The Vista Dilemma

I was very positive about Vista when I first started using it. After a month, let us revisit the topic.

I still like the interface. Aero is a slick look.
I still like the intuitive Computer/Network access points.
I still like the explorer icons in their various sizes.
I still like how quickly it boots.
I still like how quickly it resumes after standby.
I still like the speech recognition, although it's far from perfect.

The problem is this. In the past whenever I've upgraded to a newer, faster machine, I've been blown away by it's performance. I never got the chance to feel that way about this machine, and the only logical explanation for this is Vista being a resource hungry hog. This is certainly the chief complaint amongst detractors.

I feel certain that XP or Ubuntu would fly on this machine. The dilemma is whether to abandon Vista to realise the true performance of my brand new laptop, or accept it. I haven't made a decision on this yet.

I could once again dual boot, but to which alternative (I don't have a legal XP to install, naturally). I also don't like partitioning hard drives. Always feel like this time it'll go badly wrong and break everything. It never actually has. If anything it always goes too smoothly.

So, yeah, the only conclusion in this post, Vista is the hot girl. She's expensive. XP is the girl next door. I guess Ubuntu is the girl giving it away for free all over town. This metaphor fell apart.