older version of windows

I was just looking at the drivers for the NP8170 and NP8150 on the sager website and I see windows 7 drivers only. However, will these drivers work on an xp or vista install, I have some cd' of both OS's laying around and pondering using those.

 

You may have untold problems using an older version of Windows on these new sandy bridge laptops. A lack of stability will likely occur.
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I thought that could be a possibility, I had run into issues installing XP at an old job on some windows 7 laptops. I had to try multiple drivers, versions of programs to get them to "Work" then had other issues and had to get some different laptops and get them to "work" the same way.

 

You'll probably want to run older versions in VM (like Virtualbox which is free). The video drivers don't exist for XP and the same is true with USB 3.0 and a few others I believe. Windows Vista should run fine though as it's based on the same kernel as Windows 7.

 

get yourself ich10 raid drivers, put them on a floppy(or slipstream them), be prepared to install windows xp for about an hour, achi mode and xp dont seem to work good with the laptop. Xp is only recommended for older games, so be prepared for multi boot OS. The End.

edit: virtual box/vm doesn't offer true 3d graphical support and is very sluggish depending on programs, it's a good alternative to use certain programs but to run it as dedicated true operating system, wont cut it.

 

I'm so skeptical of the benefit of using an older version, but there must be special cases for it to make sense somewhere.

 

I personally have loved XP Mode for Windows 7 for running all my old programs. Of course you have to have WIndows 7 Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate to be able to download XP Mode but if you do, here is a link:

Download Windows XP Mode

Still use VMWare for other OS but for XP, this has seemed to work best for me. I really like it because after setting it up, you can just open up your XP programs through Windows 7 and don't have to keep switching back and forth or starting/stopping a VM.

 

Thanks. My primary reason for wanting to possibly use an old version of windows was to cut out the cost when I purchase a laptop. If vista or xp works, since i have the disks, I could cut out the cost of the OS. Since I want to game I want a version of windows instead of putting linux on it.

 

Vista should work fine, but note that if you did plan to game on Windows XP (other than the lack of video drivers), it will not support DirectX 10 or DirectX11 either. I can't guarantee that all the drivers will work without a hitch, but it will most likely be smoother than XP due to the fact that you can substitute Win7 drivers there.

If you're a student, you can also check with your school for discounted Microsoft software.

 

Yes if you are a student and since you have vista it is only $64.95 for Win 7 Pro in the link below...

Microsoft Store Online - Windows 7 Professional Upgrade
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Leaving the technical reasons for why it's a bad idea to run XP (especially 32-bit) on these machines I also can't really understand the monetary reason, these laptops while greatly priced are still over the $1k barrier, at that point skimping on the OS seems like needless penny pinching.

Not trying to be rude or anything but it just strikes me as such.

If you must, I'd recommend at least run Vista (64-bit version), you'll find that all the hardware in those models is Vista supported, while some drivers will say they're just for 7 most will contain either two different sets for Vista and 7 or one combo driver with settings for both.