Vista recommendations

[PLAZ]

My son needs to buy a computer. He has to buy a computer that provides support on the telephone, since he is disabled and would be unable to take his computer in for repair when needed.

He has been very interested in the HP d5000t series computer. Unfortunately HP only offers different versions of Vista with that computer. Questions which arise because of this are:

- Will all his software which has operated on XP with his old computer have to be replaced?

- With the potential software problems would 32 bit Vista be more practical than 64 bit?

- Would 64 bit Vista be a poor or good choice?

[Dave21]

Double check the main programs he uses just to make sure they are comptabile with vista.

Stick with Vista 32 bit home edition. 64 bit are more towards developers and think not neccessary for laptops and may cause confusion with software/hardware installation if your son is not familiar with the operating system.

Could you provide a link to the HP d5000t? I googled it and it returns a review and specs on the 2006 model? Is that the one you are referring to? If so then vista is a ram hog and the 256 mb of ram will be insufficient to run Vista.

[PLAZ]

Try HP site www.hp.com then search for:
HP Pavilion Elite d5000t ATX series

[Dave21]

I say just stick to 32 bit for simplicity.

[PLAZ]

Can I install both XP and Vista on the same computer?

If so does it cause any problems?

[shadowpr]

Yes, you can install both. It's called dual booting.

It's pretty simple to do.

Here is a guide how to do it with vista installed first: http://apcmag.com/how_to_dual_boot_v...step_guide.htm