New Laptop with XP hard to find....

[adrian]

Hi all,

Looking for a new laptop for my Dad, Windows XP and something like a 15 inch screen... about 500 quid type of money... but XP is very hard to find now on a new build, they are all Vista.

Anyone with any recommendations?

Thanks a mil,

Adrian

[Bernard]

Much as I hate to post it...

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/learnmore/learnmore.aspx/hmc_os_commercial?c=ie&cs=iebsdt1&l=en&s=bsd&~lt=popup

[adrian]

Thanks Bernard. If it were me I would be buying Vista as I am in the software game... but it's for my Dad and so support calls to me would jump 100 fold if I got him Vista! I called Dell there, they do Vostro laptops with XP so that's probably the way I will run!

[stevec]

I got a Sony VAIO (BX) a few months back with a vista-->xp-pro downgrade..

Don't do it, I've had lots of trouble including a total hard drive failure that it took the shop 3 days to fix.

Apart from that, the keyboard is terrible.. I'm so glad I didn't buy it myself (it's from work).

The only other XP machines at the time that looked good were Acers.

[colm_mcm]

I have had no problems with Vista, it's quite easy to use too.

[CJ]

Don't do it, I've had lots of trouble including a total hard drive failure that it took the shop 3 days to fix.

Your hdd failure isn't going to be related to the OS, NTFS is NTFS.

Adrian, go Dell - we've purchased quite a few Latitudes with a downgraded XP pro OS licence and they work just fine.

IIRC, Lenovo also provide a downgrade option.

Personally I'm not a Vista fan at all, too many reasons to list...

CJ

[stevec]

Your hdd failure isn't going to be related to the OS, NTFS is NTFS.

It was related to the xp downgrade - or so they told me, I don't fully understand what went wrong.
The problem started with a corrupt registry entry(ies) so it reverted to a backup. The next boot up it blue screened before loading the OS. The tech tried reverting to the oem state but couldn't and ended up replacing the drive.

That's not my main reason for advising against it though, the keyboard is awful, too many things are awkward on it e.g. pg up / pg dn / home / end are all accessed via a FN+arrow key, there is no dedicated volume control, not enough usb ports (for my needs anyway) the dvd-rom open button is too easy to confuse with a button that ejects the entire drive... I could go on..

[CJ]

It was related to the xp downgrade - or so they told me, I don't fully understand what went wrong.

Sounds like you were given bad advice, I guess my point is that OS choice isn't going to result in drive failure at a hardware level, its likely something else was to blame (and potential causes are plenty).

CJ

[stevec]

The only thing I can think of is back in the Windows NT days you could corrupt the HD beyond repair if the power went during a write but I thought XP had fixed that..
Sorry, I'm don't mean to drag this OT.

[finers]

Thanks Bernard. If it were me I would be buying Vista as I am in the software game... but it's for my Dad and so support calls to me would jump 100 fold if I got him Vista! I called Dell there, they do Vostro laptops with XP so that's probably the way I will run!

Not to get into which is better war or anything but i must disagree Vista is not at all a good OS, you will find due to code bloating microsoft has packed so much code into the OS 40mil+ lines that it takes far more resources to run anything , basically it is a slow and hungry OS and you'll notice the performance hits, instead of refining code + fixing it Microsoft's solution is to write work arounds if defects are found, there is hundreds nd hundreds of redundant code in there software, thats only the start.

I would say that there outlook is like an American muscle car:D,
Don't make it light, dont help the car move quicker with good design, aerodynamics etc.. just hope there is enuf RAM / CPU resources aka an engine to drive it:D


Saying this i run XP on another desktop at home, it is handy for compatibility issues,

Sure Vista lost its very short battle, it's now being replaced with Windows 7 we'll c if that succeeds.

Rant over.
once mac you'll never go back;)

Got an company license for XP if you have trouble getting it in the end give us a PM.

[adrian]

Cheers all,

Probably orderign a DELL for him today. Thanks for the advice, I have found DELL great in the past so no problem ordering from them.

THanks again,

Adrian