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Retired Staff
After months of waiting, Windows Vista has been finally released. It hit the shores of the United Kingdom yesterday (albeit at twice the price of Windows Vista in the United States). It comes in squeaky-clean boxes that look rather like today's DVD packages, rather than the giant bulky boxes they used to be stuffed in.
A little background reading: Windows Vista is the successor to Windows XP. It comes in four flavours: Home Basic, Home Premium, Business and Ultimate, each growing progressively in capabilities and price. Vista had previously been available via customers via volume licensing, MSDN and TechNet subscribers, before being launched on January 30.
Vista comes packed with features. Internet Explorer 7 comes bundled by default. There are features such as a new-design Start menu (or, rather, the "Windows button menu" now), a brand-new interface, sporting Aero. It has new security features and maintenance abilities such as easier backups and faster searching. And a lot, lot more.
System requirements
To install Vista, one will need the following[sup]#[/sup]:
Home Basic
~ 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
~ 512 MB of system memory
~ 20 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
~ Support for DirectX 9 graphics and 32 MB of graphics memory
~ DVD-ROM drive
~ Audio Output
~ Internet access (fees may apply)
Home Premium/Business/Ultimate
~ 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
~ 1 GB of system memory
~ 40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
~ Support for DirectX 9 graphics with:
~ Audio Output
~ Internet access (fees may apply)
Additional Requirements
~ Actual requirements and product functionality may vary based on your system configuration. Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor can help you determine which features and edition of Windows Vista will run on your computer.
Home Premium / Ultimate
~ TV tuner card required for TV functionality (compatible remote control optional).
Home Premium/Business/Ultimate
~ Windows Tablet and Touch Technology requires a Tablet PC or a touch screen.
Ultimate
~ Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption requires a USB Flash Drive and a system with a TPM 1.2 chip.
Bare requirements
You can actually get away with fairly low requirements, though expect very slow performance and the requirement to disable most features such as Aero.
~ 800 MHz processor and 512 MB of system memory
~ 20 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
~ Support for Super VGA graphics
~ CD-ROM drive
Features
Vista contains many features too numerous to list here, although a few of them are easier connectivity, more security and better maintenence.
Microsoft lists Vista's features here.
Useful links
~ Windows Vista at the English Wikipedia
~ Microsoft starts Vista hard sell, BBC News (accessed February 1, 2007)
~ Reporter's log: A day with Vista, BBC News (accessed February 1, 2007)
~ Users' views on Windows Vista, BBC News (accessed February 1, 2007)
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A little background reading: Windows Vista is the successor to Windows XP. It comes in four flavours: Home Basic, Home Premium, Business and Ultimate, each growing progressively in capabilities and price. Vista had previously been available via customers via volume licensing, MSDN and TechNet subscribers, before being launched on January 30.
Vista comes packed with features. Internet Explorer 7 comes bundled by default. There are features such as a new-design Start menu (or, rather, the "Windows button menu" now), a brand-new interface, sporting Aero. It has new security features and maintenance abilities such as easier backups and faster searching. And a lot, lot more.
System requirements
To install Vista, one will need the following[sup]#[/sup]:
Home Basic
~ 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
~ 512 MB of system memory
~ 20 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
~ Support for DirectX 9 graphics and 32 MB of graphics memory
~ DVD-ROM drive
~ Audio Output
~ Internet access (fees may apply)
Home Premium/Business/Ultimate
~ 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
~ 1 GB of system memory
~ 40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
~ Support for DirectX 9 graphics with:
~ WDDM Driver
~ 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)
~ Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware
~ 32 bits per pixel
~ DVD-ROM drive~ 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)
~ Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware
~ 32 bits per pixel
~ Audio Output
~ Internet access (fees may apply)
Additional Requirements
~ Actual requirements and product functionality may vary based on your system configuration. Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor can help you determine which features and edition of Windows Vista will run on your computer.
Home Premium / Ultimate
~ TV tuner card required for TV functionality (compatible remote control optional).
Home Premium/Business/Ultimate
~ Windows Tablet and Touch Technology requires a Tablet PC or a touch screen.
Ultimate
~ Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption requires a USB Flash Drive and a system with a TPM 1.2 chip.
Bare requirements
You can actually get away with fairly low requirements, though expect very slow performance and the requirement to disable most features such as Aero.
~ 800 MHz processor and 512 MB of system memory
~ 20 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
~ Support for Super VGA graphics
~ CD-ROM drive
Features
Vista contains many features too numerous to list here, although a few of them are easier connectivity, more security and better maintenence.
Microsoft lists Vista's features here.
Useful links
~ Windows Vista at the English Wikipedia
~ Microsoft starts Vista hard sell, BBC News (accessed February 1, 2007)
~ Reporter's log: A day with Vista, BBC News (accessed February 1, 2007)
~ Users' views on Windows Vista, BBC News (accessed February 1, 2007)
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