Vista= suckcity.
You can order a dell with Linux on it also.
There's a reason Mac costs damn near double what a comperable regular PC costs. People pay it because they are tired of bill gates and his crappy software that has a history of being substandard and unstable.
But buy what you want, they are your bucks (and headaches later on). I do agree that XP is the best O/S for a PC, just my .02
I know a laptop can be ordered with Linux, but that also has to be special ordered. I don't want to get a customized laptop those wouldn't ship until after I'm supposed to leave, that'll put it at arriving here after I've been in Vegas for almost a week. If order an off the shelf unit that matches what I want it'll be here by Friday. I also don't want to be trying to set up and learn Linux right before leaving on a trip. I'm sure it's a good system, but it's also vastly different from Windows. When I get back I might try to set up secondary OS on my desktop using Linux, then I'll have a way to trouble shoot and find answers to problems I encounter.
I won't
buy another Dell. There poor assembly practices are the reason I have the set up I've got. I'd been running a Dell (can't remember the model) that was given to me new by an uncle as a graduation present. Well this computer came with basically the minimum specs from factory and I was looking to upgrade it with a new graphics card, memory and processor. Well I got the thing almost all taken apart with the new components in hand when I hit a snag with removing the processor, the dang heat sink wouldn't remove. I tried everything I could think of to remove that heat sink (you couldn't get to the socket latch under it to remove them together) without tearing up the board. Eventually the processor ended up turning loose from the socket and leaving a few pins jammed in it. Just out of curiosity to see what it would take to separate the processor from it's heat sink, I ended having to liberally apply heat and a large screw driver to pry them apart. I might have gotten a fluke there, and it may have been a one time occurrence but I refuse to repeat it.
How many times do I have to say I don't want mac. I could care less about the reasons people get a mac I don't want one. I must be one of those weird people that know there's other option but still chooses to work with the Microsoft product. News for ya man it's my laptop, my checking account, and my choice to spend half as much on a "comparable regular" PC. From my experience with my Microsoft products I haven't hit any instabilities, and I definitely wouldn't call them substandard. Though I could have been mislead by unusually good products I've gotten.
Sorry for the rant!
Just a note, 3 GB of ram in XP 32 bit is the max it can use, 64bit or Vista (64) different story. My wife has a basic Acer with the mobile Intel 1.5 gb 40 gb hd and 512 ? gb of ram and it runs XP just fine. Works like a charm.
Windows Vista 32bit is the same from my understanding, hence the reason I'm going to ADD 2GB of ram to meet that 3GB max. I really wish I could get away with the 1GB that comes stock, but memory is cheap enough these day and very easy to install.
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