A new dual core PC I am considering for V8 (nice deal, 2 gb ram, and a 20 inch widescreen flat panel monitor $499) offers a choice between Vista Home Basic and XP Home edition. Vista Business is available for $99.00.

For Vegas 8, should any option be avoided like the plague?

Brian

Most people will say to avoid Vista and stick with XP for now. Either should work fine.

Vista Home Basic is wholly unsuitable for multimedia work. It is a heavy stripped down version of the OS.

Is it fair to say that XP Home is better suited than Vista Business? At least from a factor of paying an extra $99?

Brian

That's a close call.

Vista Business is like Vista Ultimate but without many of the multimedia/entertainment features.

Personally, I like Vista (Ultimate) and have been using it habitually for over a year without any issues. However, it has some "quirks" that mean legacy video and audio software may show decreased performance. This is because they have not been made "Vista savvy" yet.

XP Home and XP Pro aren't sufficiently different to be of concern in the video editing realm though you should check the minimum requirements of any software package to ensure that XP Home is okay.