Q45 - XP Downgrade Possible?

Very interested in buying one of these, but not too enamored with the idea of having to use Vista as I have no specific reason to upgrade from XP and would prefer better performance if I can get it.

Provided it is possible, I have a few questions:

1) do Samsung sell a XP recovery pack to make this process easier (ala Lenovo)?
2) do any UK vendors offer a service to downgrade (obviously with the cost of buying an XP license)
3) if the answer to both 1 and 2 is no, how easy would it be to do this myself (assuming I can locate the necessary drivers)

Thanks in advance for any help on this.

 

An alternative is to get the Samsung P200 which comes with XP Pro. However, it is aimed at business and lacks the shiny bits, but the internals are the Q45.

John

 

Thanks for the suggestion; it did look like a good alternative until I saw that the battery life is significantly worse than the Q45, at which point it lost my interest.

 

It is not very difficult to install XP on a Vista machine, either as the only OS or alongside Vista (but the latter requires a rebuild of Vista's boot files to get the dual boot working). A full set of Q45 XP drivers / software is available.

However, I would suggest that you don't rush to install XP. First set about getting rid of Vista's unwanted features (excessive eye candy, UAC, etc - see the Vista tweaks thread) and set the visual settings to best performance + smooth screen fonts. Once streamlined, I don't think Vista has a noticeable performance hit relative to XP.

John

 

Microsoft fully support the Downgrading of Vista to XP and as John said all XP drivers are available.

As far as Microsoft is concerned, here is the official communication regarding downgrading:

DOWNGRADE. Instead of using the software (Vista Business/Ultimate), you may use one of the following earlier versions:
· Microsoft Windows XP Professional,

· Microsoft Windows Professional x64 Edition, or

· Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.

This agreement applies to your use of the earlier versions. If the earlier version includes different components, any terms for those components in the agreement that comes with the earlier version apply to your use of them. Neither the manufacturer or installer, nor Microsoft is obligated to supply earlier versions to you. You must obtain the earlier version separately. At any time, you may replace an earlier version with this version of the software.

Unfortunately this only effects certain versions of Vista, most of which are not sold with Samsung Laptops.

Best bet is to get a copy of XP and install the drivers manually from the website.