windows vista? Whats THE BEST Flavor? For the $$$

The_Neon_Cowboy · Jan 23, 2007, 06:50 AM

which do you guys thing is the best bang for your buck? To me home premium
looks best I just dunno if i really care about the few extra features ultimate brings
other then bragging rights. (for almost 2x the price...) is it really worth it?

ultimate just doesn't seem to offer a lot of stuff most people are going to use
like a network projector setup ... and Windows encrypting you hdd seems like
bad idea , secure maybe.. but crash nightmare waiting to happen?

that and the stigma from XP home useally sucks vs pro, but ms has muddied
the waters with vista

Vote / Discuss:

Al_Vampyre · Jan 23, 2007, 09:58 AM

I would go for Home Premium as well...if I do it at all...

BlueMak · Jan 23, 2007, 10:31 AM

You know, this is the first time I am thinking this but, Basic starts looking better and better. While I had my eyes on home premium all this time, only now after seeing the complete list, it just doesn't feel like paying extra £40 for aero. I have no tablet pc, couldn't care less about media center (no plans connecting to a large screen tv), even under XP I use a "classic windows" theme, so I doubt I will miss aero for more than a week. Plus my guess is windows will be faster without aero anyhow.
The slideshow program feels irrelevant when there are so many good (free too!) alternatives (favourite of mine is XnView, there are many others of course).

Of course even basic still costs like £170, but feels a bit better than £213 for better performance.

Now, Ultima, I say if you can easily afford it, get it, else you better need the extra tools or else you are wasting your money.

BTW, I guess without the Aero, the new "3D" switching between open windows is disabled, right?

Disclaimer: If anyone wants to give me a copy of Vista for free, I will not say no, even if it is the Ultimate version.

PS. Though I realise the differences, I wonder if Vista will become the new Me. Regardless, the only good reason IMO to change to Vista is DX10.

***craig5320*** · Jan 23, 2007, 12:29 PM

I went with Ultimate just because I want access to everything! haha

The key arrived this morning, £140 (~$280) Had it installed for a few week, been waiting to activate it.

Zelig · Jan 23, 2007, 12:35 PM

I'd say home premium. I find it funny when people complain about the price of Vista Ultimate, even when they won't use most of the features it contains over home premium.

Judas · Jan 23, 2007, 06:38 PM

home premium and business seem to have there top end advantages....

for home users, obviously premium.

mike2h · Jan 23, 2007, 07:02 PM

ill wait & see how ultimate & premium work in the real world before i give my opinion. also, with a planned release of sp1 later this year, i would be leary of buying vista right now.
i personally wont buy it till after sp1. by that time( afew months) everything should have sorted itself out as to wich vers is the best buy & most of the probs/bugs should be known.

The_Neon_Cowboy · Jan 23, 2007, 07:17 PM

double post delete me

The_Neon_Cowboy · Jan 23, 2007, 07:20 PM

FYI: everyone OEM Vista is roughly priced as fallows

home is $99
home premuim $120
Bussiness $150
ultimate $199

so it's and extra $79 for those few extra features in ultimate
I have two PC's....i can by two home prem for the cost of ultimate

Judas · Jan 23, 2007, 07:28 PM

But if OEM has several limitations that retail doesn't......

The_Neon_Cowboy · Jan 23, 2007, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judas

But if OEM has several limitations that retail doesn't......

ummm it's the same as retail? is it not? whats the diff? other then like phone support wich i laugh at....

Judas · Jan 23, 2007, 07:58 PM

Well it's been rumorred that the amount of activations and hardware changes made to an OEM version is significantly less then a retail version of vista..

is this true? i haven't a clue.... it's just been rumored. And thinking about it, doesn't make some sense. (i mean why else would it be cheaper, i've never understood how a OEM copy of windows could possibly be significantly cheaper enless something IS different. )

**temeteus82** · Jan 23, 2007, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Neon_Cowboy

ummm it's the same as retail? is it not? whats the diff? other then like phone support wich i laugh at....

OEM's usually are like this activate in one system and when system changes over 30% It wont run anymore. And you must get new license...

The_Neon_Cowboy · Jan 23, 2007, 08:13 PM

90 days of free phone support after that its like $30 per instance
A pretty box
A pretty Book
retail marketing and advertiseing
all has to cost something, quite a bit acually

as i've under stood oem was just discounted for system builders
with out the noob "support options". Where as you your own tech
support... basically...

