This is it

HP Sketches New Vision For The Smart Home

By Michael Gros, CRN
6:15 PM EDT Mon. Apr. 02, 2007

http://www.crn.com/digital-home/198701912;jsessionid=ZYQ222PFU3QHQQSNDLRCKH0CJUNN2JVN

Hewlett-Packard, which has developed one of the most complete programs and some of the best-designed products of any IT vendor for the digital home market, is making big changes to its approach and is already causing some waves in its channel.

Slide Show: HP's New Vision For The Smart Home

Nearly every major computer vendor sells Media Center PCs, but HP has been one of the few to offer a PC with the looks and features to fit into the living as a robust home entertainment center. Its z560 and z565 Digital Entertainment Center (DEC) PCs are full-blown entertainment PCs but are the size of DVD players, and they include useful features such as bays for portable media drives and dual-TV tuners.

However, HP revealed last week that it will discontinue the line and concentrate on other products for the home.

"The thing that was very clear to us is [Media Center PC] solutions today are not that simple or easy to set up," said Ameer Karim, director of HP worldwide product marketing for consumer PC and digital entertainment products. "Now we're focused on bringing simpler, more intuitive solutions that are easy to set up, whether you're a CEDIA installer or a do-it-yourself geek."

HP is continuing to ship standard form-factor PCs running Windows XP Media Center Edition, and the Palo Alto, Calif., company is shipping its new Media Center-based TouchSmart PC, which includes a 19-inch touch screen. But the company's focus for the home is now on its new MediaSmart product line.

The first product in the line, the MediaSmart TV, began shipping last year and is in its second generation. The MediaSmart TV includes software that lets users access photos, audio files and videos stored on other devices on a home's wireless or wired network. The first generation of the MediaSmart TV was a 37-inch model, and the company is now offering 42- and 47-inch models, with 1080p as an option.

Later this year, HP and Microsoft expect to start shipping the next product in the MediaSmart line, the jointly developed MediaSmart server. The product is a combined storage device and server and is designed to be a central storage point for all digital content and allow users to access it from inside the home or over the Web. The MediaSmart products are compatible with other Windows-based devices.

In addition to positioning its MediaSmart product line as a way to make home entertainment easier to use, HP is aiming the products directly at the new Apple TV device. Both HP's and Apple's device let users pull video from a PC and access it on a PC, but HP is hoping to improve on the concept by putting the networking capability directly inside the TV.

Karim said the system also lets users access online music and video content from any source, compared with Apple's much more closed system.

"We think this is a good alternative for people looking for an option to Apple TV," he said.

Despite the changes to the product line, Karim said HP is still very committed to its home integrators and the digital integrator program it launched last year.

"We're still very passionate. We're willing to make major investments in the digital home and digital entertainment space. DEC is being discontinued for the time being, but we're re-evaluating solutions for the space," Karim said.

Yet Mike Seamons, vice president of marketing at Exceptional Innovation, a Westerville, Ohio-based home-control company partnering with HP, is apprehensive of the changes. Exceptional Innovation has worked closely with HP to offer its Life|ware home control and automation solutions on HP's Media Center PCs, and though Seamons said the partnership remains strong, the suspension of the DEC line is a big deal.

"It does leave a hole, as it was the central entertainment box that makes the Life|ware home control system come together," Seamons said. "The PC sits in the center of the system where all the television and content is aggregated. Without that product there, it will leave a void that other manufacturers will need to fill."

Seamons said his company is already in talks with other PC manufacturers to integrate their Media Center PCs with the Life|ware solution. In particular, his company is looking at Sony's new XL3 Digital Living System, which includes a Blu-ray DVD drive and a DVD library system.

Other possible candidates include the Denali, Rainier and M7 PCs from high-end system builder Niveus Media, as well as Alienware's new Hangar 18. The Alienware product is expected to start shipping this quarter and includes HDVD and built-in speaker amplification. "It would be much better for HP to have an entire product line end-to- end, but these other companies can fill the void," Seamons said.

Seamons also takes issue at HP's use of a proprietary user interface on the MediaSmart devices, instead of an open interface such as Media Center. Having a common interface makes the learning curve easier, especially if it's based on the common Windows design, Seamons said.

