My work system was fubared, so I had to reload it. My boss has been bugging me to install Vista, so I can get a better idea of how it impacts the network. I also need to know how to use it if any of our customers start using it.
So, I pulled the trigger. So far, it's not bad. It's really purty and looks all shiney and new, but past that, I don't have much of an opinion. I might consider loading it at home to see how well it games. ACK! Did I just say that?
People seem to be cooling down about Vista now that it's been out for awhile. Most of the hardcore people I know still don't trust it, but a few run it and don't have that many issues.
The one thing most everyone agrees on though is that you need at least 2gigs of memory for it to run smoothly. Any of you out there running it feel the same way?
Yeah it's not like it's horrible, just I could free up substantially more ram and vid power in XP than in Vista. Vista didn't gain me anything, so it was better to stick with XP.
Hmm. I've only been running Vista for about 10mins. Just got home with my shiny new 'notebook'.
Got a Toshiba Satelite core2duo w/2gigs of ram for $545 - a $50 rebate. Now I just gotta get used to it a little more and start installing software on it. I know its kinda lowend, but I just wanted a family notebook to share around the house, especially outdoors now that its almost nice.
So whats the best way to start using it? Fully charge it then discharge, or just keep it plugged in most of the time? I'd definitely want to setup the battery life correctly.
Its a lithium battery. From what I remember both of my cell phones use lithiums and they have never lived up to specs so I didn't want to blow out this battery.
Now that I got home with it, I find that its populated with two 512k ddr2 cards, so I have to dump them and buy another 1gig chip. Ahh, they get you coming and going, lol.
What would you guys suggest? 2 gigs or 4 gigs of system ram? I was also thinking of wiping off Vista and installing XP, but I can see problems with finding drivers, especially the video since its using an Intel vid chip. Guess thats why it was cheap 🙂
At least this way I can see if the XP video driver is better. This one only offers 3 rez's, and I hate all three. Whats going to tempt me next is I can add another internal sata HD 🙂
I'm liking it so far, but its pretty damn big. Also, the box clearly states "laptop", so lets put that puppy to rest 🙂 I wanted the 15" ws for mostly movie viewing.
If I screw anything up, at least it came with a complete system restore set.
I would really suggest playing with Vista before just wiping it... I am FAAAAAR from a windows fan, but Vista is not as bad as people make it out to be...
I agree with the above... not to mention, sometimes especially with laptops it's hard to find drivers for the OSs. As for 3 or 4 Gb of ram, extra ram never hurts, though neither Vista or XP will use much over 3gb unless you run the 64 bit versions. But it won't hurt to own 4Gb and have it installed, just you won't be able to see/use it in Windows much beyond 3Gb. (the 3Gb number is shaky depending on what your video card is using for ram and some other things. The 32bit OS can only address some many bits of memory, and that causes the limitation.)
Does it have to do with the hardware on the motherboard, and not having the right drivers to run it under xp?
That's just. . .strange that they'd do that, given the ongoing XP/Vista conflict. It's not as though Vista has been a slam-dunk.
Thanks for answering.
Typically the Motherboard IDE/SATA drivers or Vid Driver are the issue, it's just laziness. It's not uncommon, this has been typical at the crossroads of a new and old OS each time I can think of.
Actually, in many cases its much more than that Bubba. I've read alot of forum posts since I posted that link. Install XP on a new laptop, and nothing works, wifi, lan, usb, vid, etc. After reading some of those posts I held off on install XP, although I did find most of the drivers I'd needed. The real trick is finding the correct system drivers, and you can bet some of them do not have an XP equivalent.
Whats really pissing me off now is this sucker won't allow me to update the video driver. Its an intel chipset, or an ATI X3100. The intel driver says the manufacturer is blocking the install, and a older version off of Toshiba's site I downloaded says there is no matching hardware. I ran it as an administrator, so I'm kinda miffed as to why it won't install. Shame, since this vid chip is highly rated (with the right driver). I installed QW:ET and it won't even start. Console is bitching about an error in the driver.
Until I get more time, just have to live with it or keep looking for a solution. I've read the XP video driver is running Q3 at 1024 @ 30fps on a similar laptop.