As for the oem custmized by mfg "restore disks" to avoid restore disks abuse
that detects that it's the system they sold ya is the only thing i'd seen that cares
what systems it's in.

or did they change this with vista?

Judas · Jan 23, 2007, 08:20 PM

well i'm aware of the oem restore type disks.

but i guess we'll find out how the OEM and retail copies of vista differ later on..

the OEM version of XP i get has a pretty little book with a little pretty sticker and a little pretty cd that looks identical to that of a retail version.

Marketing for windows in general shouldn't be distrubuted only amongs retail purchases, it would be for every conceiveable version of windows.

If it's a windows product, microsoft should be supporting it, i know i'm not writing patches and KB articles about bugs and fixes and whatnot. So as for support, there isn't any difference as far as i know. The only difference is the liecence agreements and terms of use. Correct?

The_Neon_Cowboy · Jan 23, 2007, 08:28 PM

retail is like 2X the price

"It bears repeating, however, the the OEM license that comes with Vista is indeed similar to the Windows XP OEM license in that it forbids any kind of transfer. As we have previously reported, users have nevertheless had success transferring those copies of Windows, but they are technically stepping outside of the bounds of the EULA when doing so."
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061102-8140.html

but thats news from last november hmm.... i wonder if this changed? so far it seems it hasn't

http://download.microsoft.com/docume...9cf5105718.pdf

that really sucks

Judas · Jan 23, 2007, 08:44 PM

i'm not sure that pdef on ms's website really has anything specific to what question we are raising.

It's hard to get a definite answer though.

Necrosis · Jan 24, 2007, 12:04 AM

Don't forget you can do the upgraded path too. All you need is an XP CD to install. I'm going to get the family pack thing. Just need to figure out how it works.

technonerd · Jan 24, 2007, 12:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Necrosis

Don't forget you can do the upgraded path too. All you need is an XP CD to install. I'm going to get the family pack thing. Just need to figure out how it works.

One thing I don't like about vista upgrade is that you have to install windows xp and THEN vista, will take up half of the day to get everything ready. I reformat and reinstall windows xp about 2-3 times a year .

Judas · Jan 24, 2007, 12:24 AM

i thought all you needed to do was grab the vista upgrade disk, pop it in, boot from it (if you want to do a fresh install)... and when it prompts for the orginal XP cd, pop it in, punch in the xp cd key, and then replace it with the vista upgrade cd again to continue to install freshly.

no?

Necrosis · Jan 24, 2007, 01:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judas

i thought all you needed to do was grab the vista upgrade disk, pop it in, boot from it (if you want to do a fresh install)... and when it prompts for the orginal XP cd, pop it in, punch in the xp cd key, and then replace it with the vista upgrade cd again to continue to install freshly.

no?

That is what I thought too, and how every single upgrade package from MS has worked for me. It does requires you have a XP disc though.

~~DudeBoyz~~ · Jan 24, 2007, 01:19 AM

It was much easier in the past. You had Windows 2000 Pro - simple. Even XP - XP Home and XP Pro. That's it. Simple.

MS is just doing this thing to spite us with Vista.

BlueMak · Jan 25, 2007, 02:30 AM

So, any update on the OEM thing? Are there any specific restrictions?

H3X4D3C1M4L · Jan 25, 2007, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DudeBoyz

It was much easier in the past. You had Windows 2000 Pro - simple. Even XP - XP Home and XP Pro. That's it. Simple.

MS is just doing this thing to spite us with Vista.

No kidding!

Just like video cards, you had the Pro and the vanilla (with ATI at least).

Now there's so many versions people get frustrated and just pick any random one. Maybe that's their tactic?

**kris23** · Jan 26, 2007, 04:08 AM

noobie thing here..... do all the versions of vista have office 2007 in the vista disk itself or does it have to be bought? do ANY of them have office 07 in them? if so then ill get the one that has all the stuff like media center and all that...ya but i need office or its a waste for a student like me

Zelig · Jan 26, 2007, 05:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kris23

noobie thing here..... do all the versions of vista have office 2007 in the vista disk itself or does it have to be bought? do ANY of them have office 07 in them? if so then ill get the one that has all the stuff like media center and all that...ya but i need office or its a waste for a student like me

None of them include MS Office, they're separate programs. However, if you have an older version of Office, you can install on Vista instead of the OS you're replacing.

Cupillac · Jan 26, 2007, 05:12 AM

So that means that Office 2003 will work on Vista.
Does that include the 64 bit version?

