[reversing_drive]

I haven't tested XP at all and am just curious what to expect.

I have read a number of articles about and posts here @ ntcompatible, but it just seems to be WinME "Bells & Whistles" with the rock solid Win2K architecture.

I guess the biggest advantage With WinXP that i have read a lot about is the compatibility, stability & security.
Though i don't think Win2K falls to far behind XP in any of those criteria except maybe "Games" compatibility.

What do you's (The BETA Testers) say about this?

Is it worth paying money for the upgrade from Win2K when XP comes out?
(Win98 -> WinME was definatley worth paying money for )

Cheers.

[Brian Frank]

I have noticed it to be faster, but it's not like living with Win2k is bad. XP is just bringing Win2k to the masses. It's not crash prone like the POS we know to be Windows ME. I haven't seen much in the way of the faster start time, but I personally don't care.
XP takes the bells and whistles of Win9x and puts them onto the NT code. A lot of XP is Win2k with a face lift, but it's not affecting stability.
I've run it, and it is good, however, I dislike the fact that it is geared more toward the newbie who doesn't know squat in regards to computing. Fine, the only problem is, IMO, that MS makes it increasingly difficult to find where they put certain things, in which case you have to find yourself.
For those coming strictly from a 9x background, it's something that should've been done long ago--run both home and professional OS's off the same, stable core. And stability is not the BS they said was supposed to come with ME and didn't.

[OLEerror]

It really depends on how much of Windows XP you plan on taking advantage of. If you are happy with Windows 2000, and it offers everything you need, there isn't much of a need to upgrade. But Windows XP is an extremely good OS. I'll be upgrading all of my home computers to it without hesitation.

Some of the things that many users may be interested in:
* Driver rollback. This is a great feature. That last set of Detonator drivers drop your fps, or even make your system unstable? Rollback to the previous version.

* System Restore. This comes straight from Windows ME. And it is probably the only good thing in ME. This feature has saved me once already.

* IEEE 1394 (Firewire) support. Windows XP is the first OS to offer complete native support of the IEEE 1394 standard. One of the neatest features is the ability to network through Firewire. This plays majorly into tying you home entertainment system into your network.

* Universal Plug-and-Play. UPNP is a great feature that is being supported by many of the big network component companies. This allows for automatic recognition of networks. And, more importantly to gamers, the ability to used a shared IP for gaming through a NAT firewall.

* Picture printing wizard. I never thoguht I would have any use for this. But after having used it I am impressed. The different print choices it are great.

* Skinning. This one is yet to be seen at its full potential. And we can only hope that Microsoft really takes advantage of it. The potential for this is staggering.

* Built-in CD-R/RW support. I love this feature. I actually prefer it over DirectCD (which is basically what it is.) The ability to place files in a staging area to be written to a CD without having to deal with another program is wonderful.

* Fast-User Switching. I can't believe how often I use this at home now.

Windows XP really is a neat OS. I was an early adopter of Window 2000 and loved it from day one. But Windows XP has jaded me. I find myself missing it when I'm using WIndows 2000 at work.

[EddiE314]

you're forgetting the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard.......IT ACTUALLY WORKS!!!! LOL

[reversing_drive]

So what sys. requirements do you recommend?
_____________________________________________________________
One thing i think is quit riduculous, is when going to Windows 95 'windowsupdate' site and it says "Still running Windows 95, get ready to upgrade to windows XP" (Or something like that), considering 80% of people running Win95 use a 486 or Pentium1, with like 16mb RAM.
_____________________________________________________________

OK, it is reasonable to think that WinXP runs faster than 2K, However this is only so on "Fast Computers (PIII +)" where XP can take advantage of new technologies (P4, Rambus, Firewire ect..) where 2K is maybe slighty crippled.

So my question is, How will XP compare to 2K on an older machine, like PII 400mhz, 128mb pc100, 8mb AGP 2x Video.

Another thing, what are the pros & cons of 'XP Home' compared to 'XP Pro'?

Cheers,

[FatFish]

wow... My old machine has the same spec as the old machine that you have mentioned.
And i suggest going with 2K if you want stability, but if you play games alot, go with ME.

[Brian Frank]

[size:24]Now I will go psycho....[/color]

8)NO!!! NOT ME!!! Arrrrrrrgggggghhhhhh!!!! 8) 8) 8) 8)
ME is crap, 98 is better. Contrary to belief, Win2k can run games rather well, and most games do run on 2k. ME promised and didn't deliver, it's primary function ended up being to screw up your computer. ME is evil! EEEEEEvil!!!

[FatFish]

okok.. no ME...
To me, both 98SE and ME are the same, always crash. =)
But ME has some new nice features, so....

BTW, the ideal sys spec for running WinXP will be:
Dual Althon 4 1.x GHz
1G DDR RAM
GeForce 3
SCSI array harddrives in RAID-5 setup
DVD-RAM
Sound Blaster Audigy Platium
T1 connection

However, by the time i can afford this system, there will be
Althon 6, Pentium 6 <- recalled and delayed
GeForce 5...etc.
and the latest os form MS will be Win UX
it will be the combination of the easy configuration of windows family and the stablity of the Linux kernel.

[OLEerror]

Windows XP will run pretty well on the system specs you've listed. It runs great on my PIII 450MHz. I would recommend upgrading your RAM to at least 256 meg. Check at Crucial.com to see how much an upgrade will cost you. I think you'll be surprised by how inexpensive it has gotten. Any they have gone back to offering free 2nd day delivery.

Currently, my PIII 450 is maxed at 384 meg. XP never comes anywhere near that in memory usage, even when running games and such. My PIII 1GHz with 512 megs has never run better. XP runs significantly faster on this machine than Windows 2000 sp1 did.

And XP has great support for ATI cards. ATI has been working with Microsoft to make sure that they have optimized drivers by the time XP ships. They have stated that XP will ship with the best RADEON driver to date. And with the performance I was getting from their latest beta drivers in Windows 2000, I'm psyched.

[Brian Frank]

Quote:

And XP has great support for ATI cards. ATI has been working with Microsoft to make sure that they have optimized drivers by the time XP ships. They have stated that XP will ship with the best RADEON driver to date. And with the performance I was getting from their latest beta drivers in Windows 2000, I'm psyched.

Wow! *sarcasm* ATI is gonna put out good drivers?! Holy cow! Stop the presses. ;(*snicker*

Sorry, I've had very bad experiences with ATI and driver support.