XP on a HP Compaq 8510p or 6910p

Hi,

I'm thinking about buying a HP Compaq 8510p or 6910 with a Intel T7100 or T7300 processor. The salesman told me, that it can be very tricky to install XP on that notebooks and I'm wondering if he is right or just wanted to sell his Fujitsu-Siemens (because he is specialised on them) notebooks? Has anyone made any experience with that yet?

 

I did my very first clean install of XP on my 8510p (it has a T7300, but that doesn't really matter). In other words, no it's not hard. Plus, if you run into problems, you're on a tech forum. I really like my 8510p, the only issue I have is with the fan, but I deal with it. Get the 8510p, if you have any problems on installing XP on it, feel free to post up or pm me. Don't let that salesman pull the wool over your eyes (no I don't really use that saying, but I respect the filters). Only thing I suggest is making sure you get the XP install disk and driver CD to make things go REALLY easily. There's a little trick with the video driver which I'll post up if you decide on the 8510p. It involves deselecting this one option from the driver menu, it's not a big deal.

 

I'm close to maybe getting an 8510p and want to install XP too, thanks for the info, but I'm wondering what is your issue with the fan? Is it noisy?

I tried to search but, yeah, not tonight I guess!

 

Yeah, it's noisy for me. In it's defense, I do have quite a few protection programs running in the background. When I work off the battery, the fan isn't as bad. Still, I'm hoping HP fixes the fan limits. Considering all I like about this laptop, I'll put up with the fan (I've gotten used to it). Wish it was as silent as my X1000 (dead quiet except when gaming), oh well.

 

I see, thanks. Quietness is really very important to me. My 2 choices at the moment look like T61 or 8510p but I'm not sure which will be quieter. Even though one is 15.4" and one is 17" that's not the main thing for me, it's build quality and other things, like quietness, that led me to these 2.

I just searched and found the X1000 is 5 years old now, bummer!

So, does the fan run constantly? And is it noticeable even at it's lowest setting?

Keep in mind I have a real sensitivity to noise, I spent thousands silencing my PC but it was worth it to me. The monitor hum is louder than the HD now!

Thanks,

Steve.

 

If that's the case I'd go with the T61. It is supposed to be very quiet. It should be noted that the T61 and 8510p are available as 15.4 (T61 also 14.1) and NOT 17". There is the 8710p that is 17". If you have any more questions, you should make a thread in the What notebook to buy forum or send me a pm so we don't derail the OP's thread further.

 

Sorry, I was thinking of the 8 710p, new to the scene and still easily confused!

I had an older thread in the "what notebook" forum, I'll head over there.

Thanks!