Buying Tips for Vista Notebooks

Windows Vista Aero

Virtually every notebook rolling off the shelves from here on out will be “Vista Capable,” but if you to experience all those flashy 3D graphics you’ve been seeing on TV,you’ll need to make sure your notebook’s up to the task. Yes, there’s tons of security, search and system upgrades compared to Vista, but the thing that’s really catching everyone’s eyes is the elegant Aero graphics.
From microsoft.com:

With Windows Aero, you’ll experience dynamic reflections, smooth gliding animations, transparent glass-like menu bars, and the ability to switch between your open windows in a new three-dimensional layout.

If you like the look and want all the features keep the following in mind before ordering your next notebook:

1) To experience Aero, you’ll need to order a notebook with Vista Home Premium or better.

2) 1GB of RAM is the new minimum. Vista is power hungry, so make sure your notebook has as much memory as you can reasonably afford. Some online stores will let you customize your notebook with Vista Home Premium and only 512MB of memory. You will be disappointed if you chose this configuration.

3) Look for notebooks with dedicated  graphics cards that have at least 128MB of memory.

4) Go for a bigger drive. With all the new multimedia tools, you’re probably going to keep more music, videos and pics around. Drive prices are coming down and many manufacturers are making 100GB and up drives standard with Vista notebooks.

5) Wait to buy if you can. Even though Vista has been fully tested by more than 5 million users, notebooks with Vista pre-installed are just starting to sell. Discounts are relatively scarce, but should become more plentiful as all the hype around Vista’s launch dies down a bit.

Also, lots of “Vista Ready” notebooks are still on store shelves. While buying an XP notebook with a free Vista upgrade might save you a little money, you can avoid the hassle of upgrading if you make sure you get the notebook with Vista pre-installed.

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