Windows Vista Ultimate Disc 32bit Required On Loan

[redz_UK]

@ Y2K

I have 2 HP Desktop PC's

If I had bought an HP machine I would have been disgusted to find PC World/DSG were the manufacturer & not HP,

and I genuinely felt the laptop was mis-represented by having a Philips Badge on it.

most manufacturers cross populate there units with things from others.. you would probably be surprised when you open up a unit how similar they are inside..

the same can be said for a lot of car amplifiers, Cars, TV's etc..

However..

i am surprised that the phillips unit is essentially a rebadged advent, as discussed on many laptop sites, that quite frankly i wouldnt touch with a bargepole!!

imaging if you found out your new phillips tv was actually a polaroid or similar cheap brand? if you wanted a cheap tv thats what you would have bought!!

As Wozza has found out, to his expense unfortunatley, a name brand doesnt always give the quality it should.. and its owrth doing a bit of digging first..

sorry that doesnt help you wozza but maybe a fellow member in the future.. for what its worth i would make PC world well aware of my disgust and see if they can do anything for you but knowing there customer service prob not.

[Parthiban]

I guess rebadging happens a lot nowadays, with TVs being one of the major ones - how many people know when they're buying their £12k Bang & Olufsen plasma that they're really buying a Panasonic :P

[84Stoney]

Vista is based on xp, but all it has is a fancy front end that uses all the memory up !!!

and all it ever ask you is " are you sure you would like to install" " do your really want to allow this to install" "just asking for the last time you wont to install" and it keeps going on and on.

I thought Vista was NOT based on XP?

All that confirmation of install stuff is a security precaution to prevent those less IT literate from installing bad things by mistake, and im sure it can be turned off if you really want.

I find Vista slicker looking and faster to navigate throu. But you need to have the RAM for it. If you have less than 2gb, forget vista. My new home PC has 6gig of RAM and a quad core and runs vista quickly, smoothly and with ease. Running it throu a 40" panel and xp media centre is old and dated (running dual boot) whereas vista looks good,, and up to date.

[Mike_B]

All that confirmation of install stuff is a security precaution to prevent those less IT literate from installing bad things by mistake, and im sure it can be turned off if you really want.

I find Vista slicker looking and faster to navigate throu. But you need to have the RAM for it. If you have less than 2gb, forget vista. My new home PC has 6gig of RAM and a quad core and runs vista quickly, smoothly and with ease. Running it throu a 40" panel and xp media centre is old and dated (running dual boot) whereas vista looks good,, and up to date.

It can be turned off, it's the User Account Control in Control Panel under User Accounts. It's really not that hard to switch it off - MS are damned if they do and damned if they don't. People whine about UAC but then they whine about not being told if their systems do things on their behalf without letting them know.

I assume you're running the 64bit version of Vista then, if you have 6GB RAM?

[Dan_Harris]

indeed UAC can be turned off, I was a BETA tester for Vista throughout RC1 and RC2 for Microsoft. My recommendation really is running atleast 2gb of ram for 32bit vista and 4gb is the sweetspot in 64bit vista.

I had no problems O/S side of things however as I was testing it 2years before it was released there was very little driver support from company's even to date creative still provide shoddy vista drivers. UAC can be disabled.

Tips and tricks for Vista can be obtained here - CLICK ME I spent time creating this thread with Keith Chegwin.

[Tyger]

Why on Earth you guys spend so much time picking such a great car and yet put little or no thought whatsoever into choosing the a computer is baffling.

I would have expected those who choose the quality of Lexus to also be choosy about what OS they use also.

Weird.

Mac OS X is the LS600h of operating systems. And a Mac can run all that Windows nonsense 100% anyway. Why limit the software you can run by choosing a Windows box?

Wise up.

Anees: It seems it has been a long time since you specced up a Mac laptop and a BRANDED PC laptop. A Mac costs way more!? Maybe a few years ago...

While I am at it... http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/18557/

[Dan_Harris]

well i build my own comps so can get better performance for less than a MAC ;)

[Tyger]

Maybe you can.

But you are stuck with Windows and all the headaches that brings with it. Why waste 20% of your CPU cycles on antivirus, anti-malware spyware etc etc ??

It's like building an Aston Martin and then filling the tank with treacle.

Pretty pointless.

