Putting XP on a cheap Vista lappy?

I dropped my Asus and need a temporary laptop - problem is I can't decide and need one soon. I'm no expert, but I feel like Vista wasn't intended to run on laptops the way they are configured in the stores at this time. I wan't to wait untill the Santa Rosa is in more computers, prices come down, and I have better choices.

So, I'm thinking to buy a $399 Compaq or Toshiba that's on sale, wipe Vista, and install XP so I can use my old software.

Someone told me it wouldn't work properly for some reson - is this true?

If it is possible, how can I know which laptop is XP friendly and which is not? Any recommendations for good, cheap laptops for my needs?

(I just need MS Office, wireless internet, and CD-RW or DVD-RW for the time being)

Thanks

 

Go to Tiger Direct and look at their refurbished models. You can easily get a computer furnished with XP capable of doing all that stuff - wireless, burning, etc - for cheap. However, if you need MS Office, that'll cost extra. I'd recommend going with Open Office if possible.

 

What others are referring to is a problem where you buy a computer with Vista and try to "downgrade" to Xp. At first it is difficult to find the Xp drivers for some models but usually you can find someone who has done it and tried a bunch of different drivers until they found a set that worked. Overclocker's recommendation of Open Office is a good choice for free open source office suite.

 

unless it comes in with only 512M RAM(which can make boot up very slow), Vista shouldn't have much problem running your existing programs.

For me, I would just see how it runs before thinking about reinstall XP.

 

I’m sure almost all the notebooks in that price range (sub $500) came before Vista. To make sure, check for XP drivers under support/downloads section of the notebook. If you are planning to buy it from a store where you can actually see the notebook, then check whether it has a “Designed for XP” logo (simple yet effective way to make sure).

Even if you can’t find any of the above, there is still a good chance for XP to work; because most cheap notebooks use very common (well supported) devices like Intel Chipsets and integrated graphics cards.

If you are still not sure, then post the model number in this forum, we might be able to help.

 

Thanks for the advice - using it I found out that Toshiba doesn't support XP. The cheap Compaq models do support XP drivers on their website so I'll look at them. I didn't think about Tiger Direct, thanks for that - they still have XP models.

Just to clarify, I have XP OS, MS Office, and Photoshop and I want to put off re-buying all of them for Vista for the time being. I'm sure I'll be able to get a few hundred bucks for it when i'm ready to buy a better one.

Thanks again

 

Do you mean MS Office and Photoshop don't work on Vista ? I found that hard to believe.

 

I know photoshop does as I have it running on vista ultimate x64 at home. I dont use Office tho so cant speak about that. However being that its a MS product I also highly doubt it doesnt work.

 

Vista supports Microsoft Office 2000 and upwards. For Office, Photoshop, internet and CD burning Vista will work fine. You will only have trouble with very old software (older than 6~7 years) , custom built specific tools or device drivers.

 

I have an older copy of 3DS Max that I know will not work on Vista. Therefore, I need an XP computer. Does anyone know if I can reformat the Acer 2080 ($550 at best buy with Vista) and put XP Pro on it? Thanks for the help.

 

Make sure drivers exist for the laptop before buying it if you plan to install a previous generation OS. Check the Acer driver site for XP drivers for that model to be sure.

 

acer redesigned their driver/downloads website, and it is very clean and easy to use now. they have a lot of drivers in both xp and vista versions.