New computers must meet certain requirements to earn one of two official Microsoft logos.

Gotcha: Future PC Vista Ready?

Yardena Arar

If you want to know whether the PC you're thinking about buying can handle Microsoft's upcoming Vista operating system, you'll first have to figure out the company's Byzantine logo-program structure. Microsoft has two different levels of Vista-readiness, each carrying its own logo: Windows Vista Capable and Windows Vista Premium Ready.

Vista Capable PCs need an 800-MHz (or faster) CPU, 512MB of RAM, a DirectX 9-capable graphics processor, and 15GB of free hard-drive space just to run the OS and its "core" features. Windows Vista Premium Ready machines will display the new interface and require a 1-GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, and a DirectX 9-capable GPU that supports WDDM (Windows Display Driver Module), in-hardware Pixel Shader 2.0, and 32 bits per pixel.