going back to Xp

[flex22]

I'm going to replace my vista with xp it’s on my dell laptop 1501.
I rebuild desktop but a laptop is there anything I should look out for.
Its wireless so will need to find drivers or will xp pick them up it's also
In my network of the other lap top and the desktop all share the internet

[SRTDodge05]

Go to dells website and download them.

[CK8-04]

The hardware that's manufactured by the big guys (e.g. Intel, Realtek, ATI, Nvidia, etc.) can be found on their respective websites. The other hardware, however, will need to come from Dell's website. If you can't find a driver, the www.notebookreview.com forums can be of tremendous help.

[Gorganzola]

Most things should work fine. If you don't have bluetooth on it, it will be even easier. Make sure to grab things like the Notebook system software and install that first. Then the chipset, then whatever else. I'd recommend sticking with the Dell drivers for the most part. They are almost the same as the ones from the respective manufactures except a few changes. Although the specs say it is whatever it is, Dell does change things.

[3 of 7]

I Just did just that, I documented it here
1700 Vostro with XP

[BoWevil_abx]

I am considering replacing my laptop with a notebook from Dell, and I was just reading that going from a Vista optioned laptop back to XP on a Dell laptop has been difficult because XP does not recognize a SATA boot drive. It appears that most of the conversions have been successful, but not without considerable effort.

Of course, if your laptop does not have a SATA HDD, then I suppose this doesn't apply.

[3 of 7]

The sata drivers are no biggie, just use nlite to slipstream them into your install disk... If you go with an Intel based laptop, you can turn off AHCI and use sata "ide mode" in the bios and it'll install just fine, but with no NCQ and a minor performance hit.

[SRTDodge05]

I dont know why you would want to remove such a sweet OS off your laptop. hehehe

[S.SubZero]

Originally Posted by SRTDodge05

I dont know why you would want to remove such a sweet OS off your laptop. hehehe

I know you are being sarcastic, but...

I've been running Vista x64 on my laptop since February. My hard drive was getting a little cramped, so I ordered a new larger capacity drive. The drive came a couple of days ago, and after some thought I decided not to use Vista, and instead to put XP64 on it.

I miss Vista a little. It kinda grew on me. It was a little buggy, but otherwise ran very solid and I had no real issues with it. I really miss the clock, which was about the most convenient setup of a clock ever. The desktop itself, despite it's broken folder views and "big" feel, was definitely soothing to look at.

I went to XP64 more because I needed leaner resource usage. 1/3 the hard disk space, 1/3 the RAM used.. I've been dinking with virtualization software lately and it likes to have as much RAM and hard disk space as possible.

[3 of 7]

I like the movie maker that Vista has and the "my photos" screensaver, but seeing as I have both Vista and XP on my main rig, I can live without them on my laptop..
The performance difference is really quite noticable..

[SRTDodge05]

Everytime when i need to format i always think about if i should go back to xp or not. But i know xp doesnt have much life left to it and i dont want to use a os that isnt going to be supported anymore.

[fvbounty]

Originally Posted by SRTDodge05

Everytime when i need to format i always think about if i should go back to xp or not. But i know xp doesnt have much life left to it and i dont want to use a os that isnt going to be supported anymore.

You should have at least another year, when SP2 comes out for Vista then go back....

[SRTDodge05]

I mite put xp pro back on my laptop once sp3 comes out.

[Ozzie]

I just put XP on the notebook that came with Vista Home Basic...I upgraded that to Ultimate, but it just didn't have it running Vista...kind of felt like it had one foot dragging in the mud. Now with XP, it's too early to tell any speed difference, but at least now I can install and uninstall without it asking me if I'm sure...

[tamarelle]

I had Vista and I liked it first, but then I felt dissastisfied, remembering how great Win2K3 had been, and I finally went back. I was only using it a few days and suddenly I remembered the little problems with Win2k3 that I had forgotten.. and I realized how solid Vista is for me and trouble free and I immediately went back to Vista for good. I really like this OS. its very stable for me, and smooth and things run great on it.

I guess the grass is always greener...