zimstyles

Windows XP

framitz

What is this, the 90's?

Sleeper_Service

The pre-requisites are generally updates to other programs or components of Vista to ease the passage of SP1.

Mr White also warned that some device drivers may also have to be refreshed before SP1 can be installed. Old drivers from RealTek AC, Intel and Symantec are known to stop SP1 being installed.

Drivers...Windows...No way!

MINI Driver

[www.osx86project.org]

nutbastard

I've just given this venue a try, and even though it wasn't all smooth sailing initially, it now runs very well.
I haven't regularly used a version of Windows since Win2k, and only recently installed XP in Parallels, because I need to run lab software that's written for Windows. I can't say I'm convinced by the performance.
I use OSX because it's intuitive and easy to work with on the go, I use SuSE (and occasionally, some Ubuntu offspring) for almost everything else, and Windows when I don't have any alternative.
Most of the experience I have with Vista is from coworkers and family who ran into problems with it. I take a look at it, usually fix the immediate issue at hand, and recommend downgrading to XP by default. From everything I've seen, Vista could have been a huge leap forward, but it's bogged down with mediocre functionality and smoke screens. Leopard has similar problems, but on the whole, it's more user-friendly.
In a direct comparison, I would chose Tiger over XP any day. This isn't an absolutely objective view, in fact it's very much marred by my own subjective experience, but I prefer an OS that works out of the box, with little to no fine-tuning required initially. Whatever I change later on is my business, and if it blows up, that's my fault. I haven't seen such performance from Microsoft since Win2k, which is a shame.

Personally, I don't find the Giz unbearably biased. I enjoy Apple news as much as the next guy, and there's plenty of PC and Microsoft news to keep Apple in check. I really don't see the problem some readers are so desperate to point out. Nobody's forcing you to read this blog.

Hvedhrungr

ViperBorg

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

But I wasn't having any problems before SP1, so no clue what it was supposed to fix.

jetexas

If Giz is biased, it's not in favor of Apple, it's in favor of Interesting. It seems to me Giz is being more than fair by bothering to mention this yawner of an update. With one major OS release in five years, Microsoft simply hasn't done much worth writing about.

Not to mention that Giz does tons of articles on weird-ass hardware for PCs as well as various Windows Mobile travesties. Apple does hardware and software both--so they give coverage on both. Of course that looks like there are more articles on Apple. But if you make your stats by adding all articles about Microsoft to all articles about things that run their OSes, I bet you'll get way more articles than there are for Apple.

So quit yapping, little doggies in the Windows.

Jesssssse

Mike918

wtf half-ass release?

rawbdee

I look at Apple news in anticipation of one thing - the day when somebody at Apple finally grows a brain and gets the bright idea to sell their OS as an installable, hardware independent product - like Windows. I love their software, but I hate their hardware and their hardware upgrade policy (ya wanna run the new OS - buy a whole new machine!). When I can install MacOS"whatever" on this machine right here, or even another I have that is slightly less powerful, and don't have to buy any caviar-priced Mac attachments, building a machine exactly like I build a PC, that's the day I am sold to Apple - and probably everyone else except for a few holdouts.

If Apple did that, they would switch fortunes with MS in about two quarters - people would flee from MS like there was an Ebola infested monkey in the room... but what do I know? I'm just a consumer, eh?

magusat999

akmarksman

Giskardors

matt buchanan

Pre fall-upgade, my (single core 3200+ Athlon) desktop had only 1GB of RAM and it ran Vista RC1 like a champ- as well as any basic Macbook or iMac with 1GB is running Leopard that I've seen, save for a few programs (Photoshop et al.) that wouldn't run congruently due to a lack of memory and the increased demands of the pre-release OS. Vista will run well on basic hardware, no doubt about it. At the low cost, however, if someone is having problems with performance in Vista, the easiest solution is to ensure they have 2GB of RAM.

Topcat

*- My hard drive is far from optimal and I haven't reformatted from installing a new motherboard. ...not sure if others will see a bigger boost.

On a sidenote, I see everyone is discussing the preferential treatment that Apple is getting. I find it funny that everyone is quick to judge MS and last to point out fault with Apple. Mainly, the fact that only a few have covered the Macbook Air problems.
[apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com]

Apple must have a policy that they cut off advertising dollars to anyone who posts a negative story...

PynkFloydd

unlikelee

Yeah, because they've decided that for the prices, a little extra RAM'll be nice to have.

Leopard runs better on 1GB and slightly below a great deal better than Vista does.

