My current laptop is a little over 5 years old now. Runs XP. I was spec'ing a new one on HP/Compaq website. It appears that Vista is it for the OS.(Sidebar: I spec'ed both computers identically, the Compaq was $150 less than the HP). Anyway, is it still possible to get the XP OS, or is it Vista only?

 

You can get XP on some Dell notebooks. Check out the small business section. I just got my dad one a month or so ago and it works well.

 

Wife work computer is a New Toshiba, purchased yesterday and has XP on it.

 

Just checked on Dell.com and they have several laptops and desktops with choice of XP or Vista. If you are in a hurry several of the Malls have Dell kiosks in them, Might be able to get the one you want, and walk out the door with it. Wife ordered hers on line and it was about 4 or 5 days and it was built to order and delivered.
Prices are way low now.

 

Which notebooks are you looking at?
I know the HP small business and enterprise notebooks still offer XP for the standard OS.
The consumer side is migrating over to Vista. Barf.....

MikeyB

 

Don't be afraid of Vista. I have been running it for a year, and I really like it a lot. Most programs run just fine, and it seems to be very stable. I run it on both of my production notebook computers and now prefer it over XP.

 

Key words there "most programs." Wife has to run XP at work. The application they use will only run on XP. The server at the head shed treats anything as alien that attempts access if it is any other OS than XP. Depending on what the use of the computer might determine the OS to use.

 

Check out www.newegg.com... they have really good prices on computer stuff, and I'm sure you could find a laptop there with XP on it.

 

When you buy, go ahead and get 2GB of memory and a graphics card with 256KB of internal memory so that in the future, if you upgrade from XP you will have the needed hardware to run VISTA.

 

VMWARE workstation is free. Just run XP in a virtual session when you need to hook up to an "XP only" host.

 

I always check out this site for Dell deals and Dell coupons

http://www.tweak3d.net/joomla/deals

Some of the deals are so good, they have a limit quantity and sell out quick. But most time it's just good enough. Just got to keep the upgrades under control to keep the price reasonable.

They also have HP deals sometimes.

Worth checking if your in the market for a new PC or Laptop.

 

I've presently got a new Dell laptop on order through a corporate Employee Purchace Plan discount and I made sure it has XP on it and NOT Vista.. Personally, I never liked being one of Bill Gates front-line guinea pigs, so I asked around about Vista before I made the plunge...
My IT friends at work said a resounding *NO!* to vista unless I just really wanted it badly... H U G E memory hog even compared to XP. They said if waiting is possible, try to wait until after the first SP update to Vista comes out. (I couldn't wait, had to have a new laptop for the road, for the wife now.)
Even our Corporate guidelines remain with XP at present.
They gave more reasons.. New OS doesn't work with 100.0% of the programs that presently fly fine with XP. Most do, but not all... They said as Vista is out, programs will be updated to be compatable with Vista but that takes time.
XP this late in the game is pretty reliable and is a known quantity with the programmers that produced user software.

Personally, I don't like being the family "help desk" for M-S Windows problems, so I felt it was prudent to remain with XP until a newer laptop is eventually needed.


An interesting caution that they said about upgrading an existing XP laptop: On some otherwise sucessful upgrades to Vista on some brands/models of laptop machines, has actually caused the processors to overheat and shut themselves down from the heavier CPU clocking going on caused by the new OS!
The IT folks told me: IF I am eventually going to upgrade my new XP machine to Vista, make sure it and the rest of the machine's hardware is compatible with Vista to begin with. (i,e. go ahead and buy one with Vista already on it)

These guys deal with desktop and laptop machines by the dozens each day and what do they own as their personal machines????
I asked...

"Apple"

Nuf' said.

K.

 

I won't get into a religious war with your MAC "Techs", suffice to say they have been reading the Apple talking points, and I'd put money on they have never even SEEN Vista in real life.

Look, I am the president of a computer consulting corporation (15 years now) and I have already integrated Vista into several networks WITHOUT INCEDENT. I am running Vista Business on two laptops, each having only 700MB of RAM with no more performance issues than with XP on the same laptops.

Every time a new operating system comes out we get the same "chicken little" crap, and every time it is unfounded. I beta tested Windows 95, 98, Windows NT 4, 2000, XP, and Vista (yes, I intentionally left out Me) and have had great experiences over all.

That bit about "overheating processors" from your MAC priests is rich!!

 

Incidently, I am writing these messages on a Vista laptop that I haven't rebooted in over two weeks....

 

I'm beta testing Vista Business 32 and 64 on the next gen hardware and there is some grief.. I love the way MS sucked in the Bluetooth stack software and there's no priority over one device to the other. Unlike the vendors BT stack (like from Broadcom) for XP that issues priority from one device to the other. Example, BT audio headphones have priority over say , file copying from another BT device.
And the addition of 'nag ware' is really bugging me.
Plus many more.....

MikeyB