Windows Vista and a new computer

[MichaelJ 0]

I'm planning on upgrading my rig soon. I've never done that, so it takes a loooonnnnng time for me to understand what all the steps are. E.g., I had no idea what an F6 floppy was, and I still don't know how to make one or use it. Also, some drivers can be downloaded and installed directly from Windows, but others seem to need to be on an F6 floppy. It's complicated.

In my experience, you only need drivers for the hard drive, network card and RAID controller that you are installing on.

Other drivers such as sound, display and so on can safely be installed after Windows has been installed.

The reason you need the drivers listed?

1. RAID controller - If Windows setup doesn't have the drivers nessessary, it won't be able to recognise it for what it is. If your hard drive is connected to it, Windows won't be able to see the hard drive because it can't ask it.

2. Hard drive - Unlikely you will need this but covered for completeness. Some USB hard drives require drivers to be accessed.

3. Network driver - This is another I consider very important. While you can get online with no sound driver or poor quality video driver(Using VGA for example), you really need this one so that Windows Update will work and so the other drivers for other devices can be installed easily from off the internet.

On one nice feature that I saw however, Windows tags not having drivers for a device as a problem.

It then checks for solutions automatically, finding you the drivers you need after the machine is on.

Might I ask what the specs of your computer are? I could look up whether all the drivers you require come with Vista to give you more customised advice.

[MichaelJ 0]

My personal recommendation is 2GB RAM but 1.6Ghz is more than enough. And if you are installing vista home premium, make sure the graphics card is on one of the lists for vista support (ATI and nvidia both have lists).

I would agree with this. Vista is surprisingly CPU light considering what it does.

I got 1.5GB ram in my current main machine, while it doesn't run out, it does get close at times and some of the features such as the smart caching they have in the OS, don't work quite as well as what 2GB would give it.

Note however, that prior Windows OS's did their drawing on the CPU. Vista does most of its drawing for all the windows and everything on the GPU. I would actually recommend upgrading the video card to 256MB minimum. You can get a nice one for less than $75 USD these days that will run Vista like a dream.

[Oakes 0]

My personal recommendation is 2GB RAM but 1.6Ghz is more than enough. And if you are installing vista home premium, make sure the graphics card is on one of the lists for vista support (ATI and nvidia both have lists).

It'll just be an internet/IM/iTunes computer for my younger sister, so as long as it can handle those it will be okay. I'm also building a vista rig for my older sister and i'll be putting 1.5GB of ram in it along with a nice 2ghz pentium and 256MB geforce so that should run well.

Oh and I just checked ATI and Nvidia websites and it looks like both my cards will work...yay!

[Oakes 0]

Finished! I just received the barebone PC a couple hours ago and put everything in it. I've attached a screenshot of my very first vista pc. It works great so far...i think i'm in love

BTW where's flip 3d? I was about to dazzle my mom with it but i couldn't figure out how to access it.

[MichaelJ 0]

For Flip 3D, press Windows Tab instead of Alt Tab.

[Stephen Speicher 0]

Finished! I just received the barebone PC a couple hours ago and put everything in it. I've attached a screenshot of my very first vista pc. It works great so far...i think i'm in love

You even captured the date and time of its birth. Have a cigar. Congratulations, you're a Daddy.

[Arien 0]

Well, that pic is enough to tell me one thing--it looks a heck of a lot nicer than XP, which always made me think of Toon Town (bleeccccch). The Very First Thing I do with an XP installation is convert it over to looking like Windows 2000. Though I discovered recently there are a couple of pre-canned XP color schemes that aren't nearly as obnoxious.

[Oakes 0]

For Flip 3D, press Windows Tab instead of Alt Tab.

lol, i just showed this to my mom and little sisters and they all yelled out "WHOOOAAA!!" in unison. So easy to please

[MichaelJ 0]

Well since we are all showing off our Vista systems, I couldn't resist

Unfortunately, I am out of attachment space so I am hoping this doesn't mess up the forums too much with a direct link.

Some areas blacked out to protect the privacy of those people.

