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Windows Vista

Posted November 22, 2006

August 30, 2006

I am thinking about buying a new computer. Should I wait for Windows Vista? How soon will it be bundled with new computers?

Hi

I would not wait for Windows Vista. Brand new operating systems tend to have brand new problems. But if you like being an early adopter, be my guest.

Vista is supposed to be available on business computers by the end of the year: consumer releases of Vista should be available early in 2007. There were rumors of delays and launch dates being pushed, but Microsoft says everything is on schedule.

[Editor's note. This recently in. "Windows Vista will be officially unveiled at Microsoft's big New York City rollout on Nov. 30, with retail sales beginning in late January".]

You can get a computer with Windows XP now and upgrade to Vista later, if you want. If so, make sure that you get a PC with PCIe (PCI Express) graphics, as opposed to older AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port), and plenty of memory.

The graphics card should have plenty of memory, ideally 256MB, and the system itself should have plenty of RAM. At least 1GB, 2GB for good measure.

Check out Loyd Case's excellent article on hardware requirements for Windows Vista or, if you don't have time for the full article, Ask About Computers' review of the article.

The best performing CPU these days is Core 2 Duo [editor's note: Core 2 Quad has just been released, but it will be very pricey for a while]. Whether you get a laptop or a desktop, I would make sure that it has Core 2 Duo in it. It's the biggest thing to happen in computing for about 5 years.

AMD makes great CPUs, too. If you prefer AMD, you should be able to get one of their CPUs at a bargain price.

Best regards

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