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Windows Vista Ultimate with SP1 Review (continued)
More User Submitted Windows Vista Ultimate with SP1 Reviews
Date: 2008-06-12
Now this is more like it
In comparison with the Windows Vista home edition...I have to say that the Ultimate version wins hands down. The graphics is somewhat similar although I prefer the ultimate version. This seems a bit user friendly. Although these might be considered moot points by some, these are the primary reasons why I prefer this to the home version.
Date: 2008-06-09
Drain You
I've had a lot of time to work with Vista on two different machines: a powerful desktop and an even more powerful laptop. I've not only explored the ins and outs of Microsoft's newest Operating System, I've run detailed benchmarking tests repeatedly and analyzed the results.
I've tried very hard to see the reasons for the way Vista was designed, but the bottom line is that the OS is simply terrible. Nice graphical updates to the look and feel don't justify the performance hit, and features that are designed to enhance performance instead behave like band-aids designed to keep Vista running.
Superfetch spends more time devouring resources than it does improving performance. ReadyBoost will equally devour a USB key with no visible gain to performance...if you can find a USB key good enough to pass the high bar that Vista demands. I have no idea if the new Disk Defragmenter actually does what it should, but it doesn't seem to be helping.
None of this takes into account the many, many Security watchdog "features" that stop you repeatedly to re-ask your permission (and can still fail with permissions errors despite your approval), nor does it address the "Digital Rights Management" (DRM) problems that cause both of my Vista machines to randomly be helpless at CD or DVD playback. I've stopped trying to get Windows Media Player to work with these items, and I avoid Windows Media Center with horrid memories of how badly it worked.
Vista's inconsistency is most damning of all. Parts of the interface are completely redesigned and add multiple steps to accomplish simple tasks. Other parts of the interface surprise you by showing you the exact same dialog windows and feature settings that every version of Windows has had since Windows 95. It should be pointed out that Service Pack 1 does not provide any performance improvements that I have been able to see: I still have programs and games, new and old, randomly crashing on me. I still have odd freeze-ups and scary moments where it seems the system will completely stop responding...only to breathe a sigh of relief that it was just another security prompt trying to fight its way to the front of the mess.
The bottom line is that I am extremely disappointed in Windows Vista, and surprised that Vista--even with Service Pack 1--is as erratic and poor as Windows Me. I do not recommend it.
Date: 2008-05-28
Big-time overhead, slower, confusing
I have heard so many people complaining about Vista and now I know why. The overhead in this OS is way over the top. I have a brand new iMac - and when I say brand new, I don't just mean for me - this particular model just started rolling off the assembly lines 3 weeks ago. It's a 24" model with a Intel Core 2 Duo 2.8 GHz processor and 512MB of dedicated graphics memory. I installed Vista using VMWare Fusion which is rated to be faster with Vista than via Parallels per the latest benchmarks published in PC Magazine.
Even the box this thing came in was confusing. It took me 10 minutes to figure out how I was supposed to open this odd acrylic box without destroying it.
VMWare Fusion had the whole system installed in about an hour and a half - one of the fastest Windows installs I've seen, other than when I installed XP, of course.
I don't have any apps to run in Vista, so I spent hours just trying out every feature I could to get a good appraisal of it and to give an adequate review.
It starts up slower than XP, likely to do to the bloated overhead. Right-clicking doesn't get the snappy response it should. Apparently my 512MB of graphics memory is insufficient for Vista - because only the Windows Flag screensaver will run - the others tell me I need a new graphics card. Hello? It has 512 MB of dedicated VRAM. How many GB of graphics memory does Vista need?
Ok - no big deal, so I just can't review the screensavers - fine. Then I went to play Freecell. I'm not sure what was going on in the board room meetings in Redmond when they decided to work on existing games in Windows - but yowza - the overhead is ridiculous. You never have played Freecell this slow in your life.
Things that should be very low overhead like WordPad, the Start Menu, etc. are just stuttery slow. I mean it is torture. The system is also frankly, patronizing. Do computer users really need to be alerted when they open an empty folder with the text "This folder is empty" ? A lot of alerts that repeat over and over seem to assume that the user is not simply new to computing, but also incapable of forming short term memories.
As with Windows the alt-tab key combo cycles through applications, on the Mac, command-tab cycles through apps as well. Because there was no overt way to remap the keys on the Windows side, I was unable to activate the Windows flip feature. I've yet to try Vista in BootCamp - but it's something I would never do in real life. I'm a Mac user. If I use Windows, it's because I have to, not because I want to - and I want Windows open in another window so I can copy-paste and drag and drop between the two operating systems.
It may not be fair to compare apples to oranges here, but I have no other reference point. When Apple came out with each new version of it's Mac OS X operating system iterations, there were loads of videos telling you how to take advantage of all the features. The new OS, Leopard, runs on my 6-year-old Mac w/o any upgrading and it flies on it. Even with SP1, Vista is just slower by an order of magnitude than XP.
I use XP at work and was very frustrated moving from Office 2003 to 2007 because all of the menus I knew were gone and moved around. I feel the same way with Vista - familiarity is simply not embraced with this 'upgrade' - you are simply thrown into a whole new environment, replete with many of the old problems, at a much slower pace.
As a Mac user, I buy a new Mac approximately every 5 years... that's all I need to really stay current and on top of the latest technologies and software. With Windows, however, you really need a new CPU every 2 years or sooner to make sure your hardware is space-age savvy enough to be able to run the glitz from the new software that Redmond rolls out. I don't see overt advantages to Vista. Their built-in firewall tries to protect you, but to the point of torturing you to death. It is less intuitive to use than its predecessors and I don't see what it does that's new that makes an 'upgrade' worthwhile. This entire OS seems like an utter failure. This is not simply a preference issue of Mac over Windows - putting preferences aside, Vista is simply slow. It has too much bloat compared to XP to make it a pleasant change. If it's more advanced, it should be more compatible (not less), snappier (not slower) and easier to use (not increasingly less intuitive)... especially at the cost - it should be doing something good for you, not punishing you.
Date: 2008-05-26
Better than I thought
I'll level with you: I'm a geek for technology. That said, I think Microsoft did a nice job with Vista Ultimate. Be warned that you will need more computer horsepower to show off all of Vista's bells and whistles - the Aero display is stunning but requires a decent video card.
My opinion is that if your computer is running fine with Windows XP, there's no reason to jump to Vista; but if you bought a computer with Vista Ultimate you'll be in for a nice improvement in the Windows family of products.
Date: 2008-05-22
Great operating system
When I first migrated to Vista, I wasn't sure I'd like it. Now I love it. It has so many great features. I especially like the Sidebar. I also like that you can set up photos into your screensaver. I no longer need to purchase a digital frame. I just use the screensaver.
Ultimate has many features that the other versions of Vista don't, especially backing up your system.
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