As you might all be aware there are N number of models out there in the market which claim to be either Vista capable or Vista ready . The subtle but important difference between these two logos can be found at www.windowsvista.com website.
I want to share my experience with Vista on various platforms but I will restrict it to mainly notebooks. I have installed and run Vista on many of the old Pentium M processor based notebooks/laptops and also on the later Core Solo and Core duo based systems . There was a report on the internet - at www.cnet.com - the article titled - Vista : ultimate review . The link for the article is as follows - http://reviews.cnet.com/Windows_Vista_Ultimate/4505-3672_7-32013603.html
As you go through the article you will find that the reviewer has made note of an incident where microsoft reportedly shipped in top-of-the line Acer Ferrari series laptops with all the bells and whistles to journos who wanted to test Vista on notebooks . The inference being made is that even MS knows that Vista runs only on premium machines and hence they gave not just the OS but preloaded it onto a top of the line laptop and provided it for testing.
It is true that to experience the full glory of Vista , you will require no less than a premium PC with the latest hardware in it . But at the same time its not painful to use Vista on your existing notebook if it has some decent ram .
As a case in point I will explain the experience of working with the Sony Vaio C15 laptop which is a core duo notebook with a Nvidia graphics card built in and compare it to my own notebook - which is a dud in comparison - a Celeron based Compaq Presario V2374 AP which uses intel GMA for graphics - that means it doesn't have a discrete graphics accelerator .
Without doubt there is day and night difference between the performance of Vista on these two machines but to me , as an end user of OS , the only features I am missing is the flip 3d , Aero and active tab view . These three features will work in vista only if you have a graphics card - which I don't . All other features of Vista will work on the celeron . Of course it hogs the resources and slows down the system every now and then but the stability and ease of operation is comparable to that on any other notebook .
The point I am trying to make is that unless you are very keen to use the aforementioned three features , you can install Vista on your old notebook using a Pentium M or Celeron processor provided you have enough RAM . You don't have to go all out and spend 70K to get a new laptop just to run vista appreciably.
My notebook specs for reference sake are as follows - Intel Celeron M Processor 1.4GHZ 780MB of DDR Ram operating @333MHz single 40GB hard drive with dual boot XP and Vista Intel GMA based graphics
PS : Would it surprise you if I told you that in my personal opinion Vista runs faster than XP SP2 on my notebook ? !! Its a fact !
