Vista: Buy a PC Preinstalled or Upgrade Yourself?

Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:05PM EST

See Comments (52)

Reader Brian Tom writes: I'm looking to purchase a new PC in the near future. Should I wait for Vista to come out and purchase with it already installed or purchase now and upgrade. What are the pros and cons to each option? Will PCs cost more with Vista already loaded? Any advice would be helpful.

Let me put it simply: If you want a machine with Vista on it, you're absolutely crazy if you purchase a computer now and try to upgrade it later. There's simply no reason to do it yourself.

First off, I don't see much (if any) difference in pricing among machines preloaded with either operating system. The price vendors like Dell and HP pay to Microsoft for licenses of Vista is likely about the same as they pay for XP, so consumers should not expect a huge run-up in cost as vendors are forced to upgrade their offerings.

But most vendors are offering free (or cheap) upgrade coupons for Vista for any machines you purchase now. So does it make sense to jump for one of these deals? I'd advise against it: Installing any Windows OS can present you with problems if you're a novice, and with a brand new operating system like Vista, the problems will be even bigger. Some expect that Vista's hunger for specs will make for a more copious wealth of upgrade headaches than ever before, and I tend to agree. Even if Dell sends you a disc designed specifically for your machine, with all the drivers intact, I am dead certain that a portion of users are going to find it buggy.

Let's say you're a tech pro and you are comfortable doing the upgrade yourself. Still, I wouldn't recommend it if for no other reason than I can think of a better way to spend the hour-plus it will take to run the upgrade. Let the people who sold you the PC do the upgrade for you.

This advice only applies to people intending to purchase a new PC in the near future. If you want to upgrade your existing PC with Vista make sure it can handle it: If it's more than a year old, you're advised to purchase a new computer with Vista preinstalled, and I'd recommend you wait as long as possible to upgrade if you're still sold on doing it yourself. The only people who may want to upgrade sooner are gamers. Vista will be the only way to get DirectX 10, which will power some of 2007's most coveted PC games, including Crysis. If you absolutely must play this game immediately and don't want to buy new hardware, well, Vista will be on store shelves on January 30. Good luck!

Comments on Vista: Buy a PC Preinstalled or Upgrade Yourself?

Post a Comment

Join in the discussion. Here you'll see the comments in the order they were posted.

  • 1 Posted by rogueist on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:49PM EDT Report Abuse

    Buying a machine with Vista on it will cost about 30% more than a machine without it. I just plan to switch over to Linux personally...

  • 2 Posted by commorancy on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:28PM EDT Report Abuse

    Here's the pros and cons to buying a PC with Vista preloaded (OEM version). If you buy a PC with an OEM copy of Vista, then, per the EULA, that PC must live and die with that copy of Vista. So, if you buy another PC without an OS, you can't move that copy of Vista to that new machine and must, instead, buy a new copy of Vista. Buying a retail boxed copy of Vista will allow you to move that copy to any PC you choose (as long as it's only running on one machine). For some, this is a non-issue as you may never move that copy of Vista ever. But, for others who might want the freedom to be able to move that copy of Vista should the hardware die, then a box copy is the way to go. You just have to read the EULAs closely to understand the limitations and differences between an OEM EULA and a retail copy EULA.

  • 3 Posted by cnull on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:27PM EDT Report Abuse

    commorancy: That's true, but you may as well get the free copy of Vista that comes on the machine you're purchasing, rather than buying the machine with XP on it and purchasing Vista separately. If you do upgrade to new hardware at least you would be able to wait a year or so before buying Vista... and that new hardware would probably have Vista preinstalled as well anyway... Just a thought. Oh, and rogueist: Vs. buying a machine with no OS, you're (basically) right. I'm comparing to a machine with XP preloaded.

  • 4 Posted by twomomssib@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:25PM EDT Report Abuse

    I'm a 60 year old Grandma, that's likes my computer for a few things. I do like to scan and send pictures.My tower is a hand me down window 2000.I need a new one, should I get Vista or xp. Thank you

  • 5 Posted by librric on Tue Jan 23, 2007 12:18PM EST Report Abuse

    Hey man you can run OS X 10.5 in a few months for way cheaper than Vista and its going to have way better features, thats why I switched to Apple

  • 7 Posted by gunnoeryan on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:14PM EDT Report Abuse

    twomomssib, It doesn't matter much except that if you see someone's cool new Vista screen you may kick yourself. If you have the money, in general, go for the most recent hardware and OS (Vista).

  • 8 Posted by eatpandesal on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:51PM EDT Report Abuse

    if i have to upgrade I'm also gonna upgrade to an Apple computer also

  • 9 Posted by meperry_94587 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:16PM EDT Report Abuse

    I've installed Vista on a few systems now but not upgraded an XP installation. I've not had many problems on a AMD64 4000+ with lots of memory and a good video card; however, on a older/ancient T40 laptop, I've had issues which required a lot of research online. Beware of things like older video cards in older systems not having applicable WDDM drivers on Vista. Without suitable drivers, I was unable to get power management to work successfully until I uncovered a hack to use XP video drivers for an older ATI Radeon Mobility in the ThinkPad T40s. I would warn people considering a move to Vista to look at device driver support very carefully.

  • 10 Posted by jaybaumgard2002 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:29PM EDT Report Abuse

    Stop busting Microsoft butt, learn how to install software moron.

More Posts: First Prev 1 2 3 4 Next Last

Post a Comment

Sign In to Post a Comment