XP on 1640??

Anyone do it yet? I read that someone run linux, so am assuming XP can be done...I am game for trying if someone can just point me in the right direction...Will the webcam, face recognition etc work?

EDIT: Before people start flaming me, I have gone through the 1640 owners thread as much as I could.. thing just keeps getting fatter by the minute...

 

Why would you want to put XP on it? Vista is good for it or wait for Windows 7.

 

Hmm..cant really think of a good reason now..maybe its just the random program freeze that seems to occur sometimes..

 

Vista is fine on modern hardware. I doubt they have XP drivers available. Just get with the times.

 

How about XP is faster and more stable and Vista offers nothing of value to make it worth the performance cost? Would you upgrade your 10 speed for a fancy tricycle with streamers? How about Vista has UI changes that offer no additional functionality. Why learn new interfaces if there was nothing wrong with the old ones? Don't buy into the hype that newer is better. Better is better, newer is newer. I don't think the bytes in XP have worn out.

 

The XP drivers for the XPS 1730/Inspiron 1720/Inspiron 1520/Precision workstations should work fine for shared components, which will be most of them. The webcam probably uses the same driver, the Dell wireless will use the same driver. The only different one will be the chipset, and you can get away without installing that driver without any problems.

I'm not sure about face recognition - if that's a webcam feature, it ought to work. If it's something entirely new, you might be out of luck.

Dells have always worked with XP before, so I see no reason why it wouldn't for the XPS 1640. Some manufacturers go out of their way to make it difficult for XP to work, but Dell never has, so as long as the components are mostly the same as in previous notebooks, it should work fine.

 

You don't want to go without the chipset driver. there's all your power optimizations.

 

Have you tried it yourself ? I eager to know ...

 

I loved that analogy, really made me laugh! +1

 

I am buying a 1640 and will attempt to install (successfully I hope) both Windows XP and Windows & so I can compare performance side-by-side. I cannot stand Vista but am hopeful Windows 7 can be a worthy successor of XP. If I managed to install both correctly I will post benchmarks and results here

 

Don't forget XP will not recognize your Sata hard drive.
Installing XP is not as easy as it is made out to be. Dell has no drivers for it.

Read:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=363446

 

Of course XP will recognize SATA hard drives. You just need to slip stream the drivers into the Intel's PM45Chipset's ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller mass storage device drivers. Piece of cake... at least this part

 

Of course I meant recognizing it without slip streaming the drivers.
A novice might think it's going to just find the harddrive on it's own.

 

should be cool if you where able to dual boot(install) XP and Vista on SXPS as on MacBook, (OSX and XP) that should be really something.....
XP for DX9 games//faster Apps and Vista for new DX10 games.


ps.....i agree, XP is way better then Vista, (in nearly all aspects)

 

That is precisely my intention! i want to try using something like Acronis OS Selector so i can have multiple partitions with independent OSes installed so I can have both XP and Windows 7 totally separate. Its the best way to use and benchmark the best of both world's till I thoroughly try out Windows 7 and see if everything works with the Studio 16, how it compares with XP and how much faster/better it is than Vista (which is a joke). Actually I would like to have XP, Win7 32bit and Win7 64bit, so I can test them all nicely

 

Of course you can install xp on a 1640
The problem of course is getting drivers for the hardware.

I wonder how long it will be before people stop trying to put an aging OS on new computer systems... I admit I was the same way a few months back. I wanted XP on all my computers because I hated vista. But now that I have windows 7, I like using it on all my computers Though I sometimes install XP on a new system just to enjoy using a fast smooth OS that I am very familiar with

Computer manufacturers won't be releasing any XP drivers with new computer systems pretty soon. And eventually(not exactly sure when) people will start using windows 7 and forget all about XP(just like windows 98).

OH, so if you install XP on your 1640, you can either try to find the sata controller driver, or disable sata support in the basic input/output settings. Then after XP is installed, you will need to search for drivers for all the hardware. I'm doubt you would be able to find all the drivers.

 

Was your Windows 7 install all smooth on your XPS? I am assuming most of the drivers come already built-in the Windows 7 itself and whatever else needed you used Vista drivers, right? Are you using Windows 7 32bit or 64bit?

 

It went smooth as butter
Even if windows 7 already has some of the drivers for the hardware, I still install the ones provided by dell which are for Vista but are also windows 7 compatible. I am using window 7 RC1 and have had no problems, also games run much better on 7 that vista, and it might even run as smooth as xp...
I didn't think I would like windows 7 but I installed it an really like it.

 

...hmmmm...."Windows 7 it might even run as smooth as xp..." that statement scares me. 8 years after XP was released, a new OS that "maybe" runs as smooth as XP is a scary thought. 8 years later it needs to be blazing better, smoother, faster and more stable than XP, and this is precisely where my point is regarding loving XP. So, Vista was (is) a disaster and, as far as Win 7, what do we get?... I mean really... what do we get? Aside from a new task bar, new eye candy and useless stuff eating hundreds of megs of RAM and resources, what is it that we are really getting that makes XP so "obsolete"?

XP will be obsolete ONLY because Microsoft will force all PC makers to stop developing drivers for it and do Windows 7 only! For me an OS is about usability and stability, nothing more. Its a platform to run my software. i could care less about all the features, bloatware and desktop special effects. I only care about speed and responsiveness to support the applications I really use, in my case, video editing, Photoshop and 3D rendering.

