I need to buy a laptop (laptops, desktop, hard drive, game)

[pirate girl]

And I am technologically unsavvy.

I would prefer to downgrade from Vista to XP since I've heard nothing good about vista.

Budget $500-$700. Decent speed, memory, running time. I'll be using it to surf the web and do some schoolwork. I'm not a gamer and I don't intend to watch DVDs or anything like that.


Any suggestions on reputable retailers who will sell me a new computer with XP instead of Vista? And any suggestions for a specific product?

[EscapeCalifornia]

You've heard about Vista, but what do you KNOW about it? There's no good reason to bend over backwards to try to still get a machine with XP on it unless you're in a corporate environment with software or hardware that's not Vista compatible. Something like the Dell Inspiron 1420 would be fine.

http://www.dell.com/content/products...=19&l=en&s=dhs

[themaster]

Your joking right.. I like vista but I wouldn't run it on a laptop to save my life.. it's a awful laptop os especially if you don't have a decent video card (which some cheapy laptops don't) to run AERO.. it may be xp v4 but it's a bloated xp v4..

Now maybe if the OP is tech savy and can spend sometime optimizing it.. it will run decently but I would not recommend it ever.. and even though I have my desktop version of vista optimized.. it still doesn't run decently.. I'm 100% sure that xp would boot up to 10-25 seconds faster and that I wouldn't have to see dumb background programs doing scans of my hard drive all the time.. for the record Vista's Search doesn't work out of the box and only when you do a optional update to v4.0 will that work completely..

Okay back on topic.. I've read that dell and hp still sell xp laptops in that they come with vista key's that are backward compatible for xp.. (do a search on google for this news story to get the exact details) given you want xp you only have two choices..

1. Buy used
2. Buy new and make sure you get xp or a upgradable key or just buy a oem copy of xp on top of it and install

I would suggest site shopping dell/hp to see what you can get.. I plan on picking up a laptop hopefully for black sunday/cyber monday and I plan to do option 2 there.. replace the OS as it’s unlikely I won’t get anything but vista.. course I’m going to replace the hard drive too.. can’t stand those 5400 rpm drives..

[Tek_Freek]

Previous opinions notwithstanding Vista Home will run just fine on a laptop. Since you are not into gaming, or high-end graphics (Aero) then it would be okay.

Don't buy a Vista loaded laptop and expect to be able to downgrade to XP. If the maker doesn't supply drivers for XP that are compatible with the laptop XP won't run.

As for XP on a laptop:

Adding or removing Windows 98 components.

[ludia]

I have a laptop Dell inspiron 1521 With VISTA aaaargggg!! It scans every page as it comes up- drives me bonkers. If I get XP back (which I loved) would I have to remove Vista completely then install XP??
Thankyou in advance for input

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by ludia

I have a laptop Dell inspiron 1521 With VISTA aaaargggg!! It scans every page as it comes up- drives me bonkers. If I get XP back (which I loved) would I have to remove Vista completely then install XP??
Thankyou in advance for input

What does "It scans every page as it comes up" mean, exactly? What is scanning what page? I've never noticed any such behavior in any version of Windows I've run, including Vista.

[Tek_Freek]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

What does "It scans every page as it comes up" mean, exactly? What is scanning what page? I've never noticed any such behavior in any version of Windows I've run, including Vista.

This sounds like one of the installed programs (I know AVG does it) is scanning web pages before allowing them to open. While this is an interesting safety feature it just plain sucks when you're actually trying to use your computer.

ludia - check into what anti-virus and firewall software you have installed and see if it is checking web pages as you surf. You should be able to turn this feature off. As for installing XP, as I've mentioned before be very careful if you plan on doing this. If there are no drivers for XP the computer will not function.

[WillysB]

Don't get the extended warranty unless you include Accidental Damage. The manufacturer covers the first year of warranty after that it's third party. If it's a Windows related problem there's no fix, you'll get instruction to re-install. being a software problem. If it's physical damage and no ExtWarrnty, no fix. Key caps falling off are NOT covered by any warranty.

If you get the Accidental Damage and need help say Accidental Damage, the key and magical words.

Back up your work... OFTEN

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by Tek_Freek

This sounds like one of the installed programs (I know AVG does it) is scanning web pages before allowing them to open. While this is an interesting safety feature it just plain sucks when you're actually trying to use your computer.

ludia - check into what anti-virus and firewall software you have installed and see if it is checking web pages as you surf. You should be able to turn this feature off. As for installing XP, as I've mentioned before be very careful if you plan on doing this. If there are no drivers for XP the computer will not function.

Yeah it did sound like some 3rd party security software. Probably Norton or McCrappy. I was hoping they'd post some more detail. I have AVG Free and I know it sticks green check marks next to my google search results in Firefox unless I disable the add-on. It never slowed me down though. I love the way people automatically blame everything new and misunderstood on Vista.

[cb at sea]

We use Windows XP on our laptop--we love it (It's the professional business version). Daughter wants a new laptop, but I don't want Vista, either.