Xp Sp3

In case anyone cares, I slipstreamed SP3 RC build 3244 and installed it on my SZ330. It rocks. Mostly use the drivers from ftp.vaio-link.com, and you will need KB835221 HD audio foundation, found in the XP downgrade driver package for the SZ4xx series.

The only drivers I did not use from the vaio-link package were for the card reader, utility package, and wireless. The first two from the US site and the last is Intel's latest generic driver without the Proset utility. It took two tries to install the Nvdia driver. Follow Sony's driver installation order recommendations. The Cingular modem software is not installed as I am not interested in paying so much per month to have that gadget.

I must reflect that 15 months ago folks were asking if they should buy now or wait for Vista. Then everyone buzzed about installing Vista or receiving their free Vista from Sony. By June the talk had shifted to downgrading (down?) to XP and now folks chase after the Sony XP downgrade disk.

If you think Vista is slow, bloated and incompatible with lots of things, don't worry about Vista SP1, it only gets rid of the worst bugs. The overall experience remains the same.

 

I am running VISTA SP1 and it is all good. I understand why people still like the more refined XP. I only run VISTA on one of 5 machines but it does work well after some headaches. One thing I would suggest to those that want to run Vista is make an image of your clean Vista install. My machine runs really well now that I have installed Vista (using Sony's companion DVD) than SP1 RC1 and all updates than Acronis backup with all software installed and configured. So going forward if there are any problems I can get back to the best Vista could ever run with all my software installed and configured. Vista isn't as refined as XP but there are features about it that make it the next evolutionary step. "Google like" indexing, superfetch, readyboost, Gadgets, Aero, better power management, and "sleep" features to name a few.