Should I but a new Vista loaded desktop ??

[dbros9]

My 3 year old Dell works great but is too slow - I want to get faster PC about $500 (no monitor). I have allot of torrent / burning programs - Utorrent - Convertx - Clonedvd - DVDFab - Nero - DVD shrink - Winavi - BinIso - many registry cleaning programs etc etc - If I go to Vista will most of these work or am I screwed?
Also I can get a great deal on a Dell Slim tower - but the optical drive is sideways and I burn a ton of stuff - will the sideways drive be an issue??

Thanks allot

[zoobie]

you may just want to pop a faster processor in there
this way, you can still use XP

[wtsinnc]

You will find a lot of people who post on this website who know lots more about computers than me, but here is some of what I DO know;

I run Vista Ultimate as well as all three incarnations of XP. My computer is a Dell e510 purchased 11-'05 with a Pentium 4 630 (3.0ghz w/hyperthreading), 2.5 gb of dual channel 533mhz RAM, ATI Radeon X300 video card, and standard 7200 rpm hard drives. I personally do not like the slim form factor computers becaues they limit the user to one internal DVD drive and very often (as in the case of DELL, use lower capacity power supplies and often limit configiration options such as the number of dimms (2 versus 4) plus fewer expansion slots.

Based on what I've seen recently, $500.00 invested in a Dell, HP, Asus/Gateway, or Lenovo will get you a barely passable unit for running vista, probably offering a lower eschelon CPU, (maybe) 1gb of RAM, a basic video card, and whatever they decide to offer in the way of an optical drive. Any way you cut it, you will be paying at least $100.00 of the $500.00 you plan to spend on an operating syatem that simply will not run properly with such a limited configuration.

As far as the software you listed, DVDFab Decrypter or Platinum and CloneDVD run fine on Vista, Nero 7 or 8 is needed to be Vista compatible (I've tried Nero version 6 several times without success), DVD Shrink usually will not even load whenever I've tried it on my computer with Vista, and I have no personal experience with the other three in your post. I can say that Imgburn works perfectly as well as 1clickdvdcopy5 and 1clickdvdcopypro, DVD43, and AnyDVD, among others. About disc and registry cleaners; I have had good success with CCleaner, Wise Disc Cleaner, Wise Registry Cleaner, Toni Arts Easy Cleaner, and Eusing Free Registry Cleaner. All are free applications.

Based on your post, my personal experiences with Vista and XP, and the experiences of several friends, I feel that you should either use the $500.00 to seriously upgrade the computer you now own or increase your budget for a new purchase. Using compatible programs, CD and DVD burning is about the same with Vista or XP, but keep in mind that Vista is still buggy and does limit your choices for software.

[Snakebyte1]

I have a workstation with an optical drive sideways in it. What a pain! You have to make sure you get the disc in right for the little tabs to hold it. You'll end up dropping some on the floor or getting others half in/half out when the tray closes, and be ready to catch when you eject a disc.

Also, one time I gave the PC a bit of a bump when a disc was spinning and it came off the hub and banged around inside making one hell of a noise.

See if the case has a 5 1/4 horizontal bay available and move the DVD drive there if you can. (Or you could put the drive in an external housing and connect via firewire or USB.

[Des]

I have had no problems running DVDShrink on two differnt Vista Machines. My main machine (64bit OS) and a lower end latop (32bit OS).

Biggest probablem with Vista is driver compatability issues for older and some more recent hardware. 2nd biggest problem is some software, usually more poorly written software or very old software doesn't like to run. I have personally only experienced a handful of this. My work around is to run Virtual Box (virtual machine) with W2K installed. 3rd biggest problem is that Vista LOVES RAM!

XP is stable and less problematic in these regards. Overtime the issues have and will ease up.

--dES

[edDV]

Here is what I did. Run the Vista and XP machines side by side. Move one program at a time and see where the issues are if any. I saw the greatest issues around audio. Many pro or semipro programs aren't 100% DirectShow API compatible. They cheat for performance.

The Vista audio model is very different and not always backwards compatible. In those cases you need to update your program to the Vista version if available or leave it on the XP machine.

Drivers for specific older hardware can be an issue. Again move things one by one and test.

Currently my Vista machine is more stable by far than the XP machine although I have discovered driver flaws that will crash it.

[SIRCOOKS]

NO!

[oldandinthe way]

If you are going to run Vista - then yes. This is the shortest path to a stable Vista machine because the manufacturer has loaded all of the proper drivers.

If you are going to add your grungy old well-loved hardware to the system, only if you have the Vista drivers in hand.

[SmokieStover]

In the $500 to $600 range you will not get a new desktop with enough hardware to run VISTA well. I would avoid slim profile units completely.

Dell offers new Desktops with XP, but after poking around on their web site, you have to be more in the $900 range to get what I would consider mainstream performance.

Here are three links from newegg to get a handle on what I consider "mainstream performance" Desktops with XP:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883107469

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883107442

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883107342

After two false starts with VISTA BUSINESS, wherein I had both software and hardware problems (not video related but extremely expensive and disruptive to fix), I ended up with the last item.