He also questioned HP's decision to not include Media Center Extender capabilities in the MediaSmart TV, which would have allowed it to easily connect to Media Center PCs.

Don’t buy an HDTV without reading this first

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/Ou/?p=458&tag=nl.e019

• Date: March 31st, 2007
• Blogger: George Ou
• Category: Fun Stuff, Hardware

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Forking out a few thousand dollars or even just a few hundred is a serious investment, and the last thing you want to do is buy an HDTV with lousy color rendition.  Navigating the minefield in consumer electronics is a confusing proposition even for the seasoned gadget geeks, so I created this survival guide to help you make a wise decision.  I'll explain the various types of HDTVs as well as cabling and testing the color depth of your display.

Projection HDTVs:
These typically use DLP, LCOS, or LCD technology (don't confuse LCD in this context with an LCD flat panel display, because this refers to a small LCD chip being used in a projection HDTV). The advantage of projection technology is that it's relatively cheap for a very large HDTV. For example, you can get a 72" projection HDTV that has 1920×1080 resolution from $2500 to $5000 depending on the brand and model.

The disadvantage is that they don't have as good a viewing angle and they're not as bright compared to LCD or Plasma. Sometimes the resolution isn't quite honest because they may advertise "1080p" non-interlaced capability, but you'll be surprised to find that it will only take an interlaced signal via the HDMI or analog component ports. The other problem is that they're often over-scanned, which means the edges will be chopped off. I found out the hard way that even my Windows Start and Task bar were completely chopped off at the edges. I actually had to use some neat driver tricks in my NVIDIA video card to compensate for the over-scanning by telling the driver where the image was being chopped off.  The color depth on projection HDTVs is also lacking compared to the LCD flat panel displays, though the higher end projection models don't trail as badly. Another problem I need to point out is that projection TVs take a lot of power.  My own 72" DLP uses about 250 watts of electricity when I hooked it up to the power meter. The lamps also need to be changed every four years or so, and they cost about $200.

The bottom line is that you get a lot of size for your money when choosing a projection model, but the quality can't compete with the quality of LCD flat panels.  Note that when I say the quality is lacking, that's only in comparison to LCD/Plasma flat panels, but projection is still vastly superior to older HDTV or TV sets. The main advantage of larger displays isn't necessarily because they look bigger; size allows you to place the HDTV farther away from the audience, which means you can have more people viewing it. If you don't mind sitting a little closer to a smaller but higher quality LCD flat panel, it will look just as big but it can't be viewed by as many people and it may not work for larger living rooms, even if there aren't that many viewers.

Plasma HDTVs:
Plasma displays can come in very large sizes equal to projection HDTVs, but they cost a lot more money for a given size. They can easily cost two or more times per inch than an equivalent DLP. A current 65" plasma HDTV that supports 1080p costs anywhere from $6000 to $10000.  The viewing angles, color depth, and brightness on plasma displays are vastly superior to projection displays. You also get true 1920×1080 non-interlaced resolution.

The problem with large plasma is they can cost as much as a cheap automobile and the price is constantly dropping. I wouldn't be surprised if the price dropped 30% next year while the quality goes up. I know people who forked out $10000 two years ago for a smaller 1366×768 resolution plasma, and they're probably kicking themselves now. Unless you just have too much money to burn, I can't recommend a large plasma display. Another word of caution is that there are some really cheap smaller plasma displays that have 1024×768 resolution that might sound like a good deal, but you're getting something that doesn't have square pixels. If you try to hook up a computer to it, it will look ugly and distorted making everything look fat. Any model that has a resolution of 1024×768 or less is obsolete and I would stay away from them.  [Update - I forgot to mention that plasma displays have burn-in problems.  I've seen first hand how bad the burn-in can be within just two years when the displays were used in a datacenter for monitoring mostly static images.  This isn't as serious when used for displaying video, but there can still be problems when there's letterboxing on the sides or top/bottom.]

The bottom line is that you can get a large high-quality plasma display but at very high cost. There are cheaper, smaller versions, but you're better off getting an LCD flat panel HDTV for about the same money and at better quality.

