Err.........does it run wireless? If so Vista because WPA2 doesn't work with XP IIRC, if not XP for games. 7 comes out next month so you can wait until then, unless you don't plan on getting it for a while :? 7 RC is fine with me but if there are troubles with some software you'll get the line from whatever company "We do not support beta OSes". If you already own Vista some might say there's no point in getting 7, unless you don't have 64-bit.
Ok, I can't offer any sensible opinion about Vista vs Win7, but a couple of months ago I upgraded from XP (sp3) to Vista Home Premium. I was VERY nervous about the upgrade and in fact only did it because I was GIVEN the Vista Premium upgrade as a gift - otherwise I had no interest in getting into any possible compatibility issues and I had big concerns about game performance (there are benchmarks showing Vista performing slower than XP in at least some games). The Vista installation process was very easy and troublefree - much quicker and easier than XP ever has been. General desktop and application performance is NOTICEABLY QUICKER than XP was - especially file handling processes (ie. copying and deleting files). Video encoding is also MUCH faster. So far I've had no compatibility problems with Far Cry, Operation Flashpoint GOTY or Clear Sky and am also having no problem running the old Secret of Monkey Island games (using Scumm VM) - which is something I always had problems with in XP. Performance of all these games is NOTICEABLY BETTER than is was in XP - ie. With Clear Sky in Vista I get the same fps performance with SSAO effects enabled and 2xAA as I had in XP with no AA and SSAO disabled - that's in BOTH DX9 and DX10 modes - and in DX10 mode I have water effects enabled as well as volumetric smoke (in DX9 AA has to be enabled thru Nvidia control panel profile, but in DX10 it's an ingame slider option). In short: anyone nervous about upgrading to Vista - DON'T BE! It works fine and seems to be outperforming XP no sweat.
I'm about to purchase a new laptop. Which windows should i install? Vista, XP or upgrade to windows 7?
Neoquesty
Definitely Windows 7. Don't be left behind, I try to move ahead as much as possible even when people go on these anti-Microsoft tirades. You'll thank yourself in the long run, many many people have already praised Windows 7 as finally it.
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