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    OS installation on a NB

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by bankotsu, Mar 16, 2009.

  1. bankotsu

    bankotsu Newbie

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    Hi everyone,

    im buying a new laptop soon and in order to cut costs i decided to pick up a notebook that is not preinstalled with any OS (it says "free Dos" in the specs) since i already have a copy of windows xp pro and vista home edition at home which i will be installing on it. now my noobish question is whether or not i will be able to install one of these operating systems or do i need a "special" version of the OS that is designed for the specific notebook in order for it to work as some seller told me? the model is Dell Studio 1537...

    and if im be able to install the OS successfully, which one will run better with 2GB of RAM: XP Pro or Vista Home (both 32bit)

    Thanks!
     
  2. Commander Wolf

    Commander Wolf can i haz broadwell?

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    You don't need a special installation disk for a Dell notebook or any notebook for that matter. Your standard OEM/retail copies of XP/Vista will work fine. Both should be fine on 2GB as well; it'll be a personal preference. Mine would be XP, though; I'm an XP fanboi.
     
  3. ahl395

    ahl395 Ahlball

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    You should be able to just overwrite whatever may be on there.

    XP should be a little faster. ;)
     
  4. bankotsu

    bankotsu Newbie

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    Thanks a lot! :)
     
  5. Mastershroom

    Mastershroom wat

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    Vista will work just fine, and I recommend it over XP. You won't notice much better performance in XP if you have 2GB or more RAM and a decent dual-core processor.

    Whoever you talked to was lying; you don't need any "special" version of Windows. The only difference might be that the Dell versions include drivers designed for a specific model of notebook. If you install a retail copy, you'll have to download and install the drivers yourself.