Don’t get one with Vista pre-loaded on it.

Seriously.

If all you plan to do is check email, do some web-surfing, and some light office work then Walmart’s $200 Gpc is a great option. Unfortunately, it sold completely out in a matter of a couple of weeks.
But the principle behind the idea, is that you do not need some high-priced, overpowered machinery to do daily computer tasks. All you need is a mid-level machine and a free, open-source operating system like ubuntu. Don’t think there is good support for an OS like Linux? Wrong. Dell is offering a great system with a flat screen monitor for under $500 with 1 year in-home service and 24×7 phone support. Not to mention, the Ubuntu support forums are free and second to none.

One of the best things about a system like this, is that it will do most anything that your windows PC will do at a fraction of the cost. Furthermore, any and all software upgrades are free! We like free!

If you absolutely must have a Windows machine, take the XP option… please – I beg you! With a little bit of a time investment, you can get a perfectly good Win XP machine to have all those nifty Vista features you’ve been hearing about… and without the huge impact on computer resources (such as extremely long boot times, and crazy memory requirements) that Vista brings.

Admittedly, I still run a WinXP machine at home, BUT only so I can run the Windows-only games I like to play. Everything else is done on Linux. My workstation at my job is Linux as well. If I had to do it over again, I would have stripped Vista off of my daughter’s laptop and installed Linux on it before I handed it to her. Administration and software upgrades would have been much easier.

But don’t just take my word on it. Read how 90% of other IT Professionals surveyed would rather stay away from Vista and that 44% are considering migrating to either Linux or Mac.

[tags]Linux, Mac, Windows, Walmart, Dell, Ubuntu, Vista, XP, computers[/tags]