Feisty Fawn vs Vista Ultimate – economic/TCO comparison

I have been thinking about my current operating system situation. On my laptop, I run XP as it works for me. I use Ubuntu on my desktop for the same reasons. Overall, I have found that my Ubuntu install is very stable and it doesn’t tend to build up junk over time. Windows XP is working okay on my laptop, but at some point I would like it to run linux. I have worries about linux ACPI. My XP install is working fine but I need to move off of that before it becomes unsupported. Judging by the market reaction to Vista, as well as the technological issues (uses more system resources, security concerns), I don’t want to be tied to that either.

What I would like to do is run a side by side comparison of Ubuntu 7 Feisty Fawn linux, and Windows Vista Ultimate, taking economics into account.
Initially, I would start with Ubuntu = $0 and Vista Ultimate = $250. I would value my time at $10/hour. Assuming that it would take me 3 hours to get a vista install liking, (3 * 10 + 250)/ 10 = 28 hours. That is how long I would have to get things working in Ubuntu. For each hour of time that I spend configuring the OS and my applications to be able to work with my requirements, I add $10 to the total cost of ownership for each operating system.

My requirements/concerns for my laptop’s setup to be to my liking are, in order of priority:

• Matlab must run. This would be a showstopper. It must run completely and correctly (I have had a few issues with it on my linux box, but haven’t really tinkered with it. It probably isn’t anything big.
• Wireless internet must work and be easy to use. I am on several different networks each day. Wireless cannot be an issue
• ACPI must function perfectly. I suspend/resume/hibernate my laptop many times per day. I don’t want to have to think about this. At all. This is my biggest concern for linux at this point.
• Maple must run. This shouldn’t be an issue on either fawn or vista but it is essential for my work
• Nvidia drivers must run and display correct widescreen resolution for my laptop (1200×800)
• Printing – at UW they use a windows/mac app to print to campus printers from wireless computers. There isn’t a linux version. Maybe WINE will work, but I’m not sure. I don’t print much on campus, so it wouldn’t be a big deal to access it from a lab computer. However, it would be sub-optimal
• DVD playback. Non-essential but it would be nice to have

Other than those concerns, the effects of a transition would be minimal. I use firefox, thunderbird, and open office for my tasks. It will be interesting to see how this comparison works out, and which total cost of ownership is cheaper in the long run for my situation. Any ideas from anybody? I want to be as impartial as possible, and truly determine the OS with the lowest TCO for my usage.