Got my 2 new Dell notebooks last Tuesday. One has XPpro and the other has Vista Home Premium. I got the XP one because I know it (XP) pretty well after all these years and I needed a new notebook with a dependable operating system that can still use my older software.
I also got the Vista so I can familiarize myself with it. Had to. I bought my mom a new PC and it has Vista on it too so when she actually receives it in a couple of weeks I'm gonna have to fly out to SoCal and set it up for her.
Soooo .... I better learn how to use it
FAST!
With all the bad press about Vista, one can be leery but since I've been using it for 5 days so far, it's really not too bad at all. It actually works with much of my older software (but not all), so I'm not gonna have to splurge and get new software which I thought I was gonna have to do.
Vista does things a bit differently, though. Mostly you just have to get used to it. But it's FAST.
But as Karyn mentioned previously, make sure that you have at least 2GB of RAM (memory)! I believe Vista allows you to use up to 4GB RAM.
AND a good graphics card if you will be doing media type stuff.
My 3 centz anyway ...
Have Fun & Good Luck!