Advise on which edition of Windows Vista to use

[V1N]

Have you considered Vista Business? This comes with Remote Desktop and it's about the same price as Home Premium. It doesn't have Media Centre edition though

I have considered it, but actually, even though I have no need for the Media Centre stuff, I may well want it in the future, if I can get a large LCD TV.

So I think the OEM Ultimate will do me, as I'm not planning on upgrading my motherboard for a while, and it supports quadcore too, so that should cover me for a bit. By the time I do need to upgrade it, I'd hopefully have got my moneys worth out of it, and the retail version dropped in price by then too.

At the moment, I'm in the same boat as most people I'd assume, and the issue of drivers. My Topfield PVR doesn't even have XP x64 drivers, so guess there's no chance this would work with Vista. My (only 6 month old) Epson scanner has no 64bit drivers listed as yet either. At least, if I upgrade the firmware, I think my PCI IDE Raid card will work. Still need that until I can afford to replace all IDE drives.

One further thing I was wondering. I'm sure I read somewhere (could've been for a beta version) that you can install Vista, and use it for 30 days without activating? Or even use for 30 days without giving it your key?

If that's the case, I'd have no problems buying the OEM soon, installing it, and trying for a day or two to see how the driver situation is. If no good, continuing with XP for a while, and then reinstall it again at a later date, to see if drivers are working. Actually, I guess that if you can reactivate if you reinstall on the same machine, then it's no real problem, I just thought it would save hassle

OK, well thanks for your replies, and I'll continue to read with interest.
Will also be interesting, apart from driver issues, to see what software refuses to run on Vista 64bit. Not just games, but video encoding software and the like too.

Reminds me of when I upgraded to XP from ME. Even my SIX month old (at the time) Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback joystick, that cost me somewhere around £140, never had a proper XP driver made for it. XP had some built in support for it, but not the force feedback. That was a Microsoft product, in a new Microsoft OS. I remember how disgusted I was with that. Quite a few games and softwares I used at the time didn't work either, without patches/new releases, so I guess it's time for that again!
I don't even know why I feel the need to upgrade, my system does everything that I want it to for now.... but Vista is new, and looks so pretty!

OK, sorry for going OT a bit there,
thanks again for all the input,
V1N.

 

[ajgoodfellow]

Drivers always seem to be an issue - I was one of the early BETA testers of XP 64-bit (as it was called then) a few years ago and they are still a nightmare!

I'm currently running XP x64 edition and it seems to be fine, although one or two things still don't work. I can only hope that Vista 64-bit is better in this regard!

You can install Vista like XP and use it for 30 days without activating. After 30 days it'll stop working until you activate it. This could be handy if you want to try it on your current hardware!

I'm like you in regards to upgrading - I always seem to want the best! I went from a completely adequate Opteron 146 and an X800Pro to an FX62 and an X1900XT even though I don't really need the power! The same when I upgraded from XP to XP x64 and now Vista!

 

[NathanE]

Drivers always seem to be an issue - I was one of the early BETA testers of XP 64-bit (as it was called then) a few years ago and they are still a nightmare!

That's because XP x64 isn't a mainstream OS. You can't walk into any computer shop and see it on the shelf. Vista's x64 driver situation is completely different because, for starters, you will be able to walk into any computer shop and see it on the shelf!

 

[v0n]

You can use Home Premium to remotely connect to another PC, but not the other way around. I.E, it supports outgoing connections, but not incoming.

There is always VNC. And it's free.