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