Which version of Vista for audio/DAW?

[derekderek]

I'd like to repost/consolidate Houston's topic...

Does anybody know which version of Vista will be best suited for a DAW?

(The home versions appear to trim the fat, but the ultimate versions claim to be best for "multimedia"...does this mean better structuring for audio/latency, or just that it has a million gadgets useful for consumers, but not pro audio?)

[Richard Berg]

I don't have any insider information on this, but I very much doubt that the internal plumbing is different between Vista SKUs. The audio-related perks in Ultimate are probably things like bass management for the home theater crowd.

[Pat Azzarello]

I think I posted a lot of information about this on another thread, but here's some more up-to-date information.

The audio plumbing is the same across all Editions (aka SKU's) including the new API (WASAPI) and the new thread scheduling that will help prevent glitches as app vendors implement them.

Mostly, Editions differentiate themselves in these ways:
1. Business Editions's support domain participation, which is better for management of PC's in a corporate environment.

2. Different Editions's support different processor configuration. Vsta will support a maximum of two physical processors (they can be hyperthreaded/dual-core). Ultimate and business SKU's support two physical procs. Home Premium one physical proc. I'm not certain about Home Basic.

I'm going to see if I can find the official Microsoft Web page on processor support.

3. A different set of applciations are included n each Edition. For example, Home Premium and Ultimate are the only ones that include Media Center and a DVD decoder.

Please note that it's going to take me a while to replace "SKU" with Edition - I still catch myself referring to the new OS as Longhorn

Although I'm a Microsoft employee, as a member of this forum my opinions and information should be considered personal and not that of Microsoft. Even so, I endeavor to give you the best information at my disposal, and often can get information and provide context beyond what you can find on web sites.