XP or Vista on new laptop?

[Hoopster81]

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/gadgets/0,39...3700-10,00.htm

[MasterLJ]

I'm actually going through the incredibly painstaking task of downgrading Vista to XP as we speak just because I hate Vista so much. It's much harder to do on a laptop than a desktop.

[Albert Silver]

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I'm actually going through the incredibly painstaking task of downgrading Vista to XP as we speak just because I hate Vista so much. It's much harder to do on a laptop than a desktop.

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Good luck, you're going to need it. A close friend bought a nice Toshiba laptop recently, and I took on the nasty task of doing exactly that. It took at least 8 hours since Toshiba doesn't support XP anymore and had no drivers for the unit in question.

It took an amazing amount of work to track down the drivers, ranging from reading obscure forums, to downloading drivers of models with identical pieces, to editing actual .INI files (required for the ATI video driver).

In several cases it was a trial and error process, such as the video driver. For example, I found that I could use the latest ATI Catalyst Control Center, but not the driver, even edited to recognize his chipset, though the motherboard's South Bridge driver worked. I had to go back 3 versions until it accepted and worked the way it should. Eventually, I got it all running but it was far more work than I ever imagined.

So while I'm not saying it's not possible, if you are up against anything like I was: GOOD LUCK!

[fozzy71]

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http://crave.cnet.co.uk/gadgets/0,39...3700-10,00.htm

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Windows Vista
Any operating system that provokes a campaign for its predecessor's reintroduction deserves to be classed as terrible technology. Any operating system that quietly has a downgrade-to- previous-edition option introduced for PC makers deserves to be classed as terrible technology. Any operating system that takes six years of development but is instantly hated by hordes of PC professionals and enthusiasts deserves to be classed as terrible technology.

Windows Vista conforms to all of the above. Its incompatibility with hardware, its obsessive requirement of human interaction to clear security dialogue box warnings and its abusive use of hated DRM, not to mention its general pointlessness as an upgrade, are just some examples of why this expensive operating system earns the final place in our terrible tech list.

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Wow, LOL. NH Microsoft. So glad I bought my PC in January - one month before Vista hit shelves. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]