LCD HDTVs:
LCD HDTVs are typically very high quality and very expensive for a given size, but they have recently grown in size and dropped in price. You can easily find 32" LCD models with 1366×768 in the $500 to $800 range. 42" Models with 1920×1080 (1080p) resolution can be $1200 to $2000, while 52" LCD 1080p models go from $2300 to $3500. There are 60-plus inch models that are priced out of this world at even higher prices than plasma displays. Larger models will eventually come down in price but now is not the time for anything over 52". So for the cost of a 72" projection HDTV, you can get a 52" LCD model that has vastly superior image quality with none of the interlacing and over-scan problems.

[Update 4/2/2007 - One of the more interesting developments is the availability of the newest 120 Hz LCD HDTVs that offer frame interpolation. This means that 24-frame-per-second cinema sources can be cleanly multiplied by 5, and NTSC video sources with 30 frames per second can be cleanly multiplied by 4. The interpolation actually means that the display will create three or four additional frames in between each frame to fill in the gaps with an image that's somewhere between the original frames. That creates an extremely smooth and life-like look-and-feel. I can see where this might actually cause some issues with movie footage that deliberately shows a low frame rate for certain artistic effects, so the frame interpolation may undo those effects. The Sharp Aquos LC-46D92U, for example, boasts this kind of 120 Hz frame interpolated operation with a super fast response time of 4 ms and an ultra-wide viewing angle of 176 degrees. The 46" LC-46D92U costs about $2500 (probably a lot more from retail stores), which is on the expensive side. But we can expect the price of these to drop when more of the 120 Hz LCDs become common.]

If you're willing to place the display closer to you, the smaller LCD will look just as big as the projection model, but it will look much better. The quality won't be as good as a high-end 20" computer LCD, but it beats any other HDTV on the market. It's so good that you can even use it as a computer monitor without eye strain. The only word of caution is that the 1366×768 resolution isn't universally supported, and you need to make sure your video card and drivers can support that resolution or else things will look very ugly because of resolution rescaling artifacts. Personally, if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't have gone for the big cheap projection DLP and gone with the LCD.

ATSC tuners and free HDTV:
All newer HDTVs have built-in ATSC tuners, which means you can get free high definition content over the air. I'm one of those people who don't watch that much television, and I refuse to pay for cable or satellite.  If the HDTV you're looking at purchasing doesn't have an ATSC tuner or it doesn't have HDMI or DVI input ports, skip it. All you need is an outdoor antenna, though indoor models can still allow you to receive most of the digital channels, especially if you live in an area close to the broadcast towers. There's also no such thing as an "HDTV antenna," and any old antenna will work. Reader Zoraster pointed out that HDTV operates in the UHF band, which is all the channels above channel 13. VHF is channels 2-13, but there are some instances where HDTV is broadcast over VHF. If you have an old TV antenna on the roof with all the coax cabling in place, it will work fine if it supports UHF. I bought a $40 outdoor antenna and it brings me about 15 digital channels, many of which are high definition. All the major broadcast networks are available over the air in HD, and even if you intend to pay for cable or satellite, it's still a good idea to have the free HD content over the air so that you don't have to pay for local channels and HD.

Monster cable ripoff:

Consumers need to get the concept of "monster cables" out of their minds since they DO NOT apply to the digital world. There is zero difference in quality between the cheapest $12 HDMI to DVI cable versus the $100 gold-plated "monster cable."  Monster cables are a holdover from the analog era, where signal leakage results in a degraded image or sound. In the digital world, a data cable either works 100% or it doesn't work at all, and there is no degraded middle ground. Since nearly all digital cables work (return the rare ones that don't), there isn't a shred of difference between the cheap cable or the expensive monster cable. If you can't find an HDMI to DVI cable for less than $30 in a retail store, you can google "HDMI to DVI cable" and there will be plenty online vendors selling them for $12-$16 plus shipping. Don't be shocked to find HDMI cables that cost $60 to $150 in a typical retail outlet; just don't fall for it. The only place monster cables have any use is for the transmission of analog signals, such as the connection between your amplifier and your speakers.

