I recently purchased the HP dv2415nr entry level laptop (AMD 64 x2 1.8ghz, 2gb ram, 160gb hard drive, DVD-RW) that came pre-installed with Microsoft Vista. I have read many bad reviews of Vista online, but had not talked to anyone firsthand about this new OS. On first start-up, I had to go through a personalization process where I enter my time zone, etc. Once this painless initial setup was complete I got to see the new Microsoft OS.
Driver compatibility is a problem for some systems and Vista, but this HP was built specifically for Vista, so no problems so far. HP loaded this rig with tons of bloatware and I am currently in the process of removing it. Microsoft has added a DVD-maker program that is really promising and an updated Media Center that is slick. So far so good.
UPDATE: I am now very happy with my new HP laptop because I have quit Vista. I have gone back to the very fast and stable Windows XP Pro that I had been using. My problems with Vista were thus: poor wireless performance, extremely high RAM usage (Vista uses about 50% of your RAM no matter how much you have), poor driver compatibility. On the plus side, Vista was easy on the eyes- so I downloaded a skin for XP that makes it look like Vista. My HP is fast. I am happy.