Should I do this?

I really don't like the windows vista OS. i plan on buying a new HP dv6500 with some good upgrades, however it comes with vista, should i format my laptop and install my good o' windows XP pro? my brother said something about if i do that, then it might mess up some internal hardware/have driver problems...

 

You can do if you want to. Don't listen to your brother.

 

You might experience driver issues straight after installing XP as the OS might lack native drivers for specific hardware. However, you would most likely be able to obtain the drivers from the HP website or alternative sources.

 

Vista is not that bad, coming from someone who is picking XP for a new computer. Sure, it has some problems, but it is not bad enough to not use it after forking out the cash for it. While an XP or no OS choice was an important deciding factor, if I was stuck with a Vista choice, I would end up using it, you can tweak performance sucking and battery draining behaviour down to acceptable levels etc. if that is the problem, by the way, what is the problem if it isn't that?

Anyway, your brother is right, it "might" cause some problems but nothing to stop you from doing it. At most, it will involve hunting down some hardware drivers from the net.

 

You might want to look at the first sticky in the HP forum that talks about installing XP on the x5xx series laptops. Otherwise, you can also do a clean vista install. There's a sticky guide for that too.

 

Make sure you have the Vista recovery discs before you do anything like that. Sometimes manufacturers don't ship them with the machine, and you have to make them yourself. Secondly, that'll cost you the price of an XP license. Figure that into your budget. Third, it won't do anything BAD to the internal hardware, it just may not work right. HP might not supply XP drivers for your laptop, and laptop hardware is notoriously proprietary. But other than that, go for it. The worst you can do is not have XP work, and have to reload Vista

 

I would download most or all the drivers for you notebook and save it on a disk. This way if you have any Driver problems, you have the drivers handy.