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Upgrading to Vista

Can you upgrade? Which Vista is right for you?

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Buying a new PC with Vista pre-installed is one thing; upgrading your existing PC is another. Even though you can perform an "upgrade installation" from Windows XP to Vista, it really isn't advisable, as Vista will inherit any problems your existing system may have. You're much better off backing up all your data, formatting your hard drive, and doing a clean installation. That's not difficult, but it does require some effort and commitment and may give you pause before upgrading.

Also note that you cannot upgrade pre-XP versions of Windows to Vista. For those, you will be forced to buy a full version of the new operating system and do a clean installation. Provided, of course, your old hardware can support Vista.

To check whether your existing computer has what it takes to run Vista, download and run the Vista Upgrade Advisor.

If you need to buy a PC before Vista arrives, make sure you get one with enough oomph to run the version of Vista you desire. In fact, be wary at any time of buying a 'Vista Capable' machine, as you may find yourself locked into a low-powered version of Vista.

A Vista Capable computer will run the Basic Edition and nothing else. If you want all the cool graphics and other advanced features, you'll need a Vista Premium Ready machine. The table below shows the minimum requirements for 'Capable' and 'Premium Ready' machines.

	Vista Capable	Vista Premium Ready
Processor	800MHz	1GHz
RAM	512 megabytes	1 gigabyte
Graphics	DirectX 9-capable graphics card supporting SVGA (800x600 pixel resolution)	DirectX 9-capable GPU with support for WDDM driver, Pixel Shader 2, 32 bits/pixel, and 128M graphics memory
Disk Space	20G hard drive with 15G free disk space	40G hard drive with 15G free disk space
Optical Drive	Internal or external CD-ROM	Internal or external DVD-ROM

 

graphics specs explained

Aero A new Windows interface designed to be cleaner, more powerful, more appealing and more efficient to use than earlier versions. Aero handles graphics in an entirely new way and requires beefed up hardware to support it. bits per pixel bpp The number of bits used to represent the color of a single pixel (picture element) in an image. Also known as ‘color depth'. DirectX A set of tools that help programmers write programs to access hardware feature on a Windows PC without knowing the specifics of the hardware. DirectX is predominantly used for developing gaming and multimedia applications. DirectX 9 is the latest version. GPU Graphics Processing Unit. A computer chip specifically designed for efficiently displaying and manipulating graphics, in particular 3D graphics. graphics memory Memory on a graphics card dedicated to storing information needed for graphics display. Pixel Shader A graphics function used to create material and surface effects to make graphics look more realistic. WDDM Windows Display Driver Model. An advanced video driver that lets the operating system interact efficiently with the GPU on a video card.

Which Vista is right for you?

Vista comes in a variety of flavours. Check out the Vista Feature Comparison Chart to see exactly what you get in each version. Here's a quick summary to help you decide which is for you:

Vista Home Basic is designed for those who use a computer for Internet surfing, email, word processing and other light-weight tasks. It will handle multimedia at least as well as Windows XP, but it won’t have the new glitzy multimedia features you’ll find in other Vista editions. Nor will it support the stylish Aero graphics that make Vista look so cool. There are plenty of other omissions in the Basic Edition, too, but it will provide significant improvements in security, stability and ease of use over Windows XP.

Vista Home Premium provides a good compromise for home users who want to enjoy the real power of Vista without having to pay a premium price for advanced gaming capabilities or business-oriented features. It includes all the features of the Basic Edition. It supports the snazzy Aero graphics and comes with multimedia tools such as Windows DVD Maker and the Media Center. It also provides advanced support for Tablet PCs, so it’s a good choice if you use a Tablet.

Vista Business includes all the features of the Basic Edition plus additional tools designed to help users in businesses of any size. Like the Premium Edition, it supports Aero graphics, but it omits Premium’s multimedia applications and, instead, includes such things as built-in faxing and scanning, disk imaging, an encrypting file system, domain support and multi-processor support.

Vista Ultimate has the lot. It’s a superset of both the Premium and Business Editions, making it suitable for all-round work and serious play. It even adds a few extras, including BitLocker Drive Encryption, Virtual PC Express (a program that lets you run another version of an operating system within Windows) and Ultimate Extras—a collection of downloadable programs, games, services and publications available only to Ultimate users.

Upgrade any time

Microsoft is making it easy for those of us who can't make up our minds which version of Vista we want with a feature called Windows Anytime Upgrade. The Vista installation DVD will contain all the Vista Editions, although only the one you purchase will be available for immediate installation. But should you buy, for example, Vista Basic, and then subsequently decide you want the features of Vista Premium, Business or Ultimate, you'll be able to purchase an upgrade license online and use the newly supplied product key to "unlock" the version you've bought and upgrade your PC. You will, of course, need to make sure your hardware is capable of taking advantage of the advanced features. You'll be able to make similar upgrades from Vista Premium or Vista Business to Vista Ultimate.

© 2006  Rose Vines

 

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