with new vista coming out, i'm thinking of changing to OSX and apple. expensive yes, speed yes, fatal system crash no! my sister has a photography studio and has been using mac for quiet some time now. she introduced me to the hardware and i'm hooked... looking for other toolkits tough....

Vista is a resource hog. Honestly, I'm not trying to be a Windows appologist. I just use what works for me, but I have NEVER had major problems with Windows XP. Sure it locks up sometimes, but never have I been shit out of luck. The only time I had a real problem (last year when my PC died before midreview) it was hardware. But, if you're a student, also check with the IT people to make sure it would even be able to work with your network resources. Also, question why you need to upgrade OS. If none of the software works, then there is no real reason other than some mildly flashy graphics. I've heard some analysts forecasting the switch to Vista is going to be very slow because it's not significantly more useful, but requires much more pumped up hardware. I'd just do a lot more research on it. I had considered getting XP64, but I read on MS's website DO NOT get this unless... So I didn't.

upgrading to a new OS (apple or PC) is usually a bad idea less than 6 or 8 months after release.

wait until driver requirements or the need for >4GB ram force you to upgrade. depending on the programs you use that'll be 1-2 years away.

I planning on getting a new machine.. I'm thinking about a macbook pro this time, but I need to be able to run max (I'd love to be able to run max at 64 bits) and acad, so I guess the conventional wisdom is to put XP (and not Vista) onto a partiton of it.

A few things to check because I'm not sure. Are the Duo Cores 64bit (is the Mac OS still 64 bit?) Does boot camp allow XP64? Is Max 64 bit? I don't know if they rewrote it for 64 bit, because if it's not written for 64, you won't see any improvement (there is some record of minor improvements for 32 bit software in the 64 bit enviroment, but it won't double the speed or anything). From what I've read on the MS site, you don't need XP64 unless you are running over 4 GB of RAM and/or the software is optimized for 64 bit. Don't buy into Best Buy "higher number equals better" marketing techniques. Check all that stuff first.

xp works good. zero crashes for me.
Why switch to mac or upgrade to vista? no need.

Max 9 has a build for 64 bit processors. mental ray too.

bootcamp works with xp-64, or so I'm told.

biggest problem with xp-64 is drivers.

core duo = 32bit, core 2 duo = 64 bit.

OSX was never a full 64 bit OS.

Reviving this thread because my new PC is loaded with Vista Home Premium. Right out of the box I have to say this is a much better looking OS. I think the gadgets are a great feature too. I love to watch my stocks and the weather, and even an analog clock!

I was cheap last time and skipped out on MSOffice, but I made sure I had at least the standard eddition this time (Word, Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint).

I've only loaded a few programs thus far, one of them being SketchUp Pro 6 which had no issues.

Tonight I'll load SP2 and Max 8 (if they're compatable) and Rhino next week.

Is anyone else running Vista? If so, which programs were you able/unable to load?

I bought a laptop in May (my first ever) that came with Vista... AutoCAD 2007, Photoshop 7.0 and 3DS Max R3 (yes, quite old) all work fine.
Word, Excel and the rest of the MS pack obviously works well also.

Good news. I was afraid I would have to upgrade to Max 9 and AutoCAD 2008. Thanks for the info, Medit.

So is there any real advantage, with the typical software we run, to go with a core 2 duo over a core duo processor?

I'm fighting the resistance and believe wholeheartedly that Microsoft is going to tank vista very soon, simply because of the reaction towards its backward compatability. Viva la XP

and I'm switching to a f*cking mac anytime this century....sooner i go to Ubutu!!

So far, so good. SketchUp Pro 6 loaded, 3Ds Max 8 loaded, V-Ray loaded. CS2 giving me some problems, but I think it's an issue with software, not OS. Rhino still to come. Now if I could just get my hands on a cheap (free) copy of AutoCAD...

I despise MS so I think I should simply shut up and not say anything because it could be used against me in a court of law :)

Vista is the future. But for me, it's a long way off. The fact that it sucks resources dry is just not acceptable. When it's normal to have 4 gigs of ram, dual graphic cards, at the same price as a current system, then I'll upgrade.