How to test the color quality of an HDTV:
Once you decide what kind of HDTV you want to buy (read below), you'll want to test it before you buy it. I was discussing the issue of HDTV quality with colleague Justin James, who was in the process of buying a new LCD HDTV. We discussed how daunting it was to figure out the differences between an expensive and inexpensive model. Making matters worse, the stores usually don't show you an optimal image with the proper digital HDMI high-resolution video source.  Even when a clean digital signal is used, it still isn't easy to judge the quality of an HDTV. HDTVs are often placed in worse glare conditions than others, and the ones the store wants to sell most are often conveniently placed in to more favorable lighting conditions. Another trick is that some HDTVs are set to a very high contrast mode so that the images look vivid and bright, but the reality is that the shadow detail and/or highlight detail is sorely lacking. Even to the trained eye, judging the color depth on a monitor without a color gradient chart is difficult. So I've gone ahead and created some red, green, blue, and gray scale charts optimized for different resolutions for you to download. 

Armed with the color gradient chart and a laptop with high resolution output, Justin James planned to go to the store to check the quality of the HDTVs before committing his hard earned dollars. The downside to that option is that you won't be able to test the digital HDMI or DVI port, and many people may not have a laptop with a good enough graphics card that supports 1366×768 or 1920×1080. Another option is to buy the HDTV from a retailer that lets you take it back with no penalty, though this becomes difficult if the HDTV is extremely large. You can try to get the sales staff to show you as much as possible so that you can make a fairly good decision, but warn them that you will inspect the product at home and return it if it doesn't live up to expectations.

To test your HDTV, download the following image files and display them at full screen. Find the resolution appropriate for the model you're considering.

• For 1080p (1920×1080) resolution models
• For 768p (1366×768) resolution models
• For 720p (1280×720) resolution models
• For computer monitors that are 1680 pixels wide

The idea is that you should ideally be able to see distinct square color blocks from left to right and top to bottom. Realistically, you won't even see all of them, even on a good computer LCD, much less an HDTV. The only thing that will display all of them is a bulky CRT monitor. Computer LCDs can't normally match the color depth of CRTs unless you pay three to four times the cost of a normal LCD display for a very high-end LCD.  With most LCDs, you can tilt them forward and back to see more shades of color at either end of the spectrum, but not without losing color depth at the other end. The real question is how many color tiles can you see when you're at the optimum viewing angle without any adjustment and how many colors and shades can be displayed at once at a given viewing angle. Using these test patterns side by side is the only way most people can tell which display is the better one. Fortunately, with LCDs or plasma displays, you don't really need to worry about screen geometry distortion, so there's no need to do the grid line test.

While there may be some quality difference between more expensive and cheaper LCD models, just keep in mind that the cheapest LCD has higher quality than the best projection model. Assuming it passes the quality test, I personally tend to favor the cheaper LCD models than the more expensive LCD models because I can't see the more expensive models being worth nearly double the price if the cheaper model has the specifications and features I want.

Quote

CNET: Insider Secrets: Connect an Xbox 360 to your Windows PC

Got movies and music on your PC? We'll show you how to stream through your Xbox 360 right onto your TV screen.

Don't Let Bad Guys Pose as You

By Erik Larkin, PC World
Flaws let attackers trick a Web site into providing your personal information.

http://tech.msn.com/security/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3370140

Like a con artist who disguises himself as you so he can walk unmolested into your office building, a small but growing type of online threat takes advantage of Web site programming flaws to try to access your online accounts.
Google recently fixed such a flaw that malefactors could exploit to steal a Gmail user's full contact list. The threat used the arcane-sounding "cross-site request forgery" (CSRF) strategy. The ploy is similar to cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks, in which attackers booby-trap a trusted site by rigging it with links that take the visitor to malicious destinations. But whereas XSS attacks exploit the trust that a user has for a site, CSRF attacks exploit the trust a Web site has for a user, according to WhiteHat Security chief technology officer Jeremiah Grossman.
Once you are logged in to a Web site, it trusts all requests that come from your browser. So CSRF forgeries simply trick your browser into sending a request for, say, your contact list -- or as happened with a recently repaired flaw on the Netflix site, a request to change your movie queue or account details. Conceivably, such attacks could also allow someone to transfer money from your bank account, though that kind of theft would be much more difficult to pull off because of the higher level of security used by most financial institutions.
In the case of the Gmail flaw, if you visited a rigged site while logged into your Gmail account, embedded JavaScript code on that site could dispatch an invisible request to Google asking it to send your contact list to the site. You wouldn't even need to have Gmail open in your browser: If you chose the convenient 'Remember me' log-in option, or if you used the Google Toolbar or some other browser plug-in, you would be logged in as far as your browser was concerned.
"The attack would be pretty much invisible," Grossman says. What's more, he notes, it's next to impossible to tell whether anyone actively exploited the hole during the relatively short interval between its public release and its fix.
Though the CSRF threat isn't trivial, you needn't completely distrust the Web yet. Banking and other financial sites will automatically log you out after a set period of inactivity. And attacks must be specially crafted for each site. An attack that worked on Google wouldn't work on Yahoo, for instance.
Another reason not to panic is that CSRF-type exploits are still in their very early stages, and Internet criminals have easier, more reliable ways to make a buck -- such as by infecting computers with Trojan horses or creating botnets. But just as malware has grown much more sophisticated, CSRF threats undoubtedly will, too.
The NoScript Firefox add-on can safeguard you against some CSRF threats by blocking JavaScript on unknown sites, but many attacks permutations will still work, unfortunately. Also, these forgeries don't depend on a particular browser, and will happily trick a vulnerable site by means of Firefox, Internet Explorer, or any other browser. In general, though, because the flaws exist in Web sites, the sites themselves will have to generate the fixes.
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Google and Wal-Mart diagnose $4 trillion health care market

