[iomatic]

Wife: iMac 24, stock, perhaps upgraded, when you guys chime in on the RAM issue...., Myself: MBP 15/2.33

Have a line in on Vista (no idea whether it's Beta, likely), or XPSP2— relative @ MS.

Recommendations? Which one to install on Parallels?

[chabig]

I'd go with XP:

1. Cheaper
2. Well supported
3. Less demanding on your system
4. Available now
5. A known entity (Vista is a complete unknown...wait for the reports from actual users. I predict many, many problems. And the answer will always be, "You need to buy a new computer.")

Chris

[iomatic]

I guess I could install Vista on an entirely separate VM, yes?

So, XP, main testing system (because that's all that matters), Vista for play (if you can call it that)?

[ghporter]

With thanks to Illiad...
User Friendly for November 4, 2006

[hldan]

Originally Posted by chabig 

I'd go with XP:

1. Cheaper
2. Well supported
3. Less demanding on your system
4. Available now
5. A known entity (Vista is a complete unknown...wait for the reports from actual users. I predict many, many problems. And the answer will always be, "You need to buy a new computer.")

Chris

Well supported yes but uprotected as well. XP is worse than a crap shoot when it comes to security. Even Microsoft said that it's only going to get worse. All the new iMacs with a dedicated GPU are Vista Premium Ready and it should be a little more secure since it's a new OS although problems will happen of course and security will be an issue as usual of course but why choose an aging OS over something new?

[Mrjinglesusa]

Originally Posted by iomatic 

Wife: iMac 24, stock, perhaps upgraded, when you guys chime in on the RAM issue...., Myself: MBP 15/2.33

Have a line in on Vista (no idea whether it's Beta, likely), or XPSP2— relative @ MS.

Recommendations? Which one to install on Parallels?

Couple of things:

1) You will not get the Aero user interface in Vista running it in Parallels. Parallels cannot emulate the video card of your system.

2) You cannot run DirectX or ActiveX-based games under Parallels.

I would recommend XP in Parallels and Vista in Boot Camp. That's how I have both by MBP and iMac set-up. Vista in Boot Camp is sweeeeeet and works like a charm.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by hldan 

Well supported yes but uprotected as well. XP is worse than a crap shoot when it comes to security. Even Microsoft said that it's only going to get worse. All the new iMacs with a dedicated GPU are Vista Premium Ready and it should be a little more secure since it's a new OS although problems will happen of course and security will be an issue as usual of course but why choose an aging OS over something new?

Actually, as long as the user installs all the updates and keeps a decent antivirus package running and up to date, security is not an issue. What Microsoft is really warning about is in the corporate world, computer users tend to be "less careful" in their habits because "it's not my computer to worry about." Bad habits can make the best security features moot.

I've been running XP on three laptops and two desktops for years and have yet to get a virus on any of them. Some adware and a bit of spyware on my son's desktop, yes, but he deals with that on a regular basis (because he still wants to visit his comic and gaming sites). Security issues? NONE.

[Javizun]

using macbook pro and vista so far the experience is something i did not expect.
no errors yet everything is extremely fast.

[iomatic]

I saw an article somewhere about getting Boot Camp and Windows on an external drive. I wish there was an easier way than that process, though.

[chefpastry]

For Parallels, my vote goes to XP.

[©öñFü$íóÑ]

(BootCamp + Vista or XP2) for me, a gamer. Naturally, I would prefer to run my PC games with ALL resources dedicated to the PC side.