Moon,
Glad to read that you stayed away from Dell....as this company started out making pc's for the business/office community & then expanded with the idea that they would offer cheap pc's on a individual consumer level,but the stipulation was that you had to buy accessories FROM Dell,as their products were deliberately made to only be compatible within the Dell line of accessories.
As for the compatibility issues concerning Vista....I myself,have made it a point to seek out & buy products that include drivers & updates that fix the compatibility issues,which is one of the reasons I chose Propellerhead & M-Audio as my DAWS.
Best of luck with your Sony,
-Thom