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

pellier

Intel has some PDF files on this somewhere on their site.

XJ_4x4

If i was going to pay the premium for apple hardware, i'd expect it to be beefed out beyond what i really need. OS X is more resource hungry than ever, but still...

*Ubuntu*

nutbastard

To all the cries of "well it shouldn't need 2GB in the first place!", there's a reason Apple is making all but their lowest-end options ship with 2GB by default, and it isn't because they want people to use Vista.

Topcat

vinnieg

Usually, the only drivers that you need to update yourself are the sound, wireless network, video, and chipset. Depending on the complexity of the system, you may also have to update the RAID driver, as well as any TV tuners or other specific hardware you have purchased.

You can find a list of XPS M1730 drivers here: [support.dell.com]

If that is not what you own, just click "Select a different product" and scroll through until you find yours.

Good luck.

regnez

Gimmeslack12

dosguy

Pretty painless process overall. Just be prepared to not have access to your machine for about 30 minutes.

Johnny Chimpo

thesillyone

some_stupid_nut

Neight

Basically the Windows FBs go on the apple posts and take a little dig, and the apple fanbois are just wothless.......HA! I kid. No, the apple fanbois are just doing the same thing with the Windows posts.

Again, I'm not defending the axiom concerning morons, as I'm guilty of it myself, I'm just sayin……

Out2gtcha

jonthomasdesigns

Tex1961

nutbastard

Are you referrign to the Principled Technologies studies? You know, the ones where they didn't even use Core Duo machines and only one of them had 2GB of RAM and where the differences in processing speed were less than half a second?

Sleeper_Service

DJJS

Make sure that all your drivers are current and try the update again. If it is still not there, you can download it directly from Microsoft. If you do go that route, you have to be extra careful to make sure all your drivers will be compatible, or you are just asking for trouble.

regnez

donald252010

Tex1961

I also had one crash while video editing, but I get those in OSX all the time.

I think I get the Apple screen of death that says I must restart more often than I get the BSOD in XP or Vista.

jetexas

I do heavy photoshop work, full studio music production within the box alone--virtual instruments and all, and intense gaming with dual-sli 8800GTX 768mb.

It works great and I couldn't be happier. I don't understand all the complaints... many just seem premeditated before they even installed it.

I've had SP1 now for weeks on an x64 box and I have had no problems with it as well.

Subterfuge

Consider me one person who wouldn't go back to XP.

Topcat

Hmmm, one laptop, DV6000, Intel Core2Duo / 945 Gfx "Accelerator", 2 GB RAM, 160 GB 5400RPM, nothing special about it at all.

Finished the entire update in about 45-50 minutes. I don't know why your install took so long. :-/ .

Kyang

reddingofish

Charles

Here piggy piggy piggy....

Maksimir

unlikelee

It's really pretty refreshing.

In my experience, to get the most out of vista, you need 2 gigs of ram and a fortitude to let the program run a week or two to get used to your habits. After that, it is smoooooooth sailing.

njthomas

l337virus

After doing a little research it now shows the 4GB but still can't use it. So rather then just listing whats useable it lists what you have.

seanism

lafond66

boe

Here is a lovely quote from a comparison of XP and Vista just released in PC World "Windows Vista is a bloated pig of an operating system. In fact, compared to Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or 3, Vista requires roughly twice the hardware resources to deliver comparable performance. Even stripped to the bone, with every new UI enhancement turned off and every new background service disabled, Vista is a good 40 percent slower than XP at a variety of business productivity tasks."

I've given up on Vista since SP1 was a bust but I haven't given up on MS or Windows 7. For anyone who says XP was bad when it was relesed - compare an UNPATCHED XP install on the same machine running Vista SP1 - you'll see how bad Vista is even after a year of patches.

boe

I installed Ubuntu in this same amount of time and had it up, running and fully functioning.

2 Stages to go to finish installing a fucking service pack.

Maksimir

A nice objective balanced viewpoint there.

No, really.

Sleeper_Service

MacStan

wrxsti

What do you expect? When Microsoft releases something theres usually nothing all that great to post about. Windows = turd. Vista is just XP with cooler titlebars.

DMcGrew

i've looked and can't decipher anything beyond, bug-fixes, enhanced stability, yadda yadda.

there doesn't seem to be really much to say other than what they've said honestly. its not like they added new widgets or apps to the OS.

props_nyc

@vicsells: Looking to Giz for objective information about select Microsoft products is always going to be fruitless. I recommend Paul Thurrott if you're ever looking for detailed (and excitable) information regarding Windows.

