Will Dell make Windows XP drivers for the XPS 1330?

Normally when I get a new laptop with XP on it, I just pop in my version of XP that i prefer (LastXP v16 for example) and repartition and reformat the harddrive and install a clean OS from scratch...

I am not a huge fan of Windows Vista, I'd rather wait until Vista SP-1 is released and use XP for the time being. But I wouldn't mind having a Vista license so that I can use it in the future perhaps...

Currently there really is no reason to upgrade to Vista apart from the nicer Aero interface, and I already have that on XP by using a version of XP such as LastXP (its ok, I already purchased at least 4 or 5 XP licenses over the years).

The thing is with laptops...you need the manufacturer's drivers for hardware like the webcam, built in card-readers, etc... Will they support XP in any way on the XPS 1330???

Also, do you think that Dell will include a Vista Recovery CD? Or will the recovery information be stored on a hidden partition on the harddrive??? I hate it when they do it like that...

Any thoughts appreciated...

 

I'm sure they'll have a Vista CD... XP driver support I wouldn't bet on...

 

As of current, there's not even drivers for both Windows Vista and XP.
However, they do have options for selection of Both OS.

So probably Dell might release XP drivers along with the Vista drivers.
They did release drivers for both Vista and XP (including XP 64-bit and Ubuntu) for the new Inspiron lineup.

You can be fairly certain that Dell will provide drivers for the both OS, however further support for XP will not be given by Dell as they have already decided to cut support for XP.

 

Interesting....I could only find two version of Vista as options for the OS...

 

Did you try the Dell Support > Drivers and Downloads link?

I'm using the US link, dunno if that made the difference.

 

What drivers would there be specifically that's custom to the M1330? The only thing I can think of would *maybe* be the webcam or fingerprint reader - everything else should be standard hardware that's already available. You'll probably be able to find XP drivers around the internet that will work on the M1330.

 

I don’t think DELL will use components that are different from New Inspiron/Latitude series (all of which, already has XP drivers). If you take Inspiron 1420, specs are identical except for the fingerprint scanner (which I think would most likely be same as the one in D630).

Therefore I wouldn't worry too much about XP driver support. Give it some time.

 

What about the media touch buttons?

 

The problem I see is the graphics card. The Intel integrated graphics seems to be supported by XP, but the driver for the nVidia 8400M GS seems to be more elusive. I found this driver released by Compal.

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=13667

Maybe the generic nVidia drivers might work.

 

more importantly.... linux drivers? all I have received from talking to dell reps is "I have no clue." well, this doesn't cut it dell, you would have another $1600 order right now if I knew linux will work. XP guys too, they can't expect every person wanting a high quality(I hope) product to run vista.

 

the vista drivers have been posted on the dell USA site

 

this info was posted all over the place a while ago... and it's really not helping with xp drivers at all

 

Redfoot said here:

The page is here

I cut an order for an M1330 this afternoon with the understanding that I'll do "best effort" to XPify it (since they don't support Vista at work). It'll be a while before it gets through the local bureaucracy and to Dell.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=153941

It's been done with no issues. A warning, though: That first post doesn't give you the full thing. You're going to have to look through the thread to see the issues people faced and how they fixed them.

When I did it, it ended up being much slower than Vista on the same machine, for whatever reason, maybe incompatible drivers after all. So I switched back. Your experience may be different, though.