PC Makers Hedge on Vista Effect

Is Vista-mania sweeping the nation?

PC makers love to talk about the excitement surrounding Microsoft's(MSFT) new operating system. But their actions tell a slightly different story.

More than a month after Vista's long-awaited release, some PC makers appear in no hurry to retire from their product catalog computers running the old Windows XP.

While one would expect leftover inventory of XP machines to turn up in bargain bins, some PC makers continue to build brand-new, top-of-the-line consumer systems featuring the old XP operating system.

In an industry obsessed with the latest and greatest, selling yesterday's technology seems curiously out of character. It also raises questions about how much of a tonic Vista will actually provide to PC sales in the near term: After all, if Vista presents such an irresistible reason for consumers to replace their old PCs, why continue to offer XP?

For the conservative corporations that purchase PCs in bulk to run their businesses, a gradual transition to Vista was always the expectation.

But some PC makers, including Lenovo, are also hedging their bets on consumers' immediate reaction to Vista.

"While we expect most of our customers will be moving to Vista, we do have some customers that want to order XP, so we'll keep that window open," says Lenovo spokesman Ray Gorman.