I will try Windows 7, just like did Vista (though that lasted one afternoon and I refused a second look because it reminded me of my one day experience with Windows Millennium Edition) BUT I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally doubt I will get anything new, better, faster or more reliable in Windows 7 than my streamlined and rock solid Windows XP usage. On some of my computers I go weeks without ever rebooting. I have loved XP since it came out (I already loved Windows 2000 before it) and i know Microsoft will never have a better OS than that. Since Vista is just more "stuff" but the stuff I really care about, the OS itself, instead of getting simpler and faster, only gets more bloated, heavier and complex...

For me an OS are like the tires on a car, no more... I don't need s...t attached to my tires. I just need speed, grip, comfort ride and low noise... everything else, the engine, the interior, the upholstery and the music I hear, is my stuff, not stuff I want to be a part of my tires.

Anyway, this is all useless talk because its either a Mac/OSX (that is the biggest joke after Vista), Linux (that I refuse to use and think will never go anywhere in the mainstream world) or, Windows 7, that like it or not, is what me and the rest of the billions out there, will have no escape to.

by the way, on your Studio 16, did U install Windows 7 32bit or 64bit?

 

I see what you're saying.
I think I was starting to get used to vista right before I started using windows 7. So it's possible that someone who hates vista won't like 7. One thing that windows 7 has that I've always wanted, is the desktop background feature that will change the background every minute or every time you open up the computer.
That, and the fact that it helps my games run faster is enough for me to like using win 7.

I'm using 64 bit Also I guess I forgot to mention I own a 1340, not a 1640. But the 2 notebooks are pretty similar except for the size and GPU.

 

If you like 7 and don't like Vista than you just have a pre-existing negative view about Vista that you didn't create yourself. Windows 7 and Vista are nearly identical except for that superbar. Windows 7 is capable of running on weaker hardware, but that isn't something to think about when using XPS or Studio XPS laptops. On these laptops, Vista and 7 run same.

The biggest reason that people like 7 (who didn't like Vista) is because it is new and they haven't heard bad things about it. Vista got an undeserved bad reputation because of people installing it on inadequate hardware (which some of it was labeled as Vista ready and shouldn't have been, big mistake!)

And VeEuzUKY, you admitted that you didn't try Vista for long enough. Go weeks without rebooting? How about 3 months with my current Vista installation (which jhas been installed for over 2 years now. I would have had the same installation since RTM if I didn't upgrade my RAM - forcing me to install 64 bit to use all 4GB).

Windows 7 is the same as Vista. Microsoft had to re-release Vista under a different name and with some UI tweaks as its reputation was irrecoverable. Project Mojave demonstrated that if people used Vista without their pre-existing negative ideas, they would like it.

People like you who cling to an ancient OS are holding up progress. Microsoft is forced to continue supporting IE6 because it is what shipped with XP, and XP is going to be supported until 2014! That is another 5 years of crap like IE6!

 

OMG! Changing an Operating System so you have feature like background changing is precisely the type of useless that I mean. I have had thet on XP for years!!! Its called Wallpaper Changer 2.0, its free and amazing plus, it can be configured to use 0 CPU resources:
http://www.evjosoft.com

Please tell me there are many more compelling reasons why XP is an "outdated" OS and that Win 7 is much better than XP...

...of course, its all subjective Whatever works for you is best

 

I disagree with you. Windows XP was a major update to Windows 98 in all fronts. Day and night. When Vista came out there was nothing I could faster or better excpet my computer heating up, my hard drive working non-stop and getting annoyed with all sorts of issues. I will try Windows 7, but for me "progress" are advantages and desktop special effects or a new taskbar dont do it for me. ive been using TruelaunchBar, the best taskbar enhacement utility for Windows ever made. thats all i need and Windows 7 brings nothing that is new to me on that end.

As for IE6, I upgraded it to IE7 the day it came out and loved it. Equally, I tried recently IE8 and it SUCKS! Nothng new, slower, crashes and bunch of stuff that is usless, so, back to IE7.

So my freind, when there is progress and advantages, I am there. When not, Ill let everyone else happily upgrade their systems with "what's new" while I work with what's old that's better. Im the last person to go on trends or believe in reviews made by others. I try things and draw my own conclusions. I will try Win 7 that everyone one loves so much with the same excitment I tried Vista that everyone was already hating. This said, Im happy the world loves Win 7. Its not about progress my friend, its about making money and the revenues for Windows XP have died long ago, so, Microsoft needs to get something out, whatever it is and convince everyone its amazing and "progresss" because God forbid they also run out of cash and need a bailout!

Progress? Progress is what works for you that makes you better what you're good at, not what others throw on your face and tell you need to become a better man.

Ce la' vie

 

I see your point-and I wish I knew about Wallpaper Changer 2.0 back when I used XP

This is turning into another XP vs. Vista thread, sidetracking from the subject "XP on 1640".

 

I got XP Professional installed on my Studio XPS 1640 and I love it. Way better than Vista.

Vista 64 might recognized 4GB and Windows XP does only recognize 3GB Ram, but VISTA used up 800 MB Without anything loaded, while XP uses up less than 300MB so that makes pretty much up for it.

 

What drivers did you use?
Also if you installed XP Pro 64 bit(the only 64bit version of XP) you could have all 4GB recognized and usable

 

I set the Harddisk to IDI or something in the BIOS. So I didnt get the Blue Death screen.
Then I downloaded all the drivers from this site:

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/19260599/19437397.aspx

cheers


PS. I also noticed 5-10 More FPS in Oblivion.
My Computer Boots Windows XP within 26 seconds ( could be more with SATA drivers).

I will do a 3D mark benchmark soon.