Hardware and Software II

[Valve Bounce]

Sorry, but I couldn't find the original thread.

I have a three year's old PC and am just thinking ahead, really. The warranty has already expired and when this thing goes kaput and I cannot fix it with Dells phone support from India, I'll probably have to invest in a new PC.

Now! big question here: I notice all the new PC's come with Vista home edition. Can I play the old PC games like MechWarrior4 on Vista?

Do I have to invest in new software like Cyberscrub and Webroot, and so on? or will Vista cater to whatever software Windows XP home editon uses?

I notice Dell has a new PC for around Aud$850 and my sister in law was thinking of getting a new PC and that seems pretty cheap.

[Daniel]

If you visit any Mechwarrior 4 forums ask about Vista support :)

As for my usual advice. Don't buy another Dell! Yes you will probably have to buy new spyware and AV software.

[Mark]

Last time I looked at the Dell site (yesterday) they had an option to have Vista or XP. If you don't fancy plunging into Visa just now you could always get XP now and upgrade later, at a cost of course.

[Dave B]

I've got Vista Home Premium and all my XP software works perfectly with it. I honestly wouldn't bother with XP unless there's an incompatible killer app you can't live without.

[Andrewmcm]

My usual advice would be not to go for any Microsoft OS until a year after it has been released, as the first year can usually be classified as a public Beta test....

Anyway, don't go for Vista if you have any graphics packages that require OpenGL, as Vista is poor at supporting these. I'm looking into a new laptop, but don't want Vista as my work requires my use of a package that uses OpenGL. Do any other manufacturers offer the XP/Vista choice, or is it just Dell at the moment? I really can't be bothered with reformatting a drive and installing XP if I get a new laptop....

[Valve Bounce]

I've got Vista Home Premium and all my XP software works perfectly with it. I honestly wouldn't bother with XP unless there's an incompatible killer app you can't live without.
MechWarrior4Mercs with the MekTek patches. My game went kaput two days ago and it took me a full 24 hours to re-install the program from CD's and then download and re-install those huge patches (268MB).

But I will contact the MekTek forum and ask about Vista before plunging on my next PC.

In all probability, I'll ask Daniel to build a PC for me. :p :

(Just kidding)

[schmenke]

...As for my usual advice. Don't buy another Dell! ...

I've owned a Dell for several years now without any problems :) .

My company purchases nothing but Dell nowadays for our employees' desktops.

[Daniel]

The company I work for buys Dell's too :p

Doesn't mean they're good ;)

[Valve Bounce]

The company I work for buys Dell's too :p

Doesn't mean they're good ;)


Buddy, you and I need to have a long talk one day before I invest in my next PC.

[Mark]

Don't listen to Daniel, he's Australian after all ;) :p

[Valve Bounce]

The funny thing about the new PC's is that I am totally confused.

Several years ago, we had Pentium CPU's which I could rate simply by the number of GHz's. Now I have no idea what these dual core CPU's are and what the numbers mean. :(

[Daniel]

VB. Give me your budget and I'll see what I can get sorted for you

[Valve Bounce]

OK Daniel - but my present PC is still working , so when it conks out, I'll definitely consult you first of all.

[Daniel]

Well you PC should work indefinitely so you'll have to decide to upgrade some day.

[veeten]

here's something that you can do with your old PC...

Windows Home Server
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx

right now in beta, but from all those using it there seems to be nothing but praise. :)

[veeten]

Just recieved the Release Candidate and Have installed it.

Very interesting. I like the feature for being able to reinstall my OS, Drivers and all. :)

[Daniel]

I might do it for a bit of a larf. I have a nearly complete PC sitting in bits at the moment. Do you have to have registered or can you still register?

[veeten]

Yes you do have to register, but it comes in the form of a survey rather than a straight registration.

go ahead, I did so about a week ago. :) the original number of those that did back at the start was just over 10,000. By april, it was at 25,000, and now the number of folks wanting in for RC1/2 stands at 40,000.

and after looking at what this has, there's a good reason why...

[janneppi]

Ooh, isn' technology fun, i bought a Nokia e65 phone and with some nifty program can use it as a webcam for Skype, too bad the software doesn't seem to support wlan so i need to be within the usb wire length or use a bluetooth equipped pc (my work pc). :(
2 Gb memory card replaces any need for a mp3-player, but no radio. :(

[Daniel]

Ooh, isn' technology fun, i bought a Nokia e65 phone and with some nifty program can use it as a webcam for Skype, too bad the software doesn't seem to support wlan so i need to be within the usb wire length or use a bluetooth equipped pc (my work pc). :(
2 Gb memory card replaces any need for a mp3-player, but no radio. :(
Janneppi. If I was you I'd find someone who works for Nokia and give them an earful :p

[janneppi]

Janneppi. If I was you I'd find someone who works for Nokia and give them an earful :p
That's not too hard, all i have to do is open the window and yell, there's a 80% chance that there is a Nokia engineer nearby to hear it. :D

[Daniel]

That's not too hard, all i have to do is open the window and yell, there's a 80% chance that there is a Nokia engineer nearby to hear it. :D
These chances may increase in August though ;)