XP Pro or Vista Ultimate on new build for newbie

[fishoutofwater]

I would be the newbie. Am planning my first build in the next month or so. Mostly for photoshopping, home movies, editing/encoding & maybe a TV tuner one day. Only have a basic understanding of XP, so wondering if I should go ahead and jump to vista or stay with something that i know works. Oh and then there's 32bit versus 64bit...

ASUS P5Q Deluxe

Q9450

4G OCZ Platinum 1066

for starters....Thanks.

 

[wayliff]

If you want to take advantage of those 4GBs of ram you will need to go for a 64-bit version of the OS.
I am not going to tell you the usual XP vs Vista thing. But my own experience has been very good with Vista Ultimate 64-bit.
I do some photoshop, .NET development with VS2008, the usual office, email, etc. And I have no complains with my newest hardware. When i had 'older' hardware (nforce 4 based), I had a little trouble finding drivers but other than that Vista has done a good job for me.
I also have a Virtual PC with XP installed on it just in case I want to do something on it...have not had to except for old games, like XCOM UFO Defense.

 

[boomerang]

I too am happy with Vista. 64-Bit here.

If you want to go with Vista, make sure any hardware that connects to the computer is supported by Vista. Especially if you go with the 64-Bit version. This is just to eliminate any "surprises". Really old printers, Palm devices, etc. are not going to work. Be aware.

Do your homework and you'll wonder why everyone is bashing Vista.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Ultimate is a waste of money if you are a home user, get premium because Ultimate is just premium and business combined.

 

[Zepper]

I think Ultimate has some things that are not in either the biz or home prem. versions. If you need those, get it, if not do a careful check of the features of the others. But if you can, why not avoid all the Windwoes security problems and go with some version of *nix. There is a free versiion of Sun's Solaris, Free BSD, dozens of Linux distros, etc. All come with far fewer pre-installed headaches than any version of Win. This leaves a lot more money to spend on fancier hardware as well.

.bh.

 

[mc866]

If you are thinking about getting a TV tuner at some point the media center options in Ultimate would be nice, I would keep that in mind.

 

[fishoutofwater]

Thanks so much to all! It is so nice to receive some really useful advice for a change. Glad I stumbled over this community...

 

[accguy9009]

Originally posted by: mc866
If you are thinking about getting a TV tuner at some point the media center options in Ultimate would be nice, I would keep that in mind.

Vista Home Premium has the full Media Center/TV Tuner support. It does not have the Vista Business support that Ultimate does or Bit Locker.

 

[KeypoX]

yeah go with vista 64, its easier or as easy as xp

 

[Muadib]

You won't have any problems with Vista with the hardware you've posted so far, but post the rest to be sure. I went with Ultimate x64 with my home pc, because I wanted the backup capability. If that's not important to you, then premium will suit you nicely.

This link compares the versions.

 

[tcsenter]

Vista Ultimate OEM comes with downgrade rights to XP Professional. You can buy Vista Ultimate OEM now, use XP Pro as long as you want under the Vista downgrade license, then install Vista whenever you're ready, all for one OS purchase.

Windows Vista Ultimate @ $180.00

Windows XP Professional @ $140.00

Total = $320

Why purchase two operating systems when you can have the same coverage for just the $180.00 that Vista Ultimate would cost you. Its an offer you can hardly refuse.

 

[Psynaut]

Vista 64 over XP without question.