| mrwells |
| (regular) |
| Sun Nov 11 2007 09:57 AM |
Can I still buy XP ?
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Running Win98SE, 9 year old computer ! Time to buy a new one . I have heard that the new Vista does not come upto scratch and that people are still preferring XP , whats the situation ? Can I still buy a PC with XP in the shops ?
Regards
Colin.
| BurrWalnut |
| (Chippendaler) |
| Sun Nov 11 2007 10:12 AM |
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Re: Can I still buy XP ?
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Quote:
Vista does not come upto scratch and that people are still preferring XP
Perhaps you should stay with Win98 as the same people said the same thing about WinXP when it was introduced.
The main difficulties are that older software and hardware can misbehave in Vista. The best thing to do is to check if your existing hardware and software are compatible with Vista. You only need concern yourself with the peripheral hardware and the installed software, not the RAM, CPU and Graphics.
Plug in all your equipment then download and run the Vista Upgrade Advisor from here http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradeadvisor.mspx
Compare the features of different versions of Vista here http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/choose.mspx
And, yes you can still buy PCs loaded with XP.
| greysts |
| (regular) |
| Sun Nov 11 2007 12:10 PM |
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Re: Can I still buy XP ?
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Quote:It won't be quite so easy in the shops as it will be on line. As far as I know the high street stores (PC World, Tesco, Aldi etc.) are only selling stuff with Vista pre-installed.
Can I still buy a PC with XP in the shops ?
But that's really not the point. Buying an out-of-date operating system just because you've heard someone say they don't like Vista is a bit pointless. If you are buying, buy the latest.
| BobClayton |
| (new user) |
| Mon Nov 12 2007 12:00 AM |
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Re: Can I still buy XP ?
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You can get OEM disks/machines online. XP is used by around 90% of the planet and by an even higher margin within business. XP is the best supported OS available and SP3 is due sometime soon.
Not really out of date,supported to 2014 at least. You should not choose an OS because it's the "latest" but on its ability to reliably do the things you need to do.
There is nothing you can do in Vista that you can't do in XP.
I do use both.
While some are happy with Vista there are many with problems.
I would have no hesitation in buying XP.
Bob
| mrwells |
| (regular) |
| Mon Nov 12 2007 09:41 AM |
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Re: Can I still buy XP ?
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Thanks guys ! I'll wait till after xmas and see whats on offer .Whatever computer I get its nice to know I'll get great support through this forum !
Cheers.
| greysts |
| (regular) |
| Mon Nov 12 2007 10:07 AM |
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Re: Can I still buy XP ?
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I can also point to numerous businesses using Windows 2000 because they can't be bothered to upgrade or because 'it's too much trouble'. Microsoft won't be re-issuing old operating systems any time soon and they won't be spending a lot of money on issuing service packs for anything other than security issues. Sure I've heard the stories about Vista be absolutely awful but that's not the point. They told me Windows 3.1 was definitely better than Windows for Workgroups (or was it the other way round?) and I'm absolutely certain that CP/M was a far better choice than MS-DOS but things have moved on.
| radiogandy |
| (regular) |
| Mon Nov 12 2007 07:34 PM |
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Re: Can I still buy XP ?
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I take on board all your points Greysts. But it is a little sharp of Vista not to accept some quite recent, if older, software. For instance it will only allow one to use Adobe Photoshop CS3 and the cost of an upgrade from CS2 is a lot of money, particularly for a pensioner photographer. Many people are quite resentful about this sort of thing and decide for reasons of cost, not stubbornness, to stay with XP.
.
| Fusion |
| (regular) |
| Mon Nov 12 2007 07:45 PM |
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Re: Can I still buy XP ?
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Could you be more precise Graham regarding . . . "it will only allow one to use Adobe Photoshop CS3".
Not sure what you mean.
| radiogandy |
| (regular) |
| Mon Nov 12 2007 07:55 PM |
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Re: Can I still buy XP ?
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Hi Fusion. The Adobe Photoshop series are the market leader 'image manipulation' programmes and the full blown current version is well over £500. The slightly out of date version which I use, and have the disc for, is CS2. Windows Vista will not accept this and will only allow you to download CS3 - the upgrade to which is extremely expensive.
.
| Fusion |
| (regular) |
| Mon Nov 12 2007 08:04 PM |
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Re: Can I still buy XP ?
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I don't use Vista Graham, but CS2 is compatible with Vista.
When you load the Photoshop CD, what is happening and what are you being told regarding 'not accepting' the program?
Are you having activation problems once you have actually installed the program?
You can only have PS CS2 on two Systems at any time, but not use them at the same time (that bits on trust). You can however deactivate a System, and reactivate on another free of charge via the Help > Transfer activation.
| radiogandy |
| (regular) |
| Mon Nov 12 2007 09:19 PM |
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Re: Can I still buy XP ?
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Thanks Steve for all that info. I've still got CS2 on my laptop which is still on Windows XP so I am functioning fine. What I was trying to do was to load CS2 onto another family laptop which is on Vista. That was when I was encountering the problem. I can't remember the actual wording and the laptop in question is in Palmers Green and I, and my disc, are in Nottingham.
I have noted what you say about not using it on two machines at the same time anyway - so perhaps I was, thoughtlessly, being a little cheeky. I think I will spend real folding money and buy the family member in question Elements 6 for Xmas - it is supposed to be pretty good !
I'll report back later
