Test Center Daily | InfoWorld Staff » Vista countdown tips: 5 days out

January 24, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Vista countdown tips: 5 days out

TAGS: Vista

It's coming down to the wire. Only five shopping days left till Vista. So we're putting a few last minute, one-a-day tips together to keep those knots out of your stomach.

Tip 1: Find a GPU
IT managers already know they need to do a hardware inventory before deploying the new Windows across the company. But they tend to focus on things like piles of RAM and CPU speed. On the video side, they often look at the amount of dedicated video RAM and little else. But Vista has a dirty little secret: She needs a GPU.

That's Graphics Processing...Unicorn. Or maybe Unit, I forget. Either way it's a CPU dedicated to nothing other than graphics processing. Vista is the first operating system to require a GPU out of the box. Previously, only specific applications (like those texture-heavy first-person shooting bloodbath games) required a GPU. Now it's the operating system, which means sexier applications in the long run; but in the short term, you need to make sure your PCs are carrying a GPU else your users won't get their full dose of Vista satisfaction.

Not a problem for most mid-level desktops purchased in the last year or so. Where you run into trouble are the older boxes or any machines that have the 'value' label attached. That's the $500 desktop or the $800 notebook. Need to ID those boxes now and give their users the bad news--or a new machine depending on how nice you are. The gig of RAM, the big hard disk, the fast CPU--you still need all those. But without the GPU, you're still in trouble.

Posted by Oliver Rist on January 24, 2007 07:55 PM

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