I though the best way to sort this out would be to ask people who may have had experience with this.

I am currently running Windows Vista on my laptop, the problem is I only have 1Gb of RAM, which causes some problems as Vista just eats up RAM. My processor isn't exacly s**t hot either (1.6Ghz, I can't remember the make right now) which adds to the problems, especially when rendering videos.

I do lots of video editing and 3D modelling and design and often have 6 or 7 programmes running at once.

I was just wandering if switching to either Linux or Ubuntu would be a better choice for me.

(please note: I do not get along with Mac OS's such as leopard, which sounds bad for someone who does video editing)

P.s. - I have a 3.6Ghz Pc with 2Gb of RAM, but the problem is I can't drag that into uni, so if people suggest new Pc's remember my problem is specific to laptops.

All depends on if the programs you are using actually run in Linux.

Your probably better off just using XP. 

Just figure out if the software you want to use (or good alternatives) exists for Linux or not. That's the biggest issue most people would face if they wanted to switch to Linux.

PS: I also have 1 GB of RAM on my laptop and Vista Ultimate runs great on it (better and faster than XP actually).

Many video editing and 3D modelling programs do not work or at least work only to a degree (Wine*) under Linux. The ones that do are usually free and open-source, which isn't a bad thing but you may not be on the cutting edge of professional features. Blender is an excellent free modelling program with good features, but it may not be what you're used to.

You can try Linux for free off of a CD, so if you download and burn a CD you can try it without installing it.

You can also dual-boot and use Linux for everything you can and Vista for that last program that doesn't work under Linux.

Linux will have much, much better performance than Vista even on a good computer. It is also more secure, looks better, etc, etc., etc.

You have nothing to lose from trying it. Download and burn the Ubuntu 7.10 ISO file and see if you like it.

*Wine is a rewrite of the windows API under Linux. It does work with some programs: Photoshop CS2 and WoW work, but Photoshop CS3 and Crysis may not.

The programmes I run are 3Dstudio max, A couple of low grade video editing programmes (nothing special because I can use the Avid suites at uni for free) and flash 6.0 for creating 2D animations. I am also looking to start using Maya in the near future.

Hopefully these would be compatible with Linux. But I don't mind switching these programmes for others if they would run better.

Looks better sounds like more of an opinion than fact :P

OK, that sounds like a plan Game_boy, I will trial Linux.
Thanks for the help everyone who has posted, I will do a bit more research into this.

All help is still welcome as well

Yeah I have considered upgrading my RAM. If changing OS software to one that doesn't use as much RAM and is open source didn't work that was going to be plan B.

But to be honest I may just do that anyway now

Maya runs more or less, 3dstudio like shit and flash don't work. For the "small programs", we have avidemux that is fucking great.

Dude, dualboot XP+Ubuntu ftw.