Looks wise, I think it's by far the best looking (with XP/2000 being a boring middle ground and OSX being the most unattractive).

64 bit XP is the way to go, with Max 9 and VRay 64 bit.


Anyone know if CS3 was optimized for 64 bit? I assume it was.

it's still a really bad idea for any program that uses openGL. they'll install, but performance is pretty reduced. vista openGl support is not great, and it's going to be awhile before everybody either switches to DX10 (under which vista has great performance) or somehow cobbles together a good openGl model for vista.

I probably won't be switching until driver support forces me to...which right now, looks like never....but that will change.

CS3 was not optimized for 64 bit libraries. adobe said that the user base for 64 bit OSes was not large enough to warrant the time and effort.

fun thing about looks trace is you can always run different skins.

Frankly vista is too complex for me, there is no reason it should take so many resources. I know MS wants to jam it full of features to make it more user-friendly but i feel it has the opposite effect.

I'm in a similarly awkward position to others here. I bought my current computer 5 years ago just before undergrad. It's now struggling with all my work, so I'm starting to shop around. All new pcs seem to come with Vista so it's less a choice for me, more a forced neccessity.

Vista's ram useage isn't so much of an issue - my current computer cost me £950 at the time. For a whole new computer three times the speed, and an extra 2Gb ram (3GB total), it comes in at under £400. The thing that worries me is 1. compatability with programmes and 2. all the little creases that take time to iron out of a new OS.

Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly is a partitioned drive, and how do you get 2 OSs on the 1 computer? Is it fairly straightforward?

I'm sure people here can explain it better, but basically when you partition a drive you make multiple volumes out of 1, i.e. i have one blank book with 400 pages and I make two blank books with 200 pages a piece. You can install one OS, like XP, on one side of the drive, and another OS, like OSX or Linux, on the other side. When you start your comp up it will ask you which side of the drive you want to run off. Partioning i think can only be done on the BIOS, which is that funky setup deal immediately after startup if you press a corresponding function button. In the BIOS, which is basically the operating system that comes on your motherboad you can do all sorts of fun stuff, like change your processor speed or partition a drive.

you can partition drives from windows, or in windows setup. BIOS usually has nothing to do with it.

if you get a pc with vista on it and just want to run XP, you can just drop in the XP disc on startup and overwrite the vista install (you'll lose any data already on the drive this way, though)

the other option would be to dual boot - go into disk managment in vista (or if they changed that, whatever it's new equivalent is) and make a new partition there. then you boot to the xp disc, and just tell it to install to the new partition. make sure that you make the partitions different sizes so they're easy to tell apart.

thanks for clarifying manamana, i thought you had to do it through the BIOS

Thanks for that. Unfortunately I don't have the XP disks anymore (5 years is a long time). I may just have to take the plunge...sounds like most programmes are running ok on it from the posts above. The openGL issue worries me though, as I use that a fair bit in FormZ.

Chch, if you're looking at desktops, have you considered building one yourself or having one built? It's often a little cheaper that way, and you'll learn the parts and processes along the way (which is much easier than it seems).

I put my most recent computer together myself... like you, it was 5 years ago and although I'm buying a laptop this time around, the desktop I put together myself was absolutely rock solid.

Oh, sorry... I forgot to mention that if you go that route, you can install XP without having to worry about Vista at all, since it won't be on there to begin with.

if you go that route you also don't have any guaranteed compatibility (with hardware and drivers) and no tech support.

you can't beat the prices on the name brands these days, plus, you'll get deals on things like MS Office.

Dell's tech support just saved my ass from a blue screen of death - the first I've had on my many XP/2000 based machines. Turns out that the new update of Spy Doctor was not compatible with something (it worked fine for a year) and killed my system. Tech figured it out in about 20 minutes, uninstalled and it's working great now.

bah, tech support - that's what friends are for! :D