I'm planning to purchase a new desktop PC again now, especially since the new quad core processors are begining to fall in price.

Realizing that Windows Vista was only released 7+ months ago, and that initially, there was Vista driver incompatibility with certain hardware & software, wondering if it's it's now recommended to purchase a PC with Vista Home Premium, as (like it or not) nearly all new PCs now only come pre-installed with Vista. As far I know, only Dell still offers you the choice of XP or Vista pre-installed. so, here's my CURRENT consideration:

Dell XPS 410 (approx. $1,450 US dollars with the following):

* Intel® Core™ 2 Q6600 Quad-Core (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB)
* 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 2 DIMMs
* 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT-DDR3
* 320GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
* Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ XtremeGamer (D) Sound Card

Are there any known Windows programs or hardware currently incompatible with Vista?

Here are just a few 3rd party programs I currently run on my current PC running XP:

SOFTWARE:

Microsoft Word 2002
Microsoft Frontpage 2002

Cakewalk Sonar
Yamaha XG Works
Smartscore 5

Michael Bedesem's Yamaha Utility Programs
* MusicFinder View
* Stylemaker
* Midiplayer

Jorgen Sorenson's Programs:
* Split & Splice
* Stylefile Renamer 1.2

Registration Memory Editor v1.2 (Kim Winther)

EMC Styleworks 2000 Universal

Yamaha:
Tyros2 Voice Editor
Yamaha USB Midi Driver

HARDWARE:

Presonus Firebox
HP Deskjet 970CSE
Canon CanoScan D1250U2F Scanner
Plextor 712UF
Maxtor One Touch II External 300GB HD

Anyone running any of the above software or hardware on Vista?

Ok, what's recommended now: purchasing a new PC with Vista (which I hear offers better security & new features) or sticking with XP?

Lastly, another (more expensive?)consideration is going with an Intel processor Apple Mac desktop running Windows Vista/XP utilizing 'Bootcamp' Apple software.

Thanks in advance for all feedback & advice.


Scott

Scott I tried putting Vista on my new machine(dual core 2.8 gighz AMD athlon) 2 gig RAM bla bla bla.

the problems i had were: it blue screened once during the installation. tried again - it worked, then it blue screened after about 10 mins of just browsing and download small aps and setting up the new OS etc etc.

i couldn't install Cakewalk Sonar on it, i couldn't install a few other games / apps that i needed to use so i gave it the flick..

nice looking OS, some cool features, it does run fast and smooth but as far as product and application compatibility goes, its worse than a Mac at the moment...

Hi Nick, wow, really sorry to hear about all the trouble you experienced with Vista on your new PC. I'm wondering if it had anything to do with the fact that you're running an AMD athlon chip, not an Intel. Have you been able to solve the problem with a Clean Install (aka: refomatting HD), and re-installing Windows XP? - Scott

Nick.....My Next computer WILL be a NEW MAC, many people I know just love them and wouldn't think of a PC again......
Im done with PC after this one also.
Vista = problems....that's all Ive heard from people who have it regarding compatibility with some many programs and more.

yeh Scott i fixed it, reformatted the drive and put XP pro back on - problem fixed, everything back to 'normal'.

Donny, i love macs, love em to bits but it always comes down to the compatibility issue.

i am extremely fluent with Cakewalk Sonar so i prefer to use it over anything else (ie cubase, fruity pro, etc etc) but Sonar wont go on macs unless u use things like VMware (vurtualisation) which i dont want to do.

also regarding the Athlon chip Scott, that should have nothing to do with what applications can be installed on the OS. the blue screening suring initial install - yes that 'could' have been a conflict with the motherboard / processor.

as far as security goes... i dont run any anti virus. i only go to websites that are obviously not malicious. I have 2 HHDs in my machine. one has my OS and apps on it, the other has all my data / files / music / movies etc etc.

i may get a virus once a year. if i do, i reformat the drive that windows is sitting on and then re install.. the entire process of formatting, installing windows and my other apps takes no longer than 2-3 hours.

I work for an IT security company where we specialize in Anti virus and from my experience on personal home users PCs all it does is drastically slow the machine down not only on boot up but on everything in general.

if you are not stupid and take notice of what is happening on your machine the chances are u will be fine...

i recommend Antivirus to users who go to alot of porn sites, gambling, crack sites, download alot of P2P from limewire etc.

Nick

Hi All
I also had the necessity to reformat and reinstall XP recently. You say it took 2-3 hours!
In my case it took 2-3 days!
Unfortunately, the problem was the Service Pack 2, which if you don't get it reinstalled straight away after resurrecting Windows O/S causes lots of error notices and switchoffs.
I had to reformat 3 times and reinstall XP 4 times, because if you don't get the SP2 on your HD, in my case anyway, the bootup after reinstall just goes into repeat mode and could have gone on for ever!
Just thought I'd make this note for anyone else thinking of reinstalling XP.
cheers
Eddie Johnson



------------------
Eddie from Rotherham
Skype:eddiefromrotherham
www.yamahakeyboards.info

A new Intel Mac is starting to look better and better for musicians now that Apple have dropped the price of their TOTL audio app, Logic Pro 8, by half...

You can now get a complete studio app, all the plug-ins you need (very high quality, from all accounts), all the Virtual Instruments you need (ditto), an app to play those VSTi's live, standalone, a pro convolution reverb, and numerous enhancements all at about $500. A pro convolution reverb alone is worth nearly that...

Add to that distributed audio processing (add more computers for more power) and latency down to about 1.5ms round-trip with certain hardware, and (drum roll, please...) NO DONGLE... Serial# only for two installations. This thing is close to a Cubase/Sonor killer...

Oh yes, and of course, you can boot into Windows (or run it in VMWare or Parallels) if you REALLY miss those pesky trojans and spyware...

On my parents brand new Vista, I was able to get Word 2002 and style split and splice to work, but Stylemaker would not work.

Beakybird

Hi Scott
There are still issues with some older software and hardware, so check on the manufactures web sites to see if the hardware and software you want to use is suitable, or can be upgraded to work with Vista.
My recommendation if you have the room is keep your old computer and XP and just add the new computer with Vista, (You can use the same monitor and keyboard by just adding a switch box) that way if you do find something that wont work with Vista you can still use it on your old machine. (Network them together and you will be able to transfer files as if it was one machine, you can also use your old machine as an additional firewall when connecting to the net)

To All
NEVER connect to the internet without some form of security installed, and make sure you keep it up to date (There are many good quality free apps out there) or you will have problems. (When you see the tears in the customer’s eyes, when you tell them that you have not been able to retrieve any of their treasured photos, after a virus has totally trashed their machine, you will understand why security is important)

Finally
BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP, NO EXCUSES don’t wait for a disaster to happen. (Its no good shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted)
Hope this helps

Bill

Or, get a Mac.

Eight YEARS on broadband, NO virus software, ZERO problems...

Think they are a bit expensive? What does eight years of virus protection cost you...? (And pop-up blockers, and spyware scanners, etc..)

They run Windows now (and anything from DOS to Vista, Linux to Solaris) so you can still run your Yamaha apps. Just NEVER talk to the Internet while you are in Windows, and all your virus problems will be a thing of the past.

This isn't a taunt... it's a testimonial. If you are sick of the things that Windows puts you through, if you are tired of worrying whether a simple visit to a web site will hose your drives, take another look at Apple.

The horsepower gap has gone, the price gap is MUCH smaller, and the included apps MORE than make up the price difference. Add in Logic Studio at half price, and it's almost a no-brainer for a musician (who doesn't WANT to be an IT geek)...