SMB Thoughts by Brian Williams

About a month ago we were quoted in CRN about our recommendation on Vista. We have been using Vista for a year both on desktops and laptops, initially like all others we weren’t entirely sold on it. Then we added the right hardware, added SP1 and the OS has become nice.

We said in a controlled environment we will start recommending Vista. Controlled to us is that we understand the clients line of business applications, we undersand the network i.e. servers, printers etc. and moreover we understand the client and their staff’s ability to adapt to new technology. We’re not jumping to recommend the product but we’re also no longer bashing the product.

Every Tom, Dick and Harriet was quick to post to that CRN article just flaming about how bad Vista is and how horrible it would be for an IT provider to recommend Vista. I think these same folks are either supporting clients on the $499 Vista laptop their client got at Office Depot or haven’t implemented Vista with the right hardware themselves.

The argument just flares up, I shouldn’t need new hardware to run a new OS it should just work with what I have. To that I say BS, you’d never dream of the same hardware used to run Windows 98 with Windows XP.

Bottom line you can get a Dell OptiPlex with the following for under $1,600:

Vista Business
Office 2007 Small Business Edition
Dual Core Processor
4 gigabytes of RAM
256 MB video card
160 Raid 1 7200 RPM
3 year next day on-site warranty

Or a Latitude D630 for around $1,700;

Vista Business
Office 2007 Small Business Edition
4 gigabytes of RAM
Dual Core Processor
128 MB video card
Wireless N Built-In
DVD burner
160 7200 RPM Drive
3 year next day on-site with complete care

If our customers order through us we can save them as much as $400 off the above prices. If they order now through the coming 3 - 6 months they can get the best of both worlds XP now, Vista later and the right hardware to run both.

Susan Bradley also has a great posting on Vista performance.