Pondering a new PC

Did I mention how much I love my Mac's?

 

Your Mac's what?


I love ALL my Mac can do!
 

I used to be a huge Dell Fan. Had a Dell desktop that was great. Before we left the States we bought a Dell Inspiron Laptop and it TOTALLY sucked. Never ever again will I buy a Dell. We have finally checked the Dell and bought a reconditioned Toshiba on ebay and I love it.

You could probably buy the Vista machine and put VMWare on it and install XP on an image.  Then you could choose which you want to use, wait for Vista SP1 to come out and use XP in the meantime.  Anyone know if there's any problems doing this?

if you want a Dell without Vista you can just call them up and ask for XP rather than Vista, also it's worth checking www.hotukdeals.com
http://www.hotukdeals.com/?merchant_filter=28&category_filter=All&type_filter=All&availability_filter=All&status_filter=Active&order_by=Newest
as the guys on there regularly trawl Dell looking for good deals, there are some money off vouchers and tips on haggling with Dell as well
Hope that helps

(I don't know about Dell - I love my Macbook and am about to replace my desktop with an mac pro )

wow, MaryKate- thank you for posting that hotukdeals link!  There's an amazing deal on there for a complete system that I'm considering buying (since it lets me get Windows XP!)

updated- I bought it!  £340 total for an dual core processor system with Windows XP Pro (YAY!),  1 gig memory, 320GB hard drive and 19" flat screen monitor!  A steal if you ask me- I could have gotten it for as low as £305 but I upgraded the processor slightly.  The offer was £20 off...according to that hotukdeals site though the offer ends on the 29th.

wow, MaryKate- thank you for posting that hotukdeals link!  There's an amazing deal on there for a complete system that I'm considering buying (since it lets me get Windows XP!)

updated- I bought it!  £340 total for an dual core processor system with Windows XP Pro (YAY!),  1 gig memory, 320GB hard drive and 19" flat screen monitor!  A steal if you ask me- I could have gotten it for as low as £305 but I upgraded the processor slightly.  The offer was £20 off...according to that hotukdeals site though the offer ends on the 29th.

wow! And XP PRO!! going to look in a bit.

Thanks for the link,MaryKate

wow, MaryKate- thank you for posting that hotukdeals link!  There's an amazing deal on there for a complete system that I'm considering buying (since it lets me get Windows XP!)

updated- I bought it!  £340 total for an dual core processor system with Windows XP Pro (YAY!),  1 gig memory, 320GB hard drive and 19" flat screen monitor!  A steal if you ask me- I could have gotten it for as low as £305 but I upgraded the processor slightly.  The offer was £20 off...according to that hotukdeals site though the offer ends on the 29th.

yay! glad to have helped I've got a bit addicted to hotukdeals, I never buy anything without checking there first! I'm quite fond of the £20 off anything at Empire direct codes, and there's always a £7 off a £50 spend at Tesco, so I can get my shopping delivered free - yay!
That vostro is an excellent deal actually, the monitor is probably worth around £100 alone, so the whole thing for £340 is amazing.

oooh forgot to mention, if you wanna save some cash - Dell outlet has some bargains
http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/default.aspx?c=uk&cs=&l=en&s=dfh&~ck=betafrbsd&~ck=mn

So... has Windows Vista improved since this thread was started?

Im thinking of getting a new laptop, and it seems they all come with Vista...

Hi Genau

I've been using Vista since about September 07 and had no issues with it whatsoever - it's been stable, reliable, well performing. I had a couple of issues which I had sorted within 45 mins - but if anyone less PC techy than me came across the issue would cause them to tear their hair out !

Overall, I'd say you can go for Vista no worries at all. Service Pack 1 is now also out and improves the base code. It's not 'all there' though - there are always issues and upgrades etc but if your a basic to intermediate home user doing the 'usual' home based PC related stuff, you'll be fine.

Please also bear in mind any software you have or want - ensure you get and use Vista certified versions ONLY. Older programs will run in what's called 'compatibility mode' but I'd rather suggest getting an upgrade to an older program that's Vista certified - just to 'minimise' any risk of hair pulling out!

Late 2009, and Windows 7 is touted 'currently' for release - that aims to be the 'fix' that Vista was supposed to be.

In business and enterprise use, Vista desktop has yet to still take off in any major way but the similar 'Vista' ish code is being used to very warm praise in business level software.

If you 'really' must have XP - then as already suggested, using VMware and/or Virtual PC 2007 (this is microsofts freeby) - both free, you can 'run' XP 'inside' Vista in a virtual environment - and works stably and very well indeed. You only have to make sure you have a genuine licensed copy of XP to do this though.

8/10 for me by using Vista !

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Thanks!

Our laptop (which I bought five years ago!) is almost dead, so we're looking to buy a new one asap.

Can anyone recommend a brand?  We only really use the laptop to go online, listen to music and stream videos/tv once in awhile.

I've always had Dell computers since day 1, and have (touch wood) never had a problem.

Our laptop (which I bought five years ago!) is almost dead, so we're looking to buy a new one asap.

Can anyone recommend a brand?  We only really use the laptop to go online, listen to music and stream videos/tv once in awhile.

Can I throw another shameless mac plug out there?  I love my macbook.  Like my dell desktop too, but its nothing compared to my macbook.