My spanking new laptop, the Lenovo 3000 V100 (okay, really need a nick for it now) comes with Vista Business. I have used it 4-5 times since I got it (still on company laptop for now) and here’s what I think so far as a new user.
Vista is a very different animal.
It is very slow but this can be rectified by removing the animations and special effects (which really just returns it to an XP xp). This I did almost immediately as the most annoying thing to me is a slow system.
Now, the interface looks deceivingly similar to XP and the earlier incarnations but hidden are the many regular functions we take for granted. Here’s one example.
When we shut down, we click Start and then the bottom right most button which is Shut Down. So naturally I did the same when I shut down the Lenovo the first time. To my surprise, it declared that I hadn’t shut it down correctly the last time and ran a scan. Hmm… I looked closer. Ah… that button I clicked was Sleep. I had to click to open the task list and then locate Shut Down amongst an array of buttons. Since, I have gotten it right.
Other functions like the Task list, Control Panel, and Display Settings all look a little different but can be gotten used to after a little meddling. For some reason the fonts look very blur when I choose a lower resolution. Could it be because I removed most of its jazzy graphic features? I have to go back and figure that one out.
I like: Better interface after you get used to navigating it. The novelty of the analog clock (thanks to Google?) and the slideshow of my baby and cats smiling back at me when I work. The lovely keyboard (okay, a Lenovo feature).
I hate: The speed and the space it takes. Plus so many of my beloved programs don’t work on Vista for now like SpyBot Search and Destroy. But this will be rectified in time I expect.
More on Vista when I start using more of the Lenovo. If you can’t wait, check out CNET’s page on Vista.
Leave a Reply