[jedymastyr 0]

Well since we are all showing off our Vista systems, I couldn't resist

Unfortunately, I am out of attachment space so I am hoping this doesn't mess up the forums too much with a direct link.

Some areas blacked out to protect the privacy of those people.

Yay, a 4-high taskbar filled with 24 opened windows! Good job!

[Joss Delage 0]

Might I ask what the specs of your computer are? I could look up whether all the drivers you require come with Vista to give you more customised advice.

I don't want you to go overboard on this, please. I take responsibility for doing that - but I thank you for your help!

Is there a place I can go to check that? Navigating each manufacturer's site is a nightmare...

My rig was built to last me a while. It's most CPU intensive job is photoediting. The hardware set up is:

- Intel BOX D975XBX LKR 975X motherboard

- Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz

- 2 X 1GB Mushkin Enhanced Performance DDR2

- XFX Geforce 7600GS Dual DVI/Dual Link DVI PCI-E video

- Silicon Image IDE/SATA convertor (not sure what that is - maybe 3114 card?)

- Silicon Image 3112A Dual channel SATA PCI card (for some reason I also have 3114 showing up in my device manager)

Hard drives:

- 74G Western Digital Raptor 10K RPM SATA hard drive (C drive)

- 2 X 250G Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA 3Gb/sec drives (docs & pictures)

- 400G Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA 3Gb/sec drive (safeguard copies)

[Oakes 0]

Just finished building my older sister's computer too. It actually has a 3ghz pentium, not a 2. Runs magnificently.

Not a big deal, but did anyone notice that the photo gallery holds videos as well? Here's a screenshot. Kinda like how iTunes also plays videos, in defiance of its name.

Oh, and Michael, you do waaay too many things at once!

[jedymastyr 0]

Not a big deal, but did anyone notice that the photo gallery holds videos as well?

There's lots of random awesome things like that. For example, if you look at a folder full of folders full of images, it 3d-renders them in folders so you can get an idea of what's in each subfolder:

[that sampled mages folder is actually showing a subfolder of the sampled images folder which itself contains an image]

"Live icons" actually lets more than images and videos get rendered in folders like this:

Key components of the new Windows Vista Explorers, Live Icons display a thumbnail image of the actual contents of every file, making it easier to select a given item.

Scalable "live" icons in premium versions of Windows Vista greatly improve on generic system icons. Programs that have this feature show thumbnail previews of the actual content of a file, rather than a simple, generic representation of the application associated with that file. You can see rich previews of your files—including the first pages of your documents, your photos, or even album art for your songs—without opening them. This helps you work more efficiently and productively.

That quoted site has a couple examples of docs etc. being shown.

And I see you saw mousing over the minimized windows shows a mini preview window--if you are playing a video that renders as well.

[MichaelJ 0]

I noticed a lot of those small things. Each window is live, hence why I recommend a good video card.

Vista is a very good OS. I only recommend delaying until SP1 so Microsoft can put the spit and polish on it with the audio system and the incompatibilities and to finish off those last few features.

Has anyone checked out the new volume control yet? It has a seperate volume control for each application. Do you know how long I have been asking for that feature?

And now, it is finally here!

As for my taskbar, you don't want to know how many tabs that each IE window has open in it. My record is 6 layers hit once but 5 layers is quite common. Duel screen helps me a lot there for multitasking however.

And do you know the best bit? Vista doesn't choke at all with that many applications. XP didn't either but knowing that Vista can have all those applications doing so much more and not choke, is a good real world example of not only its stability but its performance too.

[jedymastyr 0]

Has anyone checked out the new volume control yet? It has a seperate volume control for each application. Do you know how long I have been asking for that feature?

It's awesome. And not that it's even the most important part of that, but now it's possible to set up a sound-card-audio recorder and not have to worry about every random noise your computer will throw in the recording.

[Stephen Speicher 0]

So if you wanted to upgrade from 32-bit Media Center XP to 64-bit Windows Ultimate (which has the Media Center functionality), you might not be able to use the upgrade wizard, but you could still buy the full version and install it in 64-bit if you wanted. But then you have to worry about making sure your hardware, which came with a 32-bit OS, all has 64-bit drivers...

