Part 18: Windows XP vs. Vista: Personalization (Display Control Panel)

027: Personalization (Display Control Panel)
Vista’s new look with Aero Graphical User Interface (GUI) you should know right off the bat it all consumes more memory, more space, and more processing power to work than XP. And the worse thing of all - is Vista’s limited theme selection (i.e. Standard and Classic theme) compared to XP (see XP Display Properties screenshot).

According to Answers.com the requirements for running Aero:

a 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor

1 gigabyte of system memory

a DirectX 9 compatible graphics processor, with a Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) driver, and a minimum of 128 MB of Video RAM

40 GB hard drive with 15 GB free space

DVD-ROM Drive

audio output and Internet access

Of course by default Vista will use basic GUI Standard or Classic if the computer does not met the above system requirements for Aero. This in-turn makes your operating system look like a tin can, even worse than Windows XP and 98 operating systems.

So what’s the big deal about this new GUI besides it’s look and feel? Well, for starters it has a ton of other attachments like for example the Flip 3D, search-as-you-type search field, Virtual Folders, better file management and a ton more – all very similar to Mac OS X’s Aqua theme.

Windows Vista - Personalization