Using Vista? Then I highly recommend getting a decent 1GB+ thumb drive, and use it for ReadyBoost; while the FAQ says 256MB is enough, for best performance I’d shoot for more. There is little difference under normal operation, it’s under high loads that ReadyBoost really shines.

On my main PC (with 1GB RAM), I would see fairly frequent freezes when several applications were open (primarily when memory utilization passed 80%). With a minor upgrade to 1.5GB RAM, and a 1GB thumb-drive* for ReadyBoost, the system became much more stable. This may be among the best new features in Vista.

I’ve frequently blasted Vista for the poor performance compared to XP, but with a few tweaks, it runs quite well.

• These drives (SanDisk Cruzer Mirco U3) work well, once to get the drivers working properly. If possible, pick a different drive; these are a pain at times.