Will Vista completely overwrite XP or just install on top?

I am still waiting for my x60 tablet since 12/14/06 and since it has taken sooooo long, I am thinking about re-ordering with a clean vista install rather than doing the upgrade (using good ole t40 in meantime). Question is...if I keep the one I have on order, will the vista upgrade overwrite all xp files or will it just add to them. Thanks!

 

vista will save all your old OS files in a seperate folder, windows.old, unless you have no space left, in which case you have to reformat and install just vista.

 

Yes and Yes.

-If you do an "Upgrade it installs on top of XP keeping you're previous settings. It also gets rid of what it can of XP.
-You can also do a clean install with the upgrade as well.

 

Per Microsoft's website, http://www.microsoft.atat.at/windowsvista/getready/upgradeinfo.mspx, it appears you can do either with Vista.

The reviews I've read indicate a clean install is preferred. An "in place" install keeps your apps and files. Per the link above, it appears Vista will ship with something called "Windows Easy Transfer" that will allow you to backup all your apps and files to another drive, do a clean install of Vista, and move everything back.

 

Is this the first MS Operating system on which one can keep all the files/programs that are on the same partition/hard drive that the previous OS was installed in?

 

Just a warning about Vista. You better have 2GB of ram to run Vista well. I've got Vista on my desktop and the Vista application is quite taxing. This does not mean your laptop won't run fine with 1GB. It just means that your hard drive will be spinning like mad and applications will take a long time to load.

 

thanks guys. It is a BIG relief to know I can do a fresh install of vista. And yes sir I did get 2gb 667 ram. In this case, I will just keep my current order of the x60t.
Thanks again!

 

Will I be able to use this Vista upgrade on a different computer that has the retail version of XP installed?