Windows Vista Ultimate with SP1 Upgrade Reviews

• Game hostile. Slow. NOT recommended

  
  By A1U5NWJOYH2QQH on 2008-03-31
  I build my own computers. For my newest gaming computer I selected Vista as my O/S.... BIG MISTAKE. A long list of problems and such. It is gaming hostile, very slow, very buggy. And the nvidea video driver for Vista is bad news.
  
  It was soooo bad I just bought XP PRO SP2 and removed Vista from my system. XP is wonderful in comparison. Vista was soooo cruddy and slow.
  PASS on this one. Not recommended.
  
  

• I Have to Say, I'm Okay with Vista

  
  By A3HAC5PSLMHMR7 on 2008-04-05
  I finally upgraded to Vista and it was a long time coming. I must admit for the longest time I felt envious of people who were operating on a system newer than mine, but I also felt secretly satisfied that XP was more secure and faster. No eye candy though. However, as both a Mac and a PC user, I had all the eye candy one would want with Leopard and it doesn't slow anything down.
  
  What I don't understand is why Vista has to come in so many editions:
  
  Windows Vista Home Basic
  Windows Vista Home Premium
  Windows Vista Business
  Windows Vista Ultimate
  
  Plus all the upgrade versions. Why not just one version that does it all, you know, the way they do it in the Mac world.
  
  Okay, all that aside, I have two PCs, both desktops, one at work (which is actually mine, not my employers) and one at home. At work I installed Home Premium and at home I installed Vista Ultimate. I didn't time the installation in either place as I was doing other stuff during the process, but neither install took more than an hour.
  
  I did not do clean installs in either case, instead opting for the upgrade option, just to see if it worked. Besides, I have lots of back up hard drives so I wasn't worried and it appears I didn't need to, because both installs went swimmingly. I understand others have not been so lucky, but I was.
  
  After choosing my local time, currency, keyboard layout, user name, icon, wallpaper and password Vista decided my computers were good to go and they were.
  
  Right off the bat I have to say, I like the Aero interface. Is it better than Leopard's, not really, but it's not worse either, just different. I've got four gigs of ram in both computers and though maybe Vista might have been a tad slower doing some photoshop work than XP, it wasn't all that noticeable. Some things may have been a bit slower opening, but not enough to make me miss XP. All in all, I have to say I'm okay with Vista.
  
  Jack Priest, author of Ragged Man, Gecko & Night Witch
  
  

• It's Time to bid Farewell to XP

  
  By A1HBVFI5G2X1G2 on 2008-04-13
  You have to admit that Vista didn't get off to a banging good start. Many people thought it was bloated, slow, crashed all the time and the endless stories about those popups that kept questioning you would keep all but the reckless thinking twice before they upgraded from XP. In fact a year after its release it seems only a little over ten percent of the XP users out there have decided to upgrade.
  
  I've been using Vista since it came out and have been very happy with it. Yes you need more RAM than you did a couple years ago, I've got 2 megs on my laptop, which is plenty for Vista Home Premium. And I've got a whopping 4 megs on my desktop, which is running Vista Ultimate and that's way, way more than needed. My computers both seem happy enough and I know they're not fooling me, because when they get unhappy they crash and that's something they haven't done in a long time (three months for my laptop and I think six or more for my desktop).
  
  Is Vista bloated? Yes, sure, that's what happens when an operating systems (despite it's many flavors) tries to be all things to all people. Still, if you don't need the features, don't use them. It's not like todays computers are hurting for hard drive space. With 200 gigs in my laptop and 750 in my desktop, those features I don't use sitting in the background don't bother me at all.
  
  And those annoying UAC (User Account Control) popups and they are annoying, you don't have to live with those. If you've been using computers for anytime at all and have more than a clue about what you're doing, why don't you just turn them off. I did. Just type "system configuration" into Vista's Start Menu's instant search feature. When the System Configuration Utility window opens, click the tools tab, scroll down, click on "disable user control," click "launch", click "okay", then reboot and voila, those annoying popups are history.
  
  Now about the speed, yes, Vista "was" and that's the operative word here as far as I'm concerned, it was a bit slower than XP on my machines, but now thats I've installed the SP1 upgrades on my machines, they both seem zippier. So if you're still using XP and have been thinking about upgrading, now's the time.
  