Necrosis · Jan 26, 2007, 07:36 AM

I'm running Office 2003 on RC1 w/ no issues, but it's only 32 bit.

BTW folks you can buy the OEM copies by themselves. Just forget about upgrading any main hardware.

Tipstaff · Jan 26, 2007, 10:07 AM

From where I sit as a reseller/builder, the majority of people will buy Home Premium for themselves, maybe Ultimate for the hardcore guys. Where does that leave Basic and Business? Realistically, I have a feeling that almost all small businesses, ones on a budget or that are looking for a "no-fuss" operating system will pick up Home Basic. Larger companies will pick up Business, but the only reason I see this happening is due to MS giving them bulk license deals, or their IT departments thinking they need to get Business since it's being used in that type of environment.

Necrosis · Jan 26, 2007, 06:17 PM

You can't join domains with Home Basic, right?

Jan 23, 2007, 06:50 AM	#1
The_Neon_Cowboy HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 16,009 Rep Power: 92 System Specs	windows vista? Whats THE BEST Flavor? For the $$$ which do you guys thing is the best bang for your buck? To me home premium looks best I just dunno if i really care about the few extra features ultimate brings other then bragging rights. (for almost 2x the price...) is it really worth it? ultimate just doesn't seem to offer a lot of stuff most people are going to use like a network projector setup ... and Windows encrypting you hdd seems like bad idea , secure maybe.. but crash nightmare waiting to happen? that and the stigma from XP home useally sucks vs pro, but ms has muddied the waters with vista Vote / Discuss: __________________ Last edited by The_Neon_Cowboy; Jan 23, 2007 at 06:57 AM.

Jan 23, 2007, 09:58 AM	#2
Al_Vampyre HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Scotland Posts: 1,532 Rep Power: 72 System Specs	I would go for Home Premium as well...if I do it at all... __________________ "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad" - Brian O'Driscoll - Ireland Rugby Team 2009 Grand Slam winning Captain.

Jan 23, 2007, 10:31 AM	#3
BlueMak HH's Asteroids' Dominator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Hellas->Macedonia->Thessaloniki Posts: 13,483 Rep Power: 349 System Specs	You know, this is the first time I am thinking this but, Basic starts looking better and better. While I had my eyes on home premium all this time, only now after seeing the complete list, it just doesn't feel like paying extra £40 for aero. I have no tablet pc, couldn't care less about media center (no plans connecting to a large screen tv), even under XP I use a "classic windows" theme, so I doubt I will miss aero for more than a week. Plus my guess is windows will be faster without aero anyhow. The slideshow program feels irrelevant when there are so many good (free too!) alternatives (favourite of mine is XnView, there are many others of course). Of course even basic still costs like £170, but feels a bit better than £213 for better performance. Now, Ultima, I say if you can easily afford it, get it, else you better need the extra tools or else you are wasting your money. BTW, I guess without the Aero, the new "3D" switching between open windows is disabled, right? Disclaimer: If anyone wants to give me a copy of Vista for free, I will not say no, even if it is the Ultimate version. PS. Though I realise the differences, I wonder if Vista will become the new Me. Regardless, the only good reason IMO to change to Vista is DX10. __________________ The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm *Sic semper tyrannis.*

Jan 23, 2007, 12:29 PM	#4
*craig5320* HH Administrator Join Date: May 2002 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 8,579 Rep Power: 445 System Specs	I went with Ultimate just because I want access to everything! haha The key arrived this morning, £140 (~$280) Had it installed for a few week, been waiting to activate it. __________________ HardwareHeaven on Facebook

Jan 23, 2007, 12:35 PM	#5
Zelig HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Canada Posts: 3,187 Rep Power: 71 System Specs	I'd say home premium. I find it funny when people complain about the price of Vista Ultimate, even when they won't use most of the features it contains over home premium. __________________ --

Jan 23, 2007, 07:02 PM	#7
mike2h DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: norcal Posts: 6,483 Rep Power: 91 System Specs	ill wait & see how ultimate & premium work in the real world before i give my opinion. also, with a planned release of sp1 later this year, i would be leary of buying vista right now. i personally wont buy it till after sp1. by that time( afew months) everything should have sorted itself out as to wich vers is the best buy & most of the probs/bugs should be known. __________________

Jan 23, 2007, 07:17 PM	Thread Starter #8
The_Neon_Cowboy HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 16,009 Rep Power: 92 System Specs	double post delete me __________________ Last edited by The_Neon_Cowboy; Jan 23, 2007 at 07:45 PM.

