XP instead of Vista

I waited too long to order from HP online, and now all they offer is Vista. I really wanted XP Pro. I am wondering: does anyone have any experience with installing XP over Vista (is it possible?) or uninstalling Vista, then installing XP? Does it cause problems with drivers?

If I do have to go with the Vista machine, is there a way of turning off the memory-sucking features, the way you can with XP (including MCE) ?

 

You can install Windows XP, after Windows Vista has already been installed. You will need to format the system, and then install Windows XP from scratch, but it can be done. There shouldn't be any driver problems, once Windows XP is installed, because all of the notebooks on the HP website sold with Vista now, used to run on Windows XP.

 

u'd be surprised to hear (&find out for urself) that vista handling of memory is much better than xp

&yes, u can tweak and turn.off/disable any app that u dont like

cheers ...

 

Thanks, Zero and qhn, for the help!

 

Also, depending on make/model it can be somewhat difficult to find drivers (new models, not previous xp models) - You need to know chipsets, manfs. of all devices - Check HP website before buying your model to be positive.

 

I'd be ordering an HP dv6000t or z---the same thing they were selling loaded with XP about 10 days ago. But is it really the same thing---would they have made changes to drivers, chipsets, etc. to run Vista instead of XP?

I'll do as you said, and check with the website or customer service. When I'd called to ask customer service if I could still order with XP, they were promoting the Vista line heavily, so I don't know if they're going to be helpful with my questions, since I'm starting from scratch with a new machine. We'll see!

 

the dv6000t is a xp model previously, so I can almost garuntee that you will be able to xp drivers for it - I am sure you will for the z as well -
to double check, go to www.hp.com - then click support & drivers - bubble download drivers and put the model you want to know about in and click search. It will ask you what OS you want drivers for, look for XP there, if you see it you are good to go.

 

Thanks again for the help! Another question: would I be loading XP to replace Vista, or would it co-exist in the system along with Vista? (kind of like XP can be in an Apple machine as a separate application.)
Would I even want to do that, or just have one or the other? After all, Vista takes a lot of memory just sitting still. If not, do I uninstall everything first, then install XP? Can I make a recovery disk of Vista, and use it later if I decide to? (This has been a real learning process, so sorry if I ask dumb questions!!!)

 

Oh, by the way, I did check the HP site, and everything is there for XP for the dv6000t.

 

You can Dual-Boot your system so that you can run XP/Vista (one or the other at a single time) - you will still need a XP cd with product key.
You need to use a XP cd/Prod key to reformat your PC (which completely wipes out Vista) - Here is steps if you have them
http://home.jam.rr.com/joshua627/how2reformat.htm
And if the HP does not include the Vista OEM cd/DVD yes you can make the recovery discs for later useage of Vista.

 

Thanks for the help!

 

You CAN install XP after Vista. Easiest way to do so is to boot into Vista and have Vista carve out a partition. Install XP onto that partition. XP should have overwrite Vista's bootloader so just delete the Vista partition and you are set. Dont see why you would want to wipe Vista when you can dualboot but its your choice. For dualbooting you need to fix Vista's bootloader with the installation CD. Then you can use something like VistaBootPro to easily manage your OS entries.

 

Thanks for the help!

 

Actually, I wouldn't mind dual-booting, as long as it doesn't eat up a lot of memory and storage, having both OS's installed. I'll have to get help though, since I don't know how to do what you described. Would it need to be done right away after getting the machine?

 

BTW, what would be the minimum config. for dual-booting? I am probably going to go for 2048 G RAM and 120 G HD. I just don't want to greatly slow down.