Laptop replacement. Any ideas?

[chainsaw_masochist]

Following last week's break-in to my home and burglary of my Dell laptop I am going to have to get the b*gger replaced. Would far prefer to stick with the same manufacturer; problem is that their stuff is only coming loaded with that can-of-worms known as Vista. XP Pro seems no longer to be offered, even as an upgrade. What's a bloke to do? Any advice duly welcomed. Might be a while before I can reply.

 

[tim west]

Following last week's break-in to my home and burglary of my Dell laptop I am going to have to get the b*gger replaced. Would far prefer to stick with the same manufacturer; problem is that their stuff is only coming loaded with that can-of-worms known as Vista. XP Pro seems no longer to be offered, even as an upgrade. What's a bloke to do? Any advice duly welcomed. Might be a while before I can reply.

If you deal direct with Dell you might be able to ask for it to come with XP? If they want the sale.

 

[TonyWarrington]

Choice of XP or Vista should not be a problem with Dell.

Quote from Dell website
Dell is all about offering customers choice. We offer a unique build-to-order service. We recognise that some customers may not want to move to the latest Windows Vista operating system on your laptop or desktop. To that end, we have a number of platforms on which XP is still available
The choice is Yours. Dell is offering Microsoft® Windows XP on the PCs below.
When choosing one of the products below, you will be able to select Windows XP or Windows Vista while configuring your system prior to purchase.

Cant blame you for being wary of Vista at the moment

 

[Deluks]

See if they'll supply the machine w/out an os, if they don't give you the XP choice on the laptop you want. Plus make sure there are XP drivers available for your chosen model.
The ones they still supply XP with seem to be limited and not in the cheapest price bracket.

 

[empip]

...Microsoft has decided to extend the life of Windows XP, although only for a limited class of machines.

Microsoft said ... that it will continue to allow Windows XP Home edition to be sold for a class of computers it calls "ultra-low-cost PCs." It's a category that covers machines with slower processors, smaller screens, and in many cases flash memory for storage, rather than a traditional hard drive...


...Overall, big-name computer makers are still scheduled to have to stop selling Windows XP for all other uses by the end of June. Mainstream technical support will continue to be available for Windows XP through April 2009, and more limited support will continue through April 2014...

Looks like SP3 will be the final service pack for XP.

-

 

[chainsaw_masochist]

Not having much luck with specifying an XP based Dell. I am trying to get an Inspiron 17", but they say it cannot be provided despite the claimed availability (as Tony W's quotation from Dell).

Seem to have little interest in supplying sans OS.

 

[TonyWarrington]

It is a great shame that you cannot specify what you want and what would seem to be a deliberate policy by Dell to take you down the Vista route. I can only assume that MS are putting a great deal of pressure on the major suppliers to stop selling XP

I am sure that there must be many other suppliers of equivalent spec. laptops that will still give you the choice of OS. Does it really have to be a Dell?

If it must be Dell with XP - The following is not a recommendation
Did your original laptop come with XP disk and do you still have it?

Would it make any sense to buy the Inspiron with pre loaded Vista, format it and install a new version of XP?

I suspect there would be problems if you wanted to do this
1. Are XP drivers available for the hardware
2. Likely to loose Dell support
3. What effect warranty
Might be worth a call to Dell they may want to make a sale

 

[empip]

Ask around, here...
http://delltalk.us.dell.com/supportforums/

They are pretty neat at times.