2008 Woodie Awards
Windows Vista technology is now available to the average consumer
Brian Moser
Issue date: 2/15/07 Section: Features
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Windows Vista hit the consumer market on Jan. 30. Vista is the newest operating system for Microsoft since Windows XP came to home users over five years ago.
Companies such as Dell, Gateway and HP switched their computer products to Vista on the launch date. They will only sell Windows XP computers to businesses. Therefore, if you are looking for a new PC or laptop, it will have Windows Vista installed on it.
The new operating system has been talked up and down in the technological world about its capabilities and features, but there are many things the average consumer doesn't know about Vista.
First of all, there are many different versions of Vista. The three versions that most consumers will most likely look at will be Home Basic, Home Premium, and Home Ultimate.
The main difference between Basic and Premium is the sleek Aero interface that allows for neat visual effects. At Best Buy, the Home Basic sells for $200 while the Premium version costs $40 more.
Home Ultimate has more features than Premium like hard drive encryption and advanced networking capabilities. Ultimate has a big price tag of $400.
The requirements for running Windows Vista are much higher than previous Microsoft operating systems. A one gigahertz processor along with at least 1GB of RAM is required to run Vista along with a dedicated video card that supports DirectX 9.
Those requirements may sound like a bunch of technological mumbo jumbo, but those are the three main requirements that you should know if you want to upgrade to Vista. Also, you must have a DVD drive, but that capability is almost standard for computers now.
There are many new features in Windows Vista that will help the common person more than just running Windows XP.
The windows search is one feature that I have heard a lot of praise about from magazines to online forums. You can perform a search almost everywhere, including in the start menu. Searching in Vista is faster because it will fill in the search as you type in your search topic. If what you are trying to search for comes up before you are done typing, then you can just stop and click on what you want.
Companies such as Dell, Gateway and HP switched their computer products to Vista on the launch date. They will only sell Windows XP computers to businesses. Therefore, if you are looking for a new PC or laptop, it will have Windows Vista installed on it.
The new operating system has been talked up and down in the technological world about its capabilities and features, but there are many things the average consumer doesn't know about Vista.
First of all, there are many different versions of Vista. The three versions that most consumers will most likely look at will be Home Basic, Home Premium, and Home Ultimate.
The main difference between Basic and Premium is the sleek Aero interface that allows for neat visual effects. At Best Buy, the Home Basic sells for $200 while the Premium version costs $40 more.
Home Ultimate has more features than Premium like hard drive encryption and advanced networking capabilities. Ultimate has a big price tag of $400.
The requirements for running Windows Vista are much higher than previous Microsoft operating systems. A one gigahertz processor along with at least 1GB of RAM is required to run Vista along with a dedicated video card that supports DirectX 9.
Those requirements may sound like a bunch of technological mumbo jumbo, but those are the three main requirements that you should know if you want to upgrade to Vista. Also, you must have a DVD drive, but that capability is almost standard for computers now.
There are many new features in Windows Vista that will help the common person more than just running Windows XP.
The windows search is one feature that I have heard a lot of praise about from magazines to online forums. You can perform a search almost everywhere, including in the start menu. Searching in Vista is faster because it will fill in the search as you type in your search topic. If what you are trying to search for comes up before you are done typing, then you can just stop and click on what you want.
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