  

• Vista Still Works Fine for Me

  
  By AK22SK7JN6FU8 on 2008-04-05
  I have XP running on a bootcamp partition on my MacBook and it is doing just fine. I spend most of my working time in Word, hardly ever using any of the other programs in the Office suite. However, I use the Adobe products Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator a whole bunch. Other than that I play solitaire, watch videos and, of course, use both Explorer and Firefox when I go online. That's about it for me, software wise, and XP handles it all without fail, without crashing and without giving me any headaches.
  
  And I will miss it when I upgrade to Vista, however my machine can handle the upgrade, so I'm giving it a try.
  
  Okay, I like the look and feel of Vista, however it's not as snappy as XP or even System X. I like the AERO bit, quite snazzy and one of the reasons my machine runs a bit slower, I suspect, however I'm loath to turn it off as it's so cool.
  
  Word works fine and that's to be expected. My Adobe software runs well too. The browsers, no problem. I did have to upload a printer driver, but that only took a few minutes and I was good to go.
  
  I've read a lot of reviews by people who are having problems with Vista and I'm getting the SP1 upgrade any day and I'll instal it, but I'm not experiencing the problems others appear to be having. Maybe because it's because I only use four or five programs on my Machine. I don't use iTunes or Windows Media as I still listen to my CDs the old fashioned way and only then if I don't have the phonograph record.
  
  I've just installed the SP1 upgrade and I have to saw that I do notice a difference. Things just seem snappier now. For the last week I've had my MacBook running Vista and no crashes, not even in Photoshop, which used to happen before the upgrade. I'm not saying it's going too, but it has not happened yet. So now I'm running Vista Ultimate on my MacBook and I just got a nifty new MacBook Air, oh so thin, oh so cool running with Vista Home Premium. Vista on way cool Macs, way cool that is.
  
  

• Windows 98?

  
  By A20DZX38KRBIT8 on 2008-05-20
  Windows Vista? Come on. I upgraded my laptop from XP to this horrible OS and ended up selling it when I found out I could not downgrade...another microsoft perk. The OS itself is nothing but bugs, and windows 98 with a paint job...nothing new here except a few head shaking Leopard rip off's. This OS crashes like there is no tommorw (this was with a 2GB laptop) boot up time takes about 5 mins, shut down time takes even longer, the endless security pop ups are enough to burn the cd in your fire place and unleash a virus into this OS yourself (which is quite easy) and enough windows LIVE crap you couldn't dislodge with a nuke. I even gave this piece of crap a second chance in my Parallels VM on my Macbook pro. I tried it becasue it would run as a guest to OS X and not take over my MAC in the virus ridden Vista way. It worked at top speed but was still just a pain in the backside compared to OS X and Linux which I am also using and made Windows unusable. Windows rates 4th on my list of OS's thats because I have only stuck to 4 OS's in my 15 years of computing. I have used Windows since 3.1, still use XP at work untill they get the Mac's in so I can tell you, VISTA *ucking sucks. OS X and Ubuntu are so much better, easier, open, reliable, dependable, virus free, and they work! So once again Windows was removed from my system altogether and this time for good, so long windows, windows live and MSN, good riddence. FREEDOM!
  
  
• A great OS ( as long as you have sp1)
  By A1F1388O2BYYHR on 2008-03-28
  This is by far the best version of Windows Vista. It updates its drivers for you. Vista is much, much better than XP. Runs super quick, looks beautiful and fixes its own problems. I have it on my laptop and when building a new gaming pc, I had to install Vista as newer games are Vista only and all newer updates will also be Vista only. The 64 bit vista also recognizes my 4gb of ram, no problems. Love it, since sp1 came out most of the problems that this OS had, like HD audio not working, are gone. And for those people who give this OS a 1 star review without any real reasons, I recommend that you go take some computer classes so that you might actually know what you are talking about.
  
  
• Worst Operating System Ever!
  By A1TYI8W66D7SWX on 2008-04-06
  Since the release of Windows Vista I've purchased two brand new computers that came pre-installed with this abomination called Windows Vista. I've always been the kind of person that jumps on bleeding edge technology and I did live with Vista for a few months before I couldn't take it anymore. Where do I start on the many issues I had with Vista??? It was slow, a resources pig, DRM cop, etc... The thought of one day having to give my Windows XP for Vista is very troubling.. What was Microsoft thinking when they designed Vista! I don't recommend it and would consider a Macintosh over Vista.
  
