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Friday, June 22, 2007
Is it finally time to upgrade to Vista?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Raise your hand when I call the name of your group.
Those of you with a really old computer please move to the back of the room. If you have a fast new machine, stay up here with me. The rest of you get in the middle.
I’m being barraged with e-mailed questions from readers who followed my advice and postponed installing Microsoft Vista. They want to know if it’s now time. The answer isn’t the same for everyone; that’s why I put you into different groups.
Let’s start with those of you in the back of the room. Don’t squirm, it’s OK.
If you have a computer running Windows 98, Windows ME or even XP and your computer has a processor with a speed measured in megahertz, not gigahertz, I’ll give it to you straight. You are never going to upgrade to Vista. You need to wait until it’s time to buy a new computer that already has Vista installed.
Vista Home Premium requires at least a 1-gigahertz processor, 1 gigabyte of RAM, a 40-gigabyte hard disk with 15 gigabytes free. You may notice I’m not even dealing with Vista Home Basic - and neither should you. It offers scant advantages over XP. So all my upgrade advice today will be based on moving to Vista Home Premium.
The people in the first group probably don’t have PCs that even meet the requirements for Basic. And when it comes to Home Premium, forget about it.
I usually tell readers to only replace a computer when it no longer can do what needs doing. But, in truth, if you are in this group - and if you can afford it - you probably ought to go shopping soon. Even if your computer works OK for you, it won’t let you sample all that’s available these days. You may be missing some things you’d enjoy.
Squeaking by
Next group, please. You probably felt pretty good as you just read the specifications for Vista Home Premium, since your computer meets those specifications.
Maybe you’re running Windows XP on a computer with the required 1 gigabyte of RAM and have a hard disk that’s big enough. And the processor is just a touch faster than the 1-gigahertz minimum. Hey, as far as Microsoft is concerned, your PC gets a passing grade.
But it flunks in my class. If you are in this group, please stick with Windows XP. Microsoft wants a lot of PCs to fit the specifications for Vista so it can sell more copies. Who can blame them? But I think it’s really stretched things to the breaking point with the minimum specifications.
We’ll call your group the squeakers: you barely squeak by the minimum specifications. Stay where you are. Vista will probably run on your machine, but by upgrading you’ll get slower performance and - I can guarantee it - you’ll end up adding RAM, a new hard disk and a new video card. Once you’;ve done all that and then start totaling up the cost, you’ll realize you’ve thrown good money after bad.
There’s no need for you to upgrade now, or even to buy a new computer if you’re happy with your XP performance.
Add a gigabyte
That leaves you fast-laners upfront. Your computer has a processor that’s faster than 2 gigahertz, your hard disk is 80 gigabytes or better and you have at least 1 gigabyte of RAM. It’s time for you to consider moving to Vista. Most of the early bugs are out. But don’t feel too smug; you may have some work to do and money to spend yet.
Let’s start with the RAM in your machine. Before Vista, 1 gigabyte was considered generous. Your machine probably is kicking along nicely with XP. But to get about the same performance with Vista you’ll need to double the RAM. Fortunately, that’s an easy and affordable do-it-yourself job. Plan on paying about $85 to add another gigabyte.
You may also discover your video card is slowing things down. I recommend a card with 256 megabytes of memory instead of Microsoft’s recommended 128 megabytes.
You’ll end up spending about $200 for RAM and video card, but I think the upgrade is worth it for people in this group. Vista really is better than XP. It’s more secure, a heck of a lot prettier and even has better free accessory programs. I love the new e-mail program that comes with Vista. The spam filtering is as good or better than any commercial product I’ve used. And backing up your data is a breeze.
Upgrade at will
I realize a few of you have a PC that blows away all the specifications I’ve mentioned. It’s fine for you to upgrade to Vista. You won’t need to upgrade the memory, your video card is amazing and the hard disk has enough room to store countless digital movies.
But I suspect you already know all that and have already made the jump to Vista. If you are still running XP you probably have a good reason.
We’re nearly done here.
Wait. There are a few people left. They are smirking and giggling. Be quiet and go back to your Macs.
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