Avira or Norton 2007 for Vista - is there much between them?

Just bought a new laptop and I'm going to put a fresh copy of Vista Ultimate on it. I've tried out a lot of security products and this time I don't have a lot of time to play around.

- I don't necessarily need a firewall, since I'm behind a NAT router
- realtime antispyware is IMO not much use. All of the AV programs detect malware quite well
- I don't want to try anything beta (KIS 7 is out)
- have not had a good experience with ZA/AVG products

So basically, I have to chooose between Avira or Norton (AV or suite versions). I'm running Avira free happily on my XP box and am leaning towards it, but all the positive reviews of NIS tempt me. Are the two pretty comparable in terms of detection, resource usage and effectiveness.

My gut instinct is that NIS probably gives a little more broad spectrum protection, Avira has better heuristics and scanning, probably equally lightweight but Norton will slow down the system more, Norton will have better firewall etc. Correct?

As you can see my thought process has led me down a path of utter confusion

 

Why not try KAV6 or NOD32? They work on Vista.

As for Avirs vs NIS, I have not tried the latter so I can't make an accurate comparision, but I find Avira to be very light.

 

I have been very happy with Nis2007 since i have been running vista ultimate with no slow downs at all so i don't think you could go wrong with Norton.

 

I heard Avira 7 doesnt run ver well on Vista. i am not too sure so correct me if I am wrong.

 

norton 2007, yes... much.

 

You may have heard wrong, according to my pc, you have. It runs great on here.(Vista Business)

 

Runs super smooth on here too, Vista HP (Desktop)and Ultimate (Notebook)

 

I guess you use the 32bits Vista? Avira doesn't work on 64 versions. They say on their website that we have to wait until the 4th quarter of 2007...ridiculous.