RE Vista, I'm taking the same position as Joe Offer. I have newer machines, however. I purchased an ACER with XP Home in June, and it has held up well, and though I'm aware of the distinctions between Home and Pro, I have not suffered unduly. The laptop has been a little old trooper, flying with me whereever I went and hanging out at the connected coffee shops (even Starbucks, that ONE time).

I'm not totally confident I want to upgrade unless I have concrete plans that require capabilities I do not now have. Three dimensional imaging for games is not a requirement I have, and I have been able to keep virus clear.

I can perceive that it might be nice to purchase a cheap computer down the line specifically because it's pre-loaded with Vista, or better yet, borrow someone's.

My company is even more conservative. It runs 2000 and is slowly migrating our more CPU intensive users over to XP.