I also have a used Dell Workstation (XP Pro and Pentium 4, 2.8 hyperthreading) lined up for $75. The owners there of made a massive switch to new VISTA machines and ran into a wall of problems. They will eventually get things squared away running their test machines and start the old boxes out the door. This is a dam cheap alternative.

[redwudz]

Vista may not let you tamper with the registry quite as much as XP. And I would agree about vertical optical drives, a PITA to work with.

I would look to Vista Home Premium. The regular Home version is a bit crippled. And, JMO, you don't really get any great advantage from the Ultimate version for home use considering the difference in price. But you can always upgrade if desired.

Vista needs 2GB of RAM to perform best. Vista 32 can only use a bit less than 4GB so that's the upper limit. With any computer, I would recommend at least two hard drives, I prefer three. It's best to keep the OS and programs on a separate HDD from your files. A ~3Ghz CPU, dual or quad core, would be good.

There's not that many programs that don't work with Vista. Mostly older or poorly written ones. A good listing here: http://www.iexbeta.com/wiki/index.php/Windows_Vista_Software_Compatibility_List It also includes some hardware listings.

[wtsinnc]

I found this on Ebay. It has Vista Home Premium installed and looks like a very good deal but still needs an additional 1 or 2 GB of additional memory to run vista properly. I'm also not too sure about the video chip; that very well could need upgrading as well. Still, you could certainly get out for under $600.00, even with upgrades and shipping. This seller has two PCs, both Inspirons with a ten dollar difference in price and his feedback rating is excellent.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=300198764056&Category=140070&_trksid=p3907.m29

[edDV]

What does Dell want for the same thing?

The RAM fills two slots so you need to junk them* and start over a new matched pair.

Hard drive is OK for OS. Need additional drives for Video.

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 is basic for non gaming. I wonder what slots are on the mobo for expansion?

I don't know much about a Dell Inspiron mobo for expandability.

You could buy parts and do better but you must factor in the OEM Vista Premium price.


* nobody wants to buy used 512MB DDR2 modules for computers. Maybe there's another market for them. What should be provided is a matched pair of DDR2 6400 1GB ea.

[dbros9]

here is a deal i found on Dell site -
i do burn allot of cd/dvd's but u a can put the pc sideways to make it easier.
with a 22in widescreen and XP etc - is the the right deal ??
also is the processor fast enough?? fyi a 250g hard drive is only $30 more

thanks...
Vostro 200 Slim Tower
Date & Time: February 18,2008 5:10 PM CST

SYSTEM COMPONENTS
Vostro 200 Slim Tower Qty 1
Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Proc E2180 (2.00GHz,1MB L2Cache,800FSB), Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition Unit Price $789.00
With this option, PC ships with no preinstalled malware protection.
With this option, your PC will ship with no preinstalled malware protection View Details


Save $280 on Select Vostro 200 ST through Dell Small Business
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- $280.00

Catalog Number: 4 BRDASAC
Module Description Show Details
Vostro 200 Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Proc E2180 (2.00GHz,1MB L2Cache,800FSB)
Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition
Memory 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz - 2DIMMs
Keyboard Dell USB Keyboard
Monitor Dell 22 inch Widescreen E228WFP Analog Flat Panel Display
Video Card Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 3100
Hard Drive 160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
Floppy Drive and Media Reader No Floppy Drive
Mouse Dell Scroll Mouse
Network Interface Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Modem and Wireless No Modem Option
Adobe Software Adobe Acrobat Reader
Optical Drives Single Drive: 16X (DVD+/-RW) Burner Drive
Sound Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Speakers No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
Office Productivity Software (Pre-installed) Microsoft Works 8. Does NOT Include MS Word
Security Software No Pre-installed Anti-Virus/Security Software
Warranty & Service 1 Year Basic Limited Warranty and 1 Year NBD On-Site Service
Dell DataSafe Online Data Backup 10GB for 1 Year Online Data Backup by Dell DataSafe
Standard Vostro Services Tools 1 Year Dell Automated PC Tuneup
Internet Access Service No ISP requested
Standard Vostro Services Tools Dell Network Assistant
Purchase Intent Purchase is not intended for resale.
Labels Windows XP™

TOTAL509.00

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[SmokieStover]

Maybe I should explain why I would avoid a slim profile PC: airflow, lack of expandability, non-standard PCI(e) cards required, non standard power supplies, etc.

You truly need to add a second HDD for data....this means two internal 3.5" bays and the 2nd drive could come later. Suggested minimum for expansion on the motherboard would be 2 full height PCI slots, 1 PCIEx16 slot, and 1 PCIE x1. I would prefer 4 ram slots, but with XP two will do depending on supplied ram and cost. I would also want 2 external 5.25" bays for optical drives. Power supply of 300 watts, though a 250 would be acceptable.

I use XP Pro and Home and performance wise, never could find a material difference between them.

In Dell's lingo, you want a mini-tower not a desktop. Look at the 330 and 740 series.