http://blogs.zdnet.com/micro-markets/?p=1148

Can the world's largest search engine and the world's largest retailer solve the nation's health care problems?

The U.S. health care market is projected to be a $4 trillion one by 2015.

Google Vice President Adam Bosworth and Wal-Mart Vice Chairman John Menzer are personally invested in seeking to improve the health care delivery system with the use of information technology, while improving their companies' bottom lines.

Perhaps not so coincidentally, the two top execs yesterday reinforced corporate commitments to digital solutions for enhancing the delivery of medical services.

Bosworth is reaching out to users for advice on the "hard problem" of using Google Search to find and evaluate health care information.

Isn’t it strange that you can find out a lot about a restaurant on the web or about a movie, but not about a doctor? In fact you usually don’t even know who to go to and just accept whoever your general practitioner recommends? You clearly don’t just eat at restaurants other restaurants recommend, even though you might take it into account. Now admittedly there is a difference here. When it comes to food, you know what you like and the worst that can happen is you don’t like it. But when it comes to your health you may not know what is best, and you can’t necessarily tell if we’re getting the best possible care. Still, here is a common situation: You’ve been diagnosed. Your primary care physician and you have discussed it and it is clear that you need a specialist and your doctor has referred you to one, but you’re wondering how you know who is the best out there for you. How do you know whether they cover your insurance? How do you find them? Today, often you just take your doctor’s referral.

Menzer is making a $1 million Wal-Mart commitment to create a University of Arkansas and Blue Cross Blue Shield research center "aimed at identifying and addressing gaps and roadblocks in the application and delivery of health information technology, and replicating proven applications that are working to benefit patients and providers":

The goal of the Center for Innovation in Health Care Logistics will be to put the right materials in the hands of doctors and nurses where and when they need them; It also aims to eliminate the threat of medical errors arising from wasteful and unreliable practices in health care supply networks.

The Center's work will help fill a large information gap in the health care system. "The best example of this need was Huricane Katrina. Medical records, entire family histories, were gone in an instant, and the entire region is still recovering from this massive loss of information."

The "always low-prices" Wal-Mart wants information technology-based systems to bring "visibilty and tracking to every level of health care procurement and distribution":

Experience shows that such transparency leads to significant cost savings by eliminating duplication and confusion, enhancing collaboration among participating organizations and avoiding mistakes that can lead to dangerous errors.

The "organize the world's information" Google wants individual, dedicated online databases to record and store personal data pertianing to "every single medical and health-related event" for effortless retrieval and sharing, as Bosworth evangelized last December, a Google Health URL.

What else do $144 billion market cap Google and $194 billion market cap Wal-Mart want to accomplish in the high-stakes, big money health care market?

Wal-Mart:

$4 generic prescription program in all of its U.S. pharmacies,
Dossia organization to provide framework for private electronic personal health records,
"Better Health Care Together" campaign for "four common sense principles for achieving a new American health care system by 2012."