  
• Upgrade not! (this is a review of the upgrade product-not the OS)
  By A2I85QGQN11K4L on 2008-04-25
  From the box "You must perform a clean install....unless you are upgrading from...or any edition of Windows Vista." I specifically bought the upgrade w/SP1 to avoid having to download and install the SP separately -- a no brainer for less than $8 difference in price. Currently installed OS is Vista Home Premium base. Guess what? This item can't be installed as an upgrade until and unless you first install SP1! Oh well. Again, the stars are not for the OS but for the "Upgrade" package.
  
  
• SP1 is FREE
  By A22N9KFDBVS45C on 2008-04-27
  The reviewer below mentions it costs money to upgrade to SP1 that is not true, SP1 is totally free, and downloadable from Microsofts website, this version of Vista has SP1 for those installing Vista for the first time or after a reinstall.
  
  To others that say Vista is a waste of time, that depends on what outdated or slow computers you have, I built a new computer just a few months ago, Feb. of 2008, and Vista smokes on it, I got the 64 bit version, with a 3.0Ghz dual core 2 CPU, 4 gigs of memory for about a month, and everything flew, all games and programs I use, then I got another 4 gigs of RAM for a total of 8 gigs, I can run Crysis, Test Drive Unlimited, Doom 3, Bioshock and many online games at FULL graphics resolutions. I know that the other hardware I have help with making my graphics run smooth, but Vista Certainly doesn't hinder any of them at all and everything runs in Vista, I have had ZERO problems with Vista running any game or other productivity software I have.
  
  So, some of you really should stop trying to run Vista on an XP machine, with 2 gigs of RAM and a 256 meg video cards, if you do build your own computers and buy the right gear, you'll never go back to XP again.
  
  
• I'm Pretty Impressed, So There You Go 5 Stars
  By A21UEAZHGW1648 on 2008-04-08
  I've been using Vista with SP1 for a couple weeks now on two different computers, my MacBook Pro and my iMac, both running on Bootcamp partitions and I have to say I'm pretty darned impressed.
  
  I have lots of ram, ram to spare in both my machines, as I'm a Photoshop girl and both my machines are the latest and greatest Apple has to off, so I was good to go as far as hardware was concerned. I had no problems running the Aero eye candy and though it's no Leopard, it's quite nice. I liked the transparent window frames and I liked the minimizing and restoring effects, but again, I'm used to the Mac, so for me they were no great shakes.
  
  I like the search box in the start menu, but I like spotlight better. Still it's very handy. The Widgets are a copy of Mac's Dashboard and Flip 3D is a copy of Expose, but then again Microsoft has been copying Apple for years.
  
  I had to go online and download the printer driver again for my Brother printer, but that was no big deal and a couple of my Photoshop plugins had to be updated, but then I hadn't used them for awhile. I was just checking everything because of the new Vista install.
  
  In conclusion I guess I'd say if you've got the hardware and are not a Mac person, this is a pretty good operating system and it seems stable. I know, I know, you've probably read all the same stuff I have about how Vista crashes and crashes and crashes and I've experienced plenty of crashes myself, but those problems seem to have been solved with the SP1 upgrade.
  
  The Home Premium version I have on my MacBook hasn't crashed yet and Vista Ultimate on my iMac has only brought down my machine one time. Granted, it's early days yet, but as for now I'll say it again, I'm pretty impressed.
  
  However there is one thing I just cannot seem to wrap my mind around. Why oh why are there so many versions of Vista. Well that bothered me with XP as well. Do you really need:
  
  Vista Home Basic with SP1
  Vista Home Premium with SP1
  Vista Business with SP1
  Ultimate with SP1
  Vista Home Basic Upgrade with SP1
  Vista Home Premium Upgrade with SP1
  Vista Business Upgrade with SP1
  Ultimate Upgrade with SP1
  
  That's an awful lot of Vistas. Then there's:
  
  Vista Anytime Upgrade Pack with SP1 [Home Basic to Home Premium]
  Vista Anytime Upgrade Pack with SP1 [Business to Ultimate]
  Vista Anytime Upgrade Pack with SP1 [Home Premium to Ultimate]
  Vista Anytime Upgrade Pack with SP1 [Home Basic to Ultimate]
  
  Come on, Microsoft, how about a one size fits all operating system like they do over in the Mac world. And this business about your copy protection, lighten up. Maybe some people do rip off Mr. Jobs' Leopard, you know buy it and put it on more than one machine, but how many computers can they use at a time. Yes, yes, maybe a husband and wife could be on at the same time, or one of the kiddies, but sheesh, give us a break.
  
