I want to buy a laptop, but it seems that not all Vistas are the same. Is there any danger of buying a laptop now that isn't, as Tim Anderson said in last week's Windows 7 cover story, "more mature and reliable"?
Peter Perkins
You can minimise the risk of getting an underperforming Windows Vista PC in three ways: (1) make sure Vista SP1 is installed; (2) pick a system with no pre-installed trialware; (3) search the web for any problems with the specific make, model and configuration you're thinking of buying. You should certainly skim through messages in the manufacturer's online help forum, paying particular attention to driver issues. In some cases, you may be able to find magazine reviews with benchmark results, or at least a Windows Experience Index rating.
However, most or all of the major manufacturers have seen the results of the Vista Velocity programme, where Microsoft tested and tuned the setups of about 300 PCs. This work is continuing with Windows 7 (PDF).
Note that some trialware -- often called "crapware" -- is installed as part of the operating system, so it gets reloaded even if you do a clean reinstallation. This is best avoided. However, some trial-ware is simply pre-loaded on the hard drive so that it can easily be installed on demand. This is not usually a problem.
