SZ780 downgrade to XP and driver issues

I'm deciding on having Portableone downgrade the SZ780 i'm about to purchase to XP, but i have some concerns regarding drivers.
I see most/all of the drivers are available from sony for XP, but it says that there may be some lost functionality in using XP instead of Vista. Sony says the issues are:

* Hot Keys: Some function keys may not work correctly.
* Special Buttons
* VAIO Power Management: Since the camera driver is not Windows XP WHQL certified, the battery life may be shorter than is normal.
* Battery Care: Since the camera driver is not Windows XP WHQL certified, the battery life may be shorter than is normal.
* Battery Checker: Since the camera driver is not Windows XP WHQL certified, the battery life may be shorter than is normal.
* Bluetooth: BroadCom® Bluetooth software does not work.
* Fingerprint Sensor
* Trusted Platform Module (TPM)
* Wireless Switch Setting

I'm mostly concerned with the battery issues, fingerprint stuff and wireless switch setting (i assume this is on/off)..

Anyone have any experience with P1's downgrade option and how this stuff works?

thanks

jason

 

hi, i bought my sz from p1 with the xp downgrade by them, i just put vista business a few days back, but i found xp ran quite well,
for your specific questions
1) the s1 and s2 buttons didnt work
2)the fingerprint sensor worked fine
3) i was getting about 3 hrs of battery with discrete graphics on
4) i found the camera video quality poor in xp...slightly better in vista
5) i didnt try the wifi switch
6) i had trouble using the bluetooth in xp, it is easy to turn on and off in vista for me atleast.
7


hope this helps

 

I did an UPGRADE to XP on my TZ and the sony website gave that same list of warnings dated 9/25/07, but if you look at most of the drivers they are more recent. EVERYTHING on my TZ works, just a few quirks im trying to iron out now.

 

Thanks guys. Ivan at P1 said they've spent a long time optimizing their XP image and everything works as it should.

Good to know!
Worst case i guess is i can go back to Vista from the recovery CDs even if i choose the XP downgrade.

thanks
jason

 

I just finished replacing Vista with XP on my SZ 780 from P1.

First off Ivan has been unbelievable, the best customer service I have experienced from any company in a long time. He has answered my questions throughout the process of shopping and trying out Vista.

I bought my SZ with the P1 optimized vista business and also got the P1 XP disc in case I wanted to switch to XP.
The SZ ran great under Vista but I switched to XP because of the issue with syncing Vista and a Windows Mobile Device, It just does not work well with Vista.

I have not been running XP long enough to have an estimate of battery life but everything is working except for the S1 and S2 buttons. Function keys for volume and brightness work, speed/stamina switch works, etc.

I have nothing but good things to say about P1 and Ivan, they have been wonderful.

 

Can anyone make for me backup driver (Driver Genius or Driver Magician) or advise me from where I can download driver to Function Keys, as after downgrade to XP only volume keys works fine (F2,F3,F4) but LCD->monitor and (F5,F6) doesnt work, and I dont know why, please.