  I know you have to protect yourself from the hordes who want free software, but Apple's making a pretty penny with Leopard even while they trust their users, you could too.
  
  Still, I guess I have to give all your Vistas with SP1 five stars, grudgingly, because of the way I think you do business, but I've got Vista working fine on two different computers, plus my husband has it on a couple others and we're not having major problems, so there you go, five stars.
  
  Reviewed by Sara Hackett
  
  
• Ultimate... last
  By A3377ZMYHHEN9V on 2008-05-07
  399$ for a XP remake with just glossy big icons, eyecandy hungry interface?
  The Ultimate version brings poor improvements and the little "bonuses" do not justify its outrageous price.
  i.e:
  MacOS 10.5 Leopard which is really easy to use (ergonomic) and eyecandy cost 129$ and 199$ in family pack.
  and a Linux distribution like Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) is free and Compiz is the Nec-plus-ultra of eye-candiness (also free).
  Vista invented nothing but just copied things from MacOS and from Linux, in terms of security and interface / eye-candy application. To copy open-source products is by far not the most difficult thing which exist.
  
  There is no reason to switch from XP to Vista for a normal customer and actually there is no more reason to stay with costly bugged Microsoft products anymore.
  Just choose something else and you will be better served.
  
  
• How Many Windows, Let Me Count the Ways
  By A1WCKKO3BOJ84H on 2008-04-08
  First there's Vista Home Basic which, like all the versions of Vista, has your basic digital media features like Windows Photo Gallery, but it doesn't do Aero. You get Windows Flip, but no 3D and no live taskbar thumbnails. If that stuff means nothing to you, go with it.
  
  Second there's Vista Home Premium. Add Flip 3D and Aero to the version above and the availability to do scheduled backups. Also you get Windows Media Player, which you don't get with Home Basic. Windows Media Center can truly can handle all your Media needs. It comes with HDTV support, Xbox 360 Center Extender compatibility (which means nothing to me as I'm not a gamer), Windows DVD Maker and Windows Movie Maker.
  
  Third there's Vista Business. You get everything you get in the above versions, but no Windows Media Player, but you do get business features like Windows Fax and Scan, offline files and folder support and Remote Desktop. If you're a business person, then perhaps this is the version for you.
  
  Fourth there's Vista Ultimate. With this version you get it all, the business stuff plus the media stuff.
  
  And then there's the Upgrades, like the four versions above, they are all upgrades to the SP1 versions.
  
  So far we have eight versions. The first four, plus the four upgrades. That's eight different prices. But wait, I'm not finished. There's four more upgrades, you can upgrade from Home Basic to Home Premium, from Business to Ultimate, from Premium to Ultimate, from Basic to Ultimate.
  
  That's a lot to digest. Then there's still a version you can't buy, one you've got to be a Microsoft Assurance customer to get, called Windows Vista Enterprise.
  
  That's a lot of windows in the Microsoft Operating System house, but I'm guessing there are only three versions that will be of interest to most. Vista Home Basic, because it's the cheapest. Home Premium, because you get the Aero interface and Windows Media Player, or lastly Vista Ultimate, because with this one you get it all.
  
  I was pretty confused when I started this review and maybe I still am, a little, but I think I've got it all sorted out in my head and I'm wondering if I've been any help to you, dear reader, at all. For the money, Basic is the best deal, but me, I'd go with Home Premium or even Ultimate, because I can afford it and because it's the latest and the greatest.
  
  Now with all that out of the way, do I like Vista? Absolutely. I've been an XP girl for way too long. I didn't upgrade straightaway when Vista first came out, because I'd heard all the horror stories. I have Vista now and I'm happy with it. Will I go back to XP? Answer, no. I've got Vista now and I'm sticking with it.
  
