Don't wait for Vista to buy PC

Letters are filling the box today, mostly questions about Windows Vista, the new Macs and college students heading to school. Let's hit the highlights.

Question: I am in the market for a new Windows PC. Is it worth waiting until the release of Windows Vista or should I go ahead and purchase now? I can wait a couple of months, but I really need a computer.

Answer: Vista, the replacement for Windows XP, has been delayed several times and now won't be released until the first quarter of 2007 at last count. So that alone seems to suggest you ought to buy now.

What I would do in your shoes is buy a decent computer from a reputable company and make sure you have beefed it up enough to upgrade to Vista when it is convenient.

What that means for most users is a name-brand PC with at least 1 gigabyte of memory, at least 256MB of RAM on the video card (Vista will run with less but will work best with 256 or more) and a cavernous hard drive. Any current processor will work with Vista. I generally don't buy the newest one or the oldest Intel or AMD processor, but aim for the sweet spot in the middle.

Vista upgrades likely will cost about $149 in my guess. If you wait closer to Christmas, I imagine clever vendors will include an upgrade coupon for Vista.

Question: I heard the new MacBooks have a quality issue with the white case. I don't like the black one. Has the issue been resolved?

Answer: Shortly after the introduction of the MacBook, some users reported a pink discoloration where their wrists had been sitting on the white case. Then the discoloration spread to other parts of the unit in some cases, and no cleaning solution would remove it.

Apple initially didn't pay much attention to the complaints, but then users started making nasty Web pages about the issue. Apple has now agreed to handle the issue under warranty, so I wouldn't be overly concerned at this point about getting a white one.

Question: Do college students need Microsoft Office? It's several hundred dollars, and I am trying to pinch my pennies.

Answer: There are two good options here. Most college campuses sell an academic version of Microsoft Office to students at a huge discount (I've seen it for as little as $10). So I would not buy it at retail — wait until they hit their school and buy it on-site.

There's also a no-cost option called Open Office that simulates most of Microsoft Office's functionality. It's not as fancy as Microsoft's version, but it works for most applications. You can download it for free at www.openoffice.org.