Considering reverting to XP from Vista...

Discussion in 'Installation and Configuration of Parallels Desktop' started by joelwnelson, Sep 13, 2007.

  1. joelwnelson

    joelwnelson Junior Member

    Messages:
    15
    I currently have Vista (legit license) set up on my Boot Camp partition and am also accessing it through Parallels. I'm getting tired of the persistent activation messages -- and subsequent phone calls to Microsoft -- anytime I change a setting in Parallels. I love the Vista interface and the included apps (DVD Maker, the games, etc.) but this is starting to be a major irritant. Anyone else used Vista for a while and decided to downgrade to XP? I'm considering getting rid of Vista and running XP Pro instead in Boot Camp and Parallels.

    Talk me into making the switch... or talk me out of it and get me to stay with Vista. Curious to see what most will recommend... and reasons.

    My machine is a MacBook, 2.16 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB HD. Parallels version is 3.0 (Tuesday's release).
     
  2. misterjangles

    misterjangles Member

    Messages:
    97
    I've always tended to update early, but in the case of Vista it just doesn't offer anything that I need and the performance is worse. I have an MSDN subscription that includes a legit copy of Vista Ultimate.

    I tried switching for about a week. I really liked the interface and it has some great features. But, the benefits just didn't outweigh the slower performance for me. I went back to XP. I still use keep the Vista virtual machine around for testing.

    I'll probably revisit the issue when Vista SP1 comes out next year which is supposed to have quite a few performance enhancements.
     
  3. joelwnelson

    joelwnelson Junior Member

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    15
    I doubt Vista SP1 will be much less demanding in terms of disk space or RAM usage. Maybe it will be more efficient with the CPU. Anyway -- thanks. Any other suggestions or opinions as far as XP vs. Vista?
     
  4. Eru Ithildur

    Eru Ithildur Forum Maven

    Messages:
    1,954
    XP offers more support for different programs, isn't half as annoying as Vista, cheaper if you get it OEM, not to mention, it's footprint is tiny compared to Vista's. I never recommend Vista to people.
     
  5. misterjangles

    misterjangles Member

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    97
    I think there are some issues with file move/copy speed and some other things that Vista SP1 is supposed to address. But, it remains to be seen if it makes any noticeable difference in overall performance.

    It kinda bums me out because I always have moved to the newest OS version early to stay ahead of the curve - knowing my way around the system and such. But in the case of Vista, there just isn't a compelling reason for me to upgrade.
     

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