Jan 23, 2007, 07:20 PM	Thread Starter #9
The_Neon_Cowboy HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 16,009 Rep Power: 92 System Specs	FYI: everyone OEM Vista is roughly priced as fallows home is $99 home premuim $120 Bussiness $150 ultimate $199 so it's and extra $79 for those few extra features in ultimate I have two PC's....i can by two home prem for the cost of ultimate __________________ Last edited by The_Neon_Cowboy; Jan 23, 2007 at 07:45 PM.

Jan 23, 2007, 08:13 PM	Thread Starter #14
The_Neon_Cowboy HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 16,009 Rep Power: 92 System Specs	90 days of free phone support after that its like $30 per instance A pretty box A pretty Book retail marketing and advertiseing all has to cost something, quite a bit acually as i've under stood oem was just discounted for system builders with out the noob "support options". Where as you your own tech support... basically... As for the oem custmized by mfg "restore disks" to avoid restore disks abuse that detects that it's the system they sold ya is the only thing i'd seen that cares what systems it's in. or did they change this with vista? __________________

Jan 23, 2007, 08:28 PM	Thread Starter #16
The_Neon_Cowboy HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 16,009 Rep Power: 92 System Specs	retail is like 2X the price "It bears repeating, however, the the OEM license that comes with Vista is indeed similar to the Windows XP OEM license in that it forbids any kind of transfer. As we have previously reported, users have nevertheless had success transferring those copies of Windows, but they are technically stepping outside of the bounds of the EULA when doing so." http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061102-8140.html but thats news from last november hmm.... i wonder if this changed? so far it seems it hasn't http://download.microsoft.com/docume...9cf5105718.pdf that really sucks __________________ Last edited by The_Neon_Cowboy; Jan 23, 2007 at 08:40 PM.

Jan 24, 2007, 12:04 AM	#18
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Don't forget you can do the upgraded path too. All you need is an XP CD to install. I'm going to get the family pack thing. Just need to figure out how it works.

Jan 24, 2007, 01:19 AM	#22
~~DudeBoyz~~ banned Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: USA Posts: 1,677 Rep Power: 0	It was much easier in the past. You had Windows 2000 Pro - simple. Even XP - XP Home and XP Pro. That's it. Simple. MS is just doing this thing to spite us with Vista.

Jan 25, 2007, 02:30 AM	#23
BlueMak HH's Asteroids' Dominator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Hellas->Macedonia->Thessaloniki Posts: 13,483 Rep Power: 349 System Specs	So, any update on the OEM thing? Are there any specific restrictions? __________________ The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm *Sic semper tyrannis.*

Jan 26, 2007, 04:08 AM	#25
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,019 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	noobie thing here..... do all the versions of vista have office 2007 in the vista disk itself or does it have to be bought? do ANY of them have office 07 in them? if so then ill get the one that has all the stuff like media center and all that...ya but i need office or its a waste for a student like me __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Jan 26, 2007, 05:12 AM	#27
Cupillac DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Canada Posts: 156 Rep Power: 0	So that means that Office 2003 will work on Vista. Does that include the 64 bit version? __________________ "Once I thought I was wrong, but I was mistaken." -W.Kingdon

Jan 26, 2007, 07:36 AM	#28
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	I'm running Office 2003 on RC1 w/ no issues, but it's only 32 bit. BTW folks you can buy the OEM copies by themselves. Just forget about upgrading any main hardware.

Jan 26, 2007, 10:07 AM	#29
Tipstaff HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Real capital of Canada: Torauna Posts: 6,773 Rep Power: 191 System Specs	From where I sit as a reseller/builder, the majority of people will buy Home Premium for themselves, maybe Ultimate for the hardcore guys. Where does that leave Basic and Business? Realistically, I have a feeling that almost all small businesses, ones on a budget or that are looking for a "no-fuss" operating system will pick up Home Basic. Larger companies will pick up Business, but the only reason I see this happening is due to MS giving them bulk license deals, or their IT departments thinking they need to get Business since it's being used in that type of environment. __________________ Portal: The Flash Version _________________________________ Brain: So, you sacked the cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker? Mr. Sackett: The second cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker I've sacked since the sixth sitting sheet slitter got sick.

Jan 26, 2007, 06:17 PM	#30
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	You can't join domains with Home Basic, right?