VISTA IS GOING BACK TO STONE AGE (in nice colors)

I've been waiting a long time to install Vista. Now that I've been so close
to buy it and install it, I've been discovering all kinds of oddities. I
have also been looking for a new laptop, but unless it's the very high-tech
laptops, a lot of new models come with downgraded video-cards.
It actually feels like going back to the Stone Age of computing. Please tell
me I'm wrong. Here are just a few points:

- Most new notebooks come now with video cards with UMA ( Shared Video
Memory ). Just like way back in the DOS days, the computer's RAM is shared
with the video card. I was reading a disclaimer on the HP website that said
not to allocate too much memory for video and to keep the resolution low;
otherwise performance loss would occur.
I saw a really nice HP notebook at SAM's club, with a very high Windows
Experience score on all their functions, except for video ( with UMA, of
course), which dropped the final score to 3.1 (it also said that it would't
give a good enough experience for Aero. And this is a NEW model notebook!!!

- The implementation of DRM has crippled hardware. My ASUS P5AD2-E has HD
Audio, Dolby Digital, S/PDIF i/o, and more. Vista upgrade advisor says that
HD Audio is not supported. Also, when playing HD protected content, audio
and video output would be degraded to a much lower resolution. And it is
uncertain if I will be able to watch any movies on my HP projector using the
DVI-D port. I'm not sure if it supports the DRM technology Vista uses, so
that could be the end of watching movies off my PC with High Quality audio
and video. That would definitely be a waste.

- OpenType fonts no longer work.

- There's an unresolved issue related to copying files: very slow
performance, even before the actual copy takes place (during calculating
time required...)

There are other issues, you are welcome to comment about them. I just need
advise.
Right now, staying with XP or switching to MAC OSX seem like a better
alternative, but I would like to stay with Windows.

Linux is another option, but I use Adobe Software and I need good
performance and support.

Some people I know have purchased Vista, and had a ton of problems with it;
one of them is planning to return his Vista Ultima to Circuit City and
re-installing XP Pro (would they take it back??? I'm not too sure about
that). His PC wouldn't run Vista nicely (of course he had no clue it
requires high-end hardware to actually run in a way that won't drive you
insane). His PC's specs were all above minimal specs as outlined by
Microsoft.

I feel very disappointed right now. Such a long wait for nothing, it seems.
I hope I'm just wrong. I have the hardware tha would run it, but it's too
good to have Vista cripple it. I feel bad for all those people who bought
those really good Sound Blaster cards. A Google search returned a lot of
comments regarding the fact that those high-end cards may never be supported
(maybe just basic functionality drivers; all the high-end features would be
crippled).

-The Amazing Iceman