:)

My Mac Pro, 8 Xeon 3.2GHz processors, 10GB RAM (can have 32GB), 4TB HD, 64-bit OS X monster wasn't cheap, but it runs any OS I want as fast as I want and it connects to anything I want and can do anything I want it to and will last me for years. It's the mutts nutts and it looks beautiful inside and out.

I am happy to pay for a machine like that.

[DJ Wozza]

Why on Earth you guys spend so much time picking such a great car and yet put little or no thought whatsoever into choosing the a computer is baffling.

I understand you love your Macs fella, point taken,

but I couldn't afford a MAC notebook plain & simple, plus the software I am used to using for work purposes is designed to run on windows,

(although may well be able to run on a Mac)so I bought what I thought was a good branded laptop running the same operating system

as 95% of the rest of the world.

Also I did spent time and effort on selecting the spec of the machine within my budget, and actually went over by a small margin

to get something that looked like a good buy (spec, brand name & price), and to claim I didn't is actually quite insulting.

[Dan_Harris]

Tyger, you say you can install any O/S, can I ask what gfx you are running? I build mainly top end gaming pc's, and self built is a lot easier to upgrade specific parts as opposed to having to buy a completely new pc.

MAC's also don't play games that well and support is a lot of the time less, granted MAC's are great in their uses.

[Tyger]

Why on Earth you guys spend so much time picking such a great car and yet put little or no thought whatsoever into choosing the a computer is baffling.

I understand you love your Macs fella, point taken,

but I couldn't afford a MAC notebook plain & simple, plus the software I am used to using for work purposes is designed to run on windows,

(although may well be able to run on a Mac)so I bought what I thought was a good branded laptop running the same operating system

as 95% of the rest of the world.

Also I did spent time and effort on selecting the spec of the machine within my budget, and actually went over by a small margin

to get something that looked like a good buy (spec, brand name & price), and to claim I didn't is actually quite insulting.

Don't get me wrong, a Mac isn't for EVERYONE, just a hell of a lot more than the 8% or so currently using them.

A NEW Mac laptop will be about the same price as a top spec PC laptop. They are top spec machines and not competing in the bargain-basement market. If you are not looking for this and can put up with Windows then sure - get a PC laptop.

BUT a 2 year old 2nd-hand Mac laptop would beat out a new similarly priced PC hands down. Price is NOT an issue.

eBay is your friend.

I didn't mean any insult whatsoever, I was more having a go at those who write off Macs based on hearsay and urban myth rather than discovering the facts.

[Dan_Harris]

MAC's are extremely smooth no doubting, however they are still expensive in what they are, but I agree if I had 800-1k to spend on a lappy I would get a MAC no questions asked. But I would rather just get a netbook and build a top end PC for £600 that will kick the living poo out of pretty much any lappy, btw xeon's are not ideal for desktop use they are much better in a server ;)

[Tyger]

Dan: I have 2 cards.

For Mac OS X I have an ATI Radeon 3870 (soon to be replaced with a 4870)

For Windows (which I ONLY boot up for games and a few proprietary apps for work) I use an nVidia G9800GX2.

Mac OS X doesn't yet have drivers for the 9800, but this really doesn't matter as the only game I play on the Mac - World of Warcraft - runs fine on my "crappy" 3870 at 2560x1600.

You are absolutely right about the Xeons, but the MacPro is in that kind of ball park.

Are they REALLY expensive for what they are? The only box you can run all OS native speed 100% and legally. The ONLY box that can run Mac OS X 100% - no viruses. A Unix box aswell.

Oh and they have superb connectivity and they sure look good!

Is it overpriced? I don't think so.

http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/18561/

[DJ Wozza]

I didn't mean any insult whatsoever, I was more having a go at those who write off Macs based on hearsay and urban myth rather than discovering the facts.

Understood. I don't want this turning into a Windows/Mac operating sytem debate either. Both have their uses.

I am (and I feel still justifyably) miffed at Philips & PC World.

Next time I buy a laptop or desktop PC, I will do some further research into the origins of

who actually makes it, rather than the badge on it.

I don't think I would be the first person to take a brand named product off the shelf, and expect the bits inside to have the same name.

[Tyger]

Amen to that.

[DJ Wozza]

I have created a poll on the first page, please go back & vote your honest opinions.

Many thanks for all your help guys, especially Stoney & Anees :D

[sparkystav]

Fight the power lol