Yes, I think the 1GB Ram is a problem. Vista likes lots of RAM and I think that the "sweet spot" is at 2GB.  However, there are a lot of vendors still selling machines with Vista and IGB RAM.

I too have only 1 GB of RAM on my Dell and I do find that when I reboot and load everything, it takes a long time even though I removed many start programs from loading.  Maybe Microsoft will address this problem in the future and have some sort of "fix".  I hope so. 

 

      Jerry

If you have a spare 2GB flash drive plug it in and enable speedboost. It may help with 1GB setups.

1 GB RAM is not the problem. My E1705 with 1 GB worked fine even without ReadyBoost. Going to 2 GB did not really improve program speed, only boot-up, program loading and serious multi-tasking. You need to stop/remove CPU hogs. What are typical CPU loads? What AV/Spyware programs are you using? These can be a real drag on any system. Clean out anything you don't need to be running in the background. Unfortunately Vista needs more processes running than XP. ReadyBoost will only speed up boot-up and program loading; it's just a faster cache.

 

Dimension 9100, Win XP, 3.0 GHz P4, 2 GB DDR2 533 MHz RAM, 160 GB SATA II Samsung, 300 GB SATA II Seagate, 250 GB SimpleTech USB (WD Drive), Nvidia Go 6800 (425/825 MHz), Dell 1901 FP UltraSharp

Inspiron E1705, Win Vista Premium, T7200 Core 2 Duo (4MB, 2.0 GHz 667MHz), 2 GB DDR2 677 MHz RAM, 2 GB Transcend 150X SD ReadyBoost, 120 GB Samsung HD, Nvidia Go 7900 GS, 17” Sharp UltraSharp TrueLife Wide-Screen WUXGA 

I had the same problem with Vista. I purchased an AMD system with 2 gigs of ram and 256 meg vid card. This is a huge upgrade in power over the four year old XP system I have. Vista is just too darned slow. I compare it to my antique XP system and the old system is light years faster than my new Dell system.

 

I found many compatibility problems with Vista as well.  In the end I just had to return my computer to Dell. It does not work for me.

 

Why on earth would I want to spend one to two grand to "upgrade" to a system that can't perform even half as well as my four year old XP system? In the end I didn't want to do that so I am sending my Vista AMD machine back to Dell.

 

 

I am finding VISTA to be a huge mistake.  My 4 year old Toshiba Satellite Pro with XP professional makes my brand new Inspirion 1705 with VISTA feel like an old IBM AT.  It is slow, it is cumbersome, and it is incompatible with some software, notably the web interface for MS Outlook Exchange Server.

 

I still own XP.  About time to backload!

I think i kinnda agree with KIRKD......when i did check up the Task Manager, i found around 80 Processes running although all i had opened was my Windows Media Player and a FREECELL game..... i'm not sure on the processes that needs to be stopped....

just did'nt mention a oversightedness of DELL, while deliverying my laptop...... DELL had sent me a free webcam (part of the offer) but did'nt include the DRIVERS compatible with VISTA..... the fun part was the VISTA compatible drivers were not found on the DELL website or the webcam supplier website....(hunted it down recently..... the drivers are available on the webcam site related to sales in Singapore....not the Australian website)..... now DELL has agreed to deliver the driver CD.....:smileywink:

This is a very interesting thread.  As you can see below, I have a 3.5 year old Dell 4600 running Windows Vista Ultimate.  I have upgraded to 2.5 GB RAM; 256 MB Radeon X1300 Video and new WD EIDE hard drive.  I have to say that I am quite pleased with the performance of Vista.  I have all the amenities running, including Aero and everything is working well (at least at this time).  So I guess it depends on the configuration of the machine, certainly a new "Dual Core" machine should run a lot faster, but I have no complaints!

Yes, we use MS Exchange Server 2003 at my university and have Outlook Web Access. I can read my emails.  But, if i compose a new message, reply to an existing message, or forward a message, I cannot enter text in the text window.  I can put in email addresses and subject lines, but no text.  In the text window, all that shows is a small red square with an x in it.  There is also an "Error on Page" message at the bottom of the window.

 

And, interestingly, if I hit Send, I get a second instance of the OWA interface with a 404 error in the message area. 

 

I cannot attach, cannot respond, cannot send.

 

I am using IE 7/0.6 on a 3 day old Dell Inspirion Duo Core 1705 with Vista Home Premium.  Only 1 GB memory, but that is not likely the problem.

 

I have put the OWA web site in my trusted sites list, no matter...