  
• Will Not Properly Uprgrade from the Non- SP1 Version of Home Premium
  By AKR3AI51MITWF on 2008-04-14
  I recently bought this product in an attempt to upgrade my new sony Laptop to 64-bit from 32-bit to take advantage of the 4MB installed memory. According the the statement on the package you can upgrade from Vista home Premium to Vista Ultimate without doing a re-format. First off my new system would not accept the 64-bit disc. I then tried to install the 32-bit disc and it would only accept the installation if I was willing to completley re-format the hard drive because I was not upgrading from Windows Home Premium SP1. This is even though I had dowloaded all the latest Microsoft updates to bring it up to SP1 status. Since it was a new computer and I did not want to lose all the bundled software I opted to return it and remain with what I had. It would not be economically feasible to purchase the Home Premium SP1 Upgrade just to install the Ultimate SP1 upgrade behnd it. Bottom line, if you want to save your programs and files (not do a complete re-format) Ulitmate SP1 it seems will only upgrade from another SP1 product.
  
  
• Happy with upgrade
  By A3DOR8NJDEQRDM on 2008-05-10
  I bought the upgrade version of vista ultimate with service pack 1. The installer chose the 32-bit version of the os due to my printer (no 64-bit drivers). You can actually open a ticket with MS if you expect a 64b install but don't get it. Remote windows login required domain after username to work. Media center needs to be restarted when going from window to full-screen (minor bug). Love the power management. Almost all drivers were found online by vista! Overall am pleased with this upgrade!
  
  
• Don't Waste Your Money
  By A2CDM45LL7S5XR on 2008-03-23
  This is just another, in a long line of horible experiments by Mad Doctor FrankenGates. Your system WILL crash, it WILL run slower, and you will be sorry for buying this boxocrap. If you buy an 8-core Mac Pro and use "boot camp", then and only then will this junk actually work. That's what I had to do. The only good thing about vista is, it got me into something much much better than microsoft. Mac OSX. What a pleasure.
  
  
• Vista Ultimate Upgrade
  By A2OPB6J1BMHX9M on 2008-05-02
  I waited until Vista was available in a retail box so that I would not have to deal with a large download. Amazon was the first place that had the product available. There are many differences between XP and Vista. Learning the newer version takes a little time but it is well worth it. My boot time is 20 seconds compared to my XP's boot time of 45 seconds. There are many new features in Vista. One of my favorites is the sleep mode with a keyboard wake.
  
  
• Clean Install NOT POSSIBLE
  By A1A2WFTRU14FC3 on 2008-05-20
  WARNING! All previous "Upgrade" versions of Windows would allow you to perform a clean install, and simply provide proof of your previous Windows version.
  
  NOT WINDOWS VISTA UPGRADE. It's now known as "Windows Anytime Upgrade." Apparantly this means "anytime but when you actually need it -- after a hardware failure."
  
  This version of Windows Vista does NOT allow for a clean install. You will be told that you need to perform an upgrade of an existing, running version of Windows. You CANNOT do a clean install.
  
  And now you start to get a glimpse of why people hate Windows Vista!
  
  
• why?
  By A1NPUR6D6TUIEK on 2008-04-09
  not sure why anyone would buy this buggy mess now, microsoft is suppose to be coming out with a new OS next year so what's the point?
  
  
• vista gives me a hard time
  By A2FV3ED7UX8L3E on 2008-06-14
  it took me a long time to get this product and I probably should have waited because I put this upgrade on top of windows xp and now I have problems. I'll sort it all out but Vista is a disgrace!
  
  
• Miserable performance, poor compatability, little to gain
  By A29W3LKUAHS4UL on 2008-06-16
  I purchased Vista to upgrade my Windows XP machine, only to find out that I must then upgrade my computer to work with it. My machine, which was fast by a gamers standards was miserable beneath Vista. I spent most of my time waiting for things to load, accepting pop-up boxes and searching the web for computer upgrades before I finally switched back to Windows XP.
  
  

• Microsoft Outlook 2007
• Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007
• Microsoft Office Accounting Professional 2008 [OLD VERSION]
• Windows Live OneCare 2.0 (Up to 3 Users)
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager

• HP Pavilion Elite M9260F Desktop PC (2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 Processor, 4 GB RAM, 1 TB Hard Drive, Blu Ray Drive, Vista Premium)
• Microsoft Office Professional 2007 UPGRADE
• Windows Vista Home Premium with SP1 Upgrade
• Windows Live OneCare 2.0 (Up to 3 Users)
• HP Pavilion DV9820US 17-inch Laptop (AMD Turion 64 X 2 Dual Core TL-62 Processor, 4 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, DVD Drive, Vista Premium)