Which PC Is A Windows Vista PC?

Microsoft's Windows Vista has finally gotten into the marketplace, but it may take a while for the marketplace to really get into Vista. A week after Vista's commercial introduction, there is a flood of advertising, in-store displays, and Web-site promotions from PC vendors, all touting the new operating system. Much of it, however, still seems a little confused over what consumers need to know about the various versions of Vista and the hardware required to run all the features.

For example, I wandered into a local branch of office-supply giant Staples the weekend of February 3, 2007, to check out the prices on Vista upgrades and the availability of computers with Vista installed. The results were more confusing than enlightening.

The laptop displays were labeled with an "Express Upgrade" placard that told shoppers they could "buy with confidence today." Some of the laptops on display wore the "Microsoft Vista Installed" sticker; for the rest, the placard offered a chart of manufacturers' upgrade offers for each of the four consumer versions of Vista -- without explaining that some might be more appropriate than others. The best information came from a knowledgeable salesman who understood the graphics issues and handed out a copy of Microsoft brochure titled The "Wow" Starts Now that included a chart that compared the features of Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate.

This is not an unusual situation. Currently, if consumers want solid information about what hardware they need to buy to run which version of Vista, they're going to have to do some research on their own. (If they're in a hurry, they may also have to shop around -- a few days after Vista was released, at least one consumer who needed to purchase a notebook in a hurry reported that the shelves of his local retailers were stripped of Windows XP systems and that the Vista computers hadn't arrived yet.)

It's not only stores, of course. Newspaper advertising for new PCs has already begun to tout various versions of Vista, but again without spelling out why one laptop comes with Vista Home Basic and another with Vista Home Premium. (Interestingly, in the Sunday, February 4, 2007, edition of the Boston Globe, several companies advertised the complete range of Vista upgrades, but no PC seller offered a machine with Vista Ultimate installed -- Home Basic and Home Premium were the two versions available.)

And Online? No Better
The situation online isn't much better. Web sites let shoppers customize their purchase online and even pick which version of Vista they want, but may or may not provide recommendations and explanations that would guide buyers in purchasing the hardware add-ons that the "premium" versions of Vista really need to run well. Tangent, for example, put out a press release last week announcing that its "PC, workstation, server and mobile computing solutions are now shipping with Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system, " but when I checked the Burlingame, CA, company's Web site, it didn't yet mention Vista.

On the other hand, Web-based seller PCs for Everyone offered a configuration application similar to HP's that included a link to a more detailed version of the Microsoft chart (with one mistake -- it erroneously omits support for Aero from the Vista Business column).

Perhaps the best job of explaining Vista's demands I found was done by the Dell Web site. A "Hardware Requirements" chart offered two columns that correspond to Microsoft's own criteria for "Vista Capable" and "Premium Ready" PCs, and added a useful third column, "Dell Recommends." Unfortunately, the chart wasn't easy to find -- it was buried under the "Windows Vista" icon that appears on the home page for each of Dell's PC product categories.

Vista Capable Vs. Premium Ready
The primary features that create the most confusion for consumers -- and the ones that seem least explained on vendor sites -- are the Vista features that have gotten the most attention: its new graphics model and flashy Aero interface. While HP's site, for example, does a good job of recommending 2GB of memory when a shopper clicks on the button to select Vista Ultimate, it doesn't attempt to explain the more complex requirements for graphics hardware that uses a WDDM driver and 128MB of memory.

Unfortunately, Microsoft itself hasn't been much help. While Microsoft created a set of designations that indicate whether a PC has Vista installed, or is capable of running some version of Vista (see sidebar, "Vista Sticker Shock"), the program's designations of "Windows Vista Capable" and "Windows Vista Premium Ready" don't provide a complete answer to crucial distinctions.

For the record, Microsoft says that a "Vista Capable" PC (that is, one that would run Vista Home Basic), should include:

"Vista Capable" PCs support the security features of Vista -- Windows Defender and Windows Firewall -- and Parental Controls, but not the advanced graphics and Aero interface features, or media and networking features. PCs with Vista Basic installed wear "Windows Vista Basic" stickers.

Requirements for "Premium Ready" PCs include:

Unfortunately, while "Premium Ready" is the clearest indicator of support for Aero and advanced media-center and networking features, there is no "Premium Ready" sticker.

Also, Microsoft's Web site notes that some product features may require advanced or additional hardware:

Vista isn't the first new version of Windows to push the technology envelope. But in the past, the primary determiners of whether a new version of Windows would run were memory and processor speed, both requirements that could be stated simply. (For Windows 95, for example, Microsoft recommended an Intel 80486 or compatible processor and 8Mb of RAM -- numbers that fit easily into a product description on a price tag.)

With Vista, things are more complicated. In particular, retailers are going to have to find new ways of describing graphics hardware that supports the advanced functions of Vista ("Aero-ready"?) and describes how system memory is divided up by the CPU and the graphics processor. And PC customers are going to have to learn some new questions to ask.

Vista Sticker Shock: What Do The Logos Mean?
Microsoft has tried -- with varying degrees of success -- to create programs that guide computer users toward the right version of Vista that they may want to upgrade to. These programs are also supposed to alert PC, software, and peripherals buyers as to which devices and packages will work with the version of Vista that offers the features they want to use.

The heart of the effort is a set of Vista logo stickers that are appearing on everything from PCs to keyboards to USB memory keys. However, the stickers themselves aren't very informative -- and in fact, they may make you even more confused than you were before. In order to decipher Microsoft's logo code, you've got to know what they mean and how relevant they are to what you're looking for.

Here are some explanations of the stickers and their meanings: