-just a side note, I have been using Vista Home Premium on one of our laptops for over 2 years now, so I'm not making this statement based on what other people tell me about it.
The biggest problem with Vista was not the bugs, not the resources it hogs (and yes it is a major resource hog), but it is the UI. The UI with Vista is absolutely horrendous. Microsoft tried to take Windows and make it way to user friendly, and in turn, made it more complicated then it was with all prior operating systems.
The other really big issue that I always hear, and I too can't stand this, is needing to give Administrative Right for everything. I'm sorry, but if my account is set up as an Admin account, I should not need to give additional administrative rights to do something.
The advantage I see to buying a laptop/desktop with Vista right now, is that if you do purchase a computer with Vista, Microsoft is supposed to be offering a free upgrade to Windows 7 starting around June (this date may have changed, as I am going off the date that was given at the time of the Windows 7 Beta release).