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Best Version of Windows to Install?
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jun 2008
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on a new Macbook Pro, 4 gigs, 2.4 GHZ.
I will be doing some gaming, yes - should be installing 32 bit XP or should I be installing Vista?
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: planning a comeback !
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Vista is still not compatible with all games. XP is safer for gaming.
-t
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Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Polwaristan
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Senior User
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: NY
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XP hands down
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cambridge, UK
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I'd also agree with XP.
We also have a forum dedicated to Windows and other OSes which is what this thread is about - thread on the move!
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Houston, TX
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XP
DX10 in Vista adds some neat stuff, but not worth the hassle of Vista for me (until I go to 8GB RAM).
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Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
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In terms of bang for the buck, XP still wins out. There's cool stuff in Vista, but the learning curve for an experienced XP user is not as flat as I'd like (I've been using XP since it came out and Vista still gives me fits). As noted above, Vista doesn't run as many games as XP, and additionally there are a lot of driver issues to deal with, especially with non-cutting-edge hardware. That means in some cases year and a half old stuff rather than five year old stuff. I'm not terribly happy with how well the Vista drivers support Mac hardware. I have a copy of Vista sitting there on my desk right now, and it has not even come out of the package.
Lots of words to say "XP for me too," but there are plenty of reasons for it.
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Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Doesn't XP licensing die tomorrow (30th)? Or have they changed it again?
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Dec 1999
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Google Alky Project. It's now been delegated to open source, but it enables you to install DirectX 10 onto Windows XP machines, so you don't even need Vista.
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"…I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than
you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods,
you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Houston, TX
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Originally Posted by seanc
Doesn't XP licensing die tomorrow (30th)? Or have they changed it again?
There's plenty of copies around to buy retail, and of course downgrade rights for OEM.
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Originally Posted by mduell
There's plenty of copies around to buy retail, and of course downgrade rights for OEM.
I've been looking at those downgrade rights, they're damn confusing. So far, it seems that the customer has to provide me with their old XP license so that I can install it on their new PC. Then I have to activate it, fail, call Microsoft and explain that they've got Vista Business/Ultimate and that I'm using my downgrade rights. Which leaves me with no XP license for the old PC they may be returning.
http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...rencesheet.pdf
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Houston, TX
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Originally Posted by seanc
I've been looking at those downgrade rights, they're damn confusing. So far, it seems that the customer has to provide me with their old XP license so that I can install it on their new PC. Then I have to activate it, fail, call Microsoft and explain that they've got Vista Business/Ultimate and that I'm using my downgrade rights. Which leaves me with no XP license for the old PC they may be returning.
http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...rencesheet.pdf
For most people, the downgrade rights usage is going to be via OEMs like Dell, who sell you an XP media and do the downgrade licensing for a nominal fee.
If you're doing it on your own, you install XP from the disk you already own (any XP disk will work), then call MS to exercise the downgrade rights.
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Originally Posted by mduell
For most people, the downgrade rights usage is going to be via OEMs like Dell, who sell you an XP media and do the downgrade licensing for a nominal fee.
If you're doing it on your own, you install XP from the disk you already own (any XP disk will work), then call MS to exercise the downgrade rights.
Maybe I did completely misunderstand it
XP SP3 could make this useful, because you don't need to enter in a license when installing it.
So to summarise:
- Install XP (Pro in my case - without a license if possible
- Get my Vista license
- Call Microsoft, say I want to downgrade
- Get a new XP license? and then I'm done?
Maybe I'll call Microsoft tomorrow and see if they can give me a final answer, the longer I can put off having to put Vista on my PCs, the better.
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Houston, TX
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Why bother with the Vista license? Just buy one of the millions of copies of XP in the supply chain.
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Yes I know, but imagine there aren't any... I'm trying to work it out.
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Aurora, IL
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XP SP2, SP3 is buggy IMO.
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Chris Rhoads / Forum Admin & Webmaster of Sandtroopers.com
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Senior User
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: NY
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Originally Posted by dustrho
XP SP2, SP3 is buggy IMO.
Definitely
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Senior User
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: California
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All I use Windows for is games. Never had a problem with a game not running in vista64 but I don't play anything that's really old. Never had a driver issue. I use the 64-bit version of ATI's Catalyst for the video card and everything else is from apple.
Once you turn off the annoying security 'features', it essentially becomes a prettier version of XP. I have both an XP Pro partition and a Vista64 partition, but I don't really have a reason to boot into XP anymore.
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not all who wander are lost.
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Mar 2008
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XP SP2 is in my opinion better than Vista and requires less over head to run. It also installs and runs better in virtualized environment either vmware or parallels. So you can have it run through bootcamp or through fusion
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Land between the Lakes!
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Are there any special procedures to install 64 bit XP or Vista? Or will Boot Camp just handle it all?
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Bootcamp will handle it fine. Bootcamp is there purely to create the partition and make a driver disc, after that, it's just the same as installing Windows on a PC.
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Senior User
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: California
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Originally Posted by Ozz_man
Are there any special procedures to install 64 bit XP or Vista? Or will Boot Camp just handle it all?
Apple doesn't have any drivers for 64-bit XP, just so you know.
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not all who wander are lost.
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Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: on the verge of insanity
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I would go with XP Pro. If you can get your hands on a 64 bit version, then that would be better. XP Pro 32 bit only supports 3 gigs of ram. Though, I am not entirely sure that the 64 bit version will support four either.
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I like my water with hops, malt, hops, yeast, and hops.
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Land between the Lakes!
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Originally Posted by mr. burns
Apple doesn't have any drivers for 64-bit XP, just so you know.
So it's a waste of time to even try to install XP 64 bit on my iMac, right? Might as well go with Vista?
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Houston, TX
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Why bother with 64-bit Windows on a Machine that only supports 4GB RAM?
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Land between the Lakes!
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I thought 4 gigs of ram was sufficent to run a 64 bit OS?
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Senior User
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: California
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The main reason people run 64-bit Windows is to be able to use more than 4GB or RAM, which is the max for 32-bit.
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not all who wander are lost.
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Houston, TX
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Originally Posted by Ozz_man
I thought 4 gigs of ram was sufficent to run a 64 bit OS?
Of course it is, but why?
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Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: on the verge of insanity
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Originally Posted by mr. burns
The main reason people run 64-bit Windows is to be able to use more than 4GB or RAM, which is the max for 32-bit.
3 gigs is the max for 32 bit XP.
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I like my water with hops, malt, hops, yeast, and hops.
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jan 2008
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Ok let's get the 32-bit 64-bit operating system and RAM story straight.
32-bit OS's can only address 4GB of overall system memory. That includes graphics card memory and any other so if you ahve a 512MB memory card and 4 GB of system memory your system can only address 3.5 GB of your local RAM.
64-bit OS's can address miles more GB of RAM so there is no issue with the above.
Having more sytem memory avaliable will usually make things run smoother depending on your usage scenario.
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Land between the Lakes!
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Originally Posted by mduell
Of course it is, but why?
I don't know. Whats the real purpose of having a 64 bit operating system to begin with? This is all a puzzle to me I thought there was some sort of benefit to it.
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Houston, TX
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You don't need 4GB RAM to run a 64-bit OS; they run fine on less.
One of the few reasons to run a 64-bit OS is that you have >4GB RAM.
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Land between the Lakes!
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Because XP won't run 64 bit on a Mac that is sad, I tried Vista and I detest that OS. If that's my only choice then I would rather just stick with good old XP 32 bit to run my few games. I just thought it would be neat to try something new so I ordered 4 gigs of ram. I probably just don't need it (but damned it's cheap right now)
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