Google:

We have tried to enlist the help of the health community to help us know which links contain medically reliable information, sift these reliable links so that they tend to show up relatively earlier in the search results, and then let you decide which groups in the health community you trust. If you go to Google and type in [Lipitor], for example, and then you click on the “For patients” link and look carefully, you’ll see that the search results often include at the bottom the word “Labeled By,” followed by words like NLM and HON. NLM stands for the National Library of Medicine, the world’s largest medical library, and HON stands for Health on the Net Foundation, an organization which is in the business of certifying web sites with health content that is reliable. These are organizations that have marked the part of the web that this link in the search results points to as medically reliable. It seems that we at Google may not have done a great job of making this clear enough. Unfortunately, many of you either don’t notice these words when you’re searching about health questions at Google or have no idea what they mean. Clearly, we can do better at making this kind of labeling noticeable.

Lipitor manufacurer Pfizer, and Lipitor resellers, however, have no problem being noticeable at Google.com.

Liptor official Web site: Number one AdWords position and number one SERP rank,
Lipitor retailers: Seven out of eight AdWords "Sponsored Links" slots.

How much is the pharmaceutical industry estimated to have spent in 2006 on consumer advertising? Over $5 billion.

The market for Electronic Health Records is also pegged at about $5 billion, by 2015, according to Kalorama Information.

Google's interest in the Electronic Medical Records (EMR) market is well-timed.

Bruce Carlson, associate publisher, Kalorama Information:

The best type of market is one with a guaranteed pool of new customers, and that describes the EMR market in the U.S. Budgeted IT spending by healthcare organizations in 2007 and 2008 will create a robust marketplace for both existing players in EMR and new entrants.

If most healthcare entities had already adopted an EMR system, it could be said that current market leaders should remain in their market share positions. But because there is only a 23% EMR adoption rate in the U.S., the current list of top companies may not reflect the list we will see in 2015. (as cited by Healthcare IT News)

Google and Wal-Mart are undoubtedly working their hardest to ensure they will make their respective marks in the multi trillion dollar U.S. health care market well before 2015.

ALSO: Google Health URL trumped by Steve Case? and Microsoft to battle Google in online healthcare and Google’s Ten Commandments

Prep Your PC for Vista

By Jamie Bsales

http://computershopper.com/howto/prep_your_pc_for_vista

Microsoft Windows Vista, the long-awaited successor to Windows XP, is finally here—but is your system ready for it? If you own an older PC, chances are it falls short of the hardware requirements you'll need to enjoy the new OS in all its glory. Fortunately, getting your system Vista-ready is a task you can undertake at home. In a few simple steps, we help you determine what components your PC needs and how to install them.

Step 1: Determine the Vista version you want
Vista certainly makes a strong case for itself. Aero, its slick new 3D interface, delivers translucent effects and smooth animations, as well as a more intuitive way to manage your open windows. Aero works only on PCs that have a powerful-enough 3D-graphics engine installed, however.
Vista's not just good looks. In terms of features, Microsoft has added a host of security, search, and performance enhancements in its latest Windows, as well as data-migration and -backup tools. (See www.microsoft.com/windowsvista for details.)
Of course, upgrading an operating system isn't a task to be undertaken lightly. You always face the risk that a legacy device or an aging (or custom) application won't work with the new OS. Before you begin, gauge whether the benefits of the upgrade outweigh the cost and potential pitfalls.
If you're sold on an upgrade, you'll need to determine which version of Vista is right for you. Vista Home Basic ($199, or $99.95 for those upgrading from a registered copy of Windows) delivers enhanced security and a data-migration assistant, as well as the new Instant Search feature, which lets you quickly find a file on your hard drive by entering a relevant keyword. You don't get the Aero interface with Vista Basic, but its hardware requirements are fairly lenient: an 800MHz or faster processor, at least 512MB of RAM, and DirectX 9-compatible graphics.
Vista Home Premium ($239, or $159 for the upgrade version) delivers the same benefits as Home Basic, plus the Aero interface and all the multimedia features formerly found only in Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 (photo, video, and music management; TV recording and playback; and the living-room-friendly, couch-side user interface). Also, you can more easily collaborate and share documents, using the new Windows Meeting Space feature. To run Vista Premium, you'll need a 1GHz or faster CPU, 1GB of RAM, a DirectX 9 GPU with at least 128MB of dedicated video RAM and support for Pixel Shader 2.0, a TV-tuner card (optional), a 40GB or bigger hard drive (with 15GB of available space), and a DVD-ROM drive.
The top of the line is Vista Ultimate ($399, or $259 for the upgrade), which adds data-backup and -encryption capabilities, as well as native remote-access features. It has the same hardware requirements as Vista Home Premium.

