Seeking advice on Windows Vista

[Cari L. Waters-Drewry]

Hello fellow court reporters/scopists/proofers and anyone else this would apply to,

I am in the process of purchasing a new laptop and was wondering about Windows Vista. I've heard it has a lot of quirks and was wondering what anyone has to say about it. I've always been a HP user but it comes with Windows Vista and I'm not sure I want that. I was told by tech support to get my new laptop custom built with XP and not put in the Windows Vista. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Sincerely...Cari Drewry

[Patricia Babits]

I'm getting a new laptop also, and I'm getting XP put in. I've just heard some negative stuff about Vista so I'm scared.

[Susan Magee]

I have Vista and haven't had any problems with it (knock on wood)

[Patricia Babits]

My husband just told me this is the last month to be able to buy XP. After that you'll have to buy Vista and downgrade. So I better get ordering!

[Mary DeCaprio]

Cari,
I would not get Vista. I did on my laptop, and I am sorry that I did. I am a scopist, and I use Case Catalyst version 9. Thank goodness the people at Stenograph are so on the ball. I had to call them many times to work out the kinks after I loaded Case on my new laptop with Vista. Even now that that part is worked out, I sometinmes have trouble downloading jobs from reporters. I use a Dell laptop, and I have had to call them many times to straighten out the kinks. I got my laptop in March 2008, and I had to erase by whole memory ,or c drive, or whatever you call it, once all ready and reload everything from scratch.
I would definatley avoid Vista. I should have listened to my husband's warnings.
Good luck
Mary Decaprio

[Tracy A. Minor]

Cari,

As a student at almost 100wmp, I had always used an Hp as well. Got this laptop for school, and it came with Vista. The salesman assured me that most of the glitches had been resolved. Well....he sort of told the truth! I can say that it works fine with my steno machine and CaseCat. It took some initial "fiddling" with to get it that way though and even the "IT" person at my school didn't know much about Vista yet. Not much help there.

So, it was rather a "trial and error" process that was a bit irratating for almost 2 weeks. Since then I've learned that to work in this crazy operating system you have to do operations (for Steno work) in a specific order or it causes the laptop to go haywire.

To sum it up for you, it CAN be done if you have a little patience. Would I recommend it? NO. If you can, find out if the Apple software will work with your CAT program. I would go any other route! My next laptop is going to be an Apple, as God is my witness!

Tracy Minor

[Nancy J. Davilla]

My significant other told me that I could have a Dell built and they would put XP on it. That's the route I'm going to go. Vista scares me. Best of luck with whatever you decide.

~Nancy

[Lisa Dee]

I've had Vista for the past five months, and haven't had any problems...

[Karen Margolis]

I actually LOVE Vista. I was hesitant myself and had used only XP in the past, but I recently purchased a new laptop with Vista and I think my software runs great. I do have CaseCATalyst, so I'm not sure if Vista runs this well with other CAT systems. Just my two cents.