I'm having trouble finding any off-the-shelf machines set up (at BestBuy, at Fry's -- Dell, Gateway, Sony, HP, etc.) with 64-bit Vista Ultimate to run Media Center. I do not want to have to worry about finding drivers myself, which is why I would like to have the machine already set up that way. Is there someplace else I should be looking?

[jedymastyr 0]

I'm having trouble finding any off-the-shelf machines set up (at BestBuy, at Fry's -- Dell, Gateway, Sony, HP, etc.) with 64-bit Vista Ultimate to run Media Center. I do not want to have to worry about finding drivers myself, which is why I would like to have the machine already set up that way. Is there someplace else I should be looking?

Unfortunately since computer companies seem to try to make things simple, I don't see a lot of details on what specific OS versions are installed even though the 64-bit chips are often listed. For example this computer:

Hot technology

The latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors represent Intel's most revolutionary step up since the original Pentium processor. They feature state-of-the art, 64-bit microarchitecture for incredible system responsiveness and energy efficiency. They're also designed specifically for high-definition entertainment. And Intel's Viiv technology lets you control, enjoy, and share an ever-expanding array of entertainment, all from the comfort of your couch.

They say 64-bit and Vista, but they don't actually say if the 64-bit version of the OS is installed. I haven't checked out local stores, but I can understand that this would be frustrating. Even if you go to their support center and search through the computer's 190-page manual, there is no mention of 32 or 64 bit OS installation. The specifications give the hardware but not the software specs. And no doubt it comes with a restore CD that easily will restore your computer back to its original settings with all the drivers, and you probably won't have a 32-64 bit option.

I'm just not certain whether or not any are currently being sold by major manufacturers since their data is so unclear. On Dell's Vista FAQ page:

Q. What are the Windows Vista versions and which ones will Dell ship?

...

Dell plans to ship appropriate 32-bit and/or 64-bit versions of all other Windows Vista products as determined by the best customer experience results out of testing.

Which means...I have no clue whether or not I'd get the 32 or 64 bit version installed and supported until I buy the computer and/or contact support.

On this thread in Dell's support forums seems to indicate no Dell computers are coming with 64-bit installed:

I just ordered a new XPS 410 with Vista Ultimate. It didn't give the option of 32 or 64 bit editions, so I just assumed they would install 64-bit version. But the invoice at my Dell account indicates they are installing Vista Ultimate 32 bit. This seems a bit odd; why wouldn't they use 64 bit???

Sorry, I wish I could be more helpful. From the looks of it (my estimation), the major manufacturers appear to be shipping 32 bit and not saying so explicitly because customers might ask why when they're purchasing the advertised 64-bit hardware. If this is the case, it is very misleading--if not, they should certainly be more forthright with information.

---

I should also mention something that is somewhat contrary to a couple of my previous posts on the subject of Vista. My very favorite feature, WinFS, got cut even after a beta had been released and it was scheduled for an out-of-band release after Vista's official release.

I still think Vista has some great benefits. I love having my tablet laptop with Vista Ultimate running media center while joined to a corporate domain. Previously, Media Center was a special version of Windows which couldn't join domains. And Tablet XP, like Media Center XP, was a separate version of Windows--so I had to choose between tablet and media center functionality. Well, all that versioning got fixed with the Ultimate edition. Gadgets are cool, aero is awesome, flip3d is fun, and most importantly the new Windows programming APIs are excellent and will facilitate great-looking, great-communicating applications being created much more easily and reliably than before (see the WPF Yahoo Messenger demo). The ease and speed of searching is vastly improved, per-application sound is awesome, and there are lots of things like this that are easy to pass over but make going back to XP annoying. The account control, which Mac ads seem to find annoying, are not annoying at all--for the first couple days or so you'll have things popping up for permission but as soon as you allow all the main stuff you only get popups when new applications are trying to access resources they haven't before.