 4:03 PM. Reason : allowed]

12/19/2006 4:03:20 PM

the CDKey determines what "flavor" you get. So i guess in the end MSDN keys are for ultimate. but you could take that copy and use another key and get business?

12/19/2006 4:09:33 PM

Our MSDNAA keys are only for Business (so far). I'm hoping the consumer editions will show up around the official release Jan 30.

12/19/2006 4:24:10 PM

^^found this:

Quote :

"The discs for XP Home & XP Pro were different. However the different versions of Pro were more or less the same except for a small text string inside one of the files. The string would tell setup which keyset to accept. One could change the string then reburn the disc, in effect turning a OEM disc into a Volume Licensing, retail or upgrade disc."

I'm pretty sure the disks for Vista will be different.

12/20/2006 7:16:08 AM

Well I brushed up on the differences in the versions in Wikipedia and the only big difference for me between Business and Ultimate is the lack of media center and some game performance tweaking options. I use iTunes for all of my music now, so this isn't really a big deal. The game tweaking might be nice, but not a big deal I think. I'll be perfectly happy with Business edition if Ultimate isn't offered.

12/20/2006 7:49:19 AM

Looks like business and enterprise editions are also available on MSDN now.

12/20/2006 10:20:43 AM

Random question - how exactly does the MSDNAA keys work? I have been debating taking a CSC class next semester. Once I get the key will I be able to use VISTA after my class is completed or will I only be able to use Vista while I am enrolled in the class.

12/21/2006 1:39:40 AM

^
Although this is probably against license agreements, I'm still using the 2-3 Windows XP Pro keys (original, sp1, sp2) MSDNAA sent me while I was a CSC student.

So far as the Dell machine goes, wipe it. Takes less time to do a format/reinstall than it does to typically get everything off. Although I've never used this tool, they have something called the "Dell Decrapifier" that might be useful.

12/21/2006 3:39:22 AM

^^

Quote :

"b. Changes in status. You will stop providing the software to anyone who ceases being one of your staff, faculty, or students. However, students may continue to use software they received, in accordance with these terms."

from: http://msdn.microsoft.com/academic/program/eula/default.aspx

[Edited on December 21, 2006 at 7:54 AM. Reason : -]

12/21/2006 7:53:27 AM

Looks like that CSC class is not going to fit in my schedule next semester. I wish I had a copy of XP pro. haha any body want to be my friend?

12/21/2006 3:42:17 PM