Topcat

SchruteBuck

jcrockerman

And when in the world does a blog actually recommend going to ANOTER BLOG instead of just getting your info from the BLOG you first found it out from

vicsells

I should be charging you a license fee for every time you've used it - then I could retire and dedicate my time to helping with my new 'Victims Of Microsoft IT' foundation.

Care to help me clean up some Vista VOMIT?

MINI Driver

werk

Although XP SP3 supposedly offers snappier performance, XP SP3 is said to address "compatibility issues" with Vista. That does not bode well for XP. Prepare for app, driver, and peripheral breakage.

whootowl

Zlevee

nutbastard

imTheKing

Zlevee

On topic, I hope SP1 solves a lot of the issues. I'm eager to add it to boot camp for dev purposes.

imTheKing

BoinK

n0stradamus

Bring on XP SP3.

scarbrtj

There's beta/RC versions of XP SP3 out there, too, if ya know where to look.

Rhainor

Oh please! Give me a break - I didn't even bother commenting on the Vista TP post yesterday which was wide open for hours of MS toilet humor!

Guy comes up with a decent tag line and then you want to gag him, or worse, try to mutate it into something tragically unfunny...

MINI Driver

@Kaiser-Machead: If it's everything it's cracked up to be it should. ;)

strider_mt2k

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

A Pimp Named DaveR

I agree whole heartedly and I know we aren't alone. I find myself slowly moving more to refreshing other sites nonstop because I know I'll get a more unbiased blogging. I absolutely love the humor and fan base here, but I read also for content.

I still use XP and find it hysterical the people that call it crap. I haven't seen a blue screen in many many years and ahven't had any problems opening any file or attaching any peripheral. It's a SOLID operating system geared towards those who want to do things the way they want it and have an overload of methods to do it. This factoid is brought to you from experience and not what I've read on the interwebs.

Neight

sotark1

SneakerFiend

snitch29

"Vista? What the fuck is Vista?

Ubuntu, son.

just to make fun of Mini Driver:

LMLinuxAO "

nutbastard

chinook11

Can we please give the "LMMacAO" on ever mac or windows post a break? It was somewhat clever the first 30 times, but now it just seems stale.

nutbastard

I'm tempted to bring back my Kaiser-SensibleComputerUser username back.

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

LMMacAO!!

MINI Driver

Luuey

Jurisprudence

There wasn't an inconsequential piece of minutiae that was left unposted by Gizmodo.
People bitch about CES, but I think the iPhone "coverage" did far worse for the image of this site over the long haul.

"What do you guys want from giz, honestly?"

A little more balance, maybe a little more objectivity when it comes to stuff they aren't personally involved with.
You can be hip and still be balanced.

Besides, you can always "filter out" the windows stuff, right?
Just like everyone who doesn't like to read about the Apple stuff can do.

Balance.

strider_mt2k

I'm just not sure how long is long enough. I'm no windows fan-boi but I do use XP sometimes. XP was a horrible (worse than it currently is if possible) opsys when it first came out, and while people didn't seem to criticize it quite as much as Vista, it seems just like XP, if enough time passes and enough patches SPs come out, this might be a viable opsys. I'm just not sure when is the right time to try actually putting it to the test; especially considering the price. That being said it seems like it was more than a year after XP came out that I tried actually experimenting with it.

As others have said, its like the first reports on Vista were SOOOOO bad, that even after fixes came out for major issues, they weren't reported on, and Vista continued to get a horrible wrap. Sounds like the same way 98/ME went; and we all know how that debacle ended.

Out2gtcha

kir

[www.microsoft.com]

Sleeper_Service

dingwall1

This post written by one of the 12 MS fanboys dedicated enough to own a zune.

AlexLand

435MB damn. Any english any downloads?

seanism

dufus

Gizmodo being all-inclusive with their "enthusiasms" would lend balance and perhaps actually bring more folks here.
(and more importantly keep 'em coming back and _CLICKING_)

I hope we get some follow-ups by other folks who have installed and experienced Vista SP1 and care to share the ups and downs of it with us.

I'm also in the XP camp curious about XP SP3, but will gladly read about Vista developments in the mean time.
Even the minutiae.

strider_mt2k

peterlarson233

lafond66

olternaut

MinskyBA

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

Everyone else: "The whatnow?"

Eruanno

Oh yeah.. This isn't put out by Apple.

Don't leave us Windows folks in the cold anymore Giz, pretty please?

Neight

TheGeektoriousBIG