Step 2: Download the Upgrade Advisor
Microsoft makes it easy for users with Windows XP machines to determine exactly what new hardware their target PCs may need, thanks to its free Vista Upgrade Advisor tool. Download and install the tool, then launch the Advisor. It automatically scans your PC and generates a handy printable report that tells you which system, device, and program issues you need to address before you can upgrade to Vista.
On an older PC, for example, you'll likely need to add more RAM and a more powerful graphics card. (We'll address these upgrades in Steps 3 and 4.) If the Advisor recommends that you upgrade your PC's CPU and hard drive, too, it's time to rethink your plan. The cost of all those new components, plus the OS itself, is likely more than you'd pay for a whole new Vista-equipped PC.

Step 3: Install the recommended amount of RAM

Press each RAM module firmly into its slot, then snap up the plastic tabs to hold it in place.

If your PC lacks enough memory to support Vista, you'll need to add more RAM. Check your PC's documentation for the type of RAM your model of motherboard accepts. If you don't have the manual or it doesn't specify, don't worry: Most online and retail computer-parts makers have a database they can check to determine the right RAM for your model. Just be sure to have the exact manufacturer, model name, and model number of your PC handy. We recommend that you upgrade to at least 1GB of RAM for Vista. You may want to install the additional RAM as a pair of identical modules, instead of one big module—assuming your motherboard has the slots to accept the pair. Doing so can confer the small performance benefit of a dual-channel memory configuration.
To install the new RAM, first power down and unplug your machine. Never open the case with the power cord still attached, as juice could still be flowing inside the chassis, even if the power button is off. Also, be sure to touch the metal chassis frame before you work inside the case. With the power cord disconnected, the machine is no longer grounded, and static from your hands (called electrostatic discharge, or ESD) could damage internal components.
Locate the RAM slots on the motherboard, and flip down the plastic tabs that hold the module or modules in place. Handling a module only by its edges, press the new memory firmly into place (the module's edge will be keyed to match the slot) and flip up the tabs to lock it in.
If you need to install a new graphics card, too, don't button up the case just yet. But before carrying on with the graphics card, first reconnect your monitor, keyboard, mouse, and power cord, then boot the machine to check that the RAM is working. If the machine fails to boot, power down, unplug, and check that the module is seated properly. If all goes according to plan, you should be able to see the new RAM amount listed on Windows' System Properties pane. (Double-click the System icon in Control Panel.)

Step 4: Install the new graphics card

Slide the new graphics card into place, then screw down its bracket to fasten it securely.

Assuming you need more graphics horsepower to run Vista's Aero interface, installing a new graphics adapter is the next hurdle. First, determine which type of add-in card your motherboard will accept (AGP or the newer PCI Express, or, failing either of those, old-style regular PCI) by checking the documentation or online knowledge base. (If all else fails, you'll need to look at the internal slot on your motherboard, and match it to diagrams of graphics-card slots you can find online.)
To ensure your system's longevity, pick a recent midrange graphics card, such as the $130 EVGA e-GeForce 7600 GS we used. This will give you plenty of overhead not just for Vista, but also for moderate 3D gaming.
Follow the steps of powering down, unplugging, and protecting your machine from ESD, just like you did when installing the new RAM. Locate the open slot for the graphics card on your motherboard and remove the small metal strip at the rear of the PC to make way for the rear-facing connectors on the new card. Seat the card securely, and screw its bracket into place. Button up your machine, power it on, and install any drivers that came with your new card.

Step 5: Uninstall incompatible apps, install Vista
When you ran the Vista Upgrade Advisor, the utility generated a list of programs installed on your PC that have known incompatibilities with the new OS. You'll need to uninstall those programs (using the Add or Remove Programs utility in Control Panel) before installing the OS.
Once that's complete, your PC should be up to par, so pop in the upgrade disc, install Vista, and enjoy the new view.