Based on the performance of the current beta (beta 2), i dont know how well the final version will run on a halfway decent machine. Beta 2 is slowwww and sluggish with explorer crashes etc. When xp was in beta 2 stage, it wasnt perfect but it was a whole lot more stable....granted that it is just 2k with some more features here and there, easier to use and configure with a nicer interface and vista is almost a total rewrite of code (or so they say). I mean this thing is supposed to be coming out late this year or early next year and it still far from done IMO. I'll be sticking with my 2k for some time to come.