New Dell Laptop.can i load xp pro?

[Blast1]

you will likely wipe out their system restore partition

Dell has a way of making a backup of the recovery section to optical disks, this is something you do if you don't purchase a recovery disk otherwise if the disk blows you're stuffed.

[mattmatt]

That would **** if Dell only supplied Vsita drivers, best to check that first cos if there are XP drivers, you should have no problems.

[STORMDAVE]

If you don't touch the separate partition when you run the XP installer, nothing should happen. The way to not delete your backup parition is to carefully select your C: partition (which should be the largest partition) instead of completely deleting all partitions on the drive and starting from scratch.

[JPowell]

Jim - I meant a whole new drive. If you do a clean install on the drive that Dell has installed, you will likely wipe out their system restore partition (it's hidden), which can be used to return a dell to a factory state.

[Blast1]

how can you fit another harddrive in there, will opening the laptop void the warranty doing that?

It wouldn't void any warranties, If the laptop came with a recovery disk it contains everything needed to redo the hard drive if you want to go back to the original, if it didn't they usually have a way of making the recovery system backup on the computer, if you are going to use a new drive or re-use the old one download the drivers like mentioned if there is a set for XP, then just load XP on the new disk or formated old disk, load any Mobo system drivers first, then reboot and load the video and screen drivers, then the audio drivers.
One problem with todays computers is that the operating system that comes on the recovery disk is modified for the extra crap they stuff the systems with, even if you wanted to do a clear install of vista you might have to get a OEM copy to avoid the crap that might get reloaded.

[jimstamos]

how can you fit another harddrive in there, will opening the laptop void the warranty doing that?

[JPowell]

Jim - you certainly can install XP Pro on your Dell. You would need to boot from the CD drive with your XP disc and follow the steps to a clean installation (delete current partition, erase everything on the drive, etc)

You will lose warranty coverage for anything software related, but not for hardware issues. Dell had me remove my hard drive when I sent my notebook in for an LCD repair.

The plus side would be you would lose all the bloatware that comes on the Dell's out of the factory. I think Dell's run about 15 programs in memory as they ship. Way too many useless processes taking up memory space in my opinion.

The downside would be you would lose all the proprietary drivers that dell requires for their components like video card, audio card, wireless card, etc. You will need to download those drivers from the Dell website and save them to CD-ROM before you do the install, because you may not have internet access after the XP install.

It's definitely not fun, and I'm not sure I recommend it. At this point, Dell may only be offering vista component drivers for new notebooks on their website.

You might consider buying another hard drive for the notebook and doing your XP install on it. That way you can always go back to the drive with Dell's factory settings if things go terribly wrong.

[GrassValley_MD]

We can't say we are Vista compatable because we are not yet but like Dave said some folks are finding that it works ok.

No harm in giving it a try and see what happens.

I thought you had a choice now on what operating system on Dell computers?


Mike

[STORMDAVE]

Have you tried Edius with vista? Some users are reporting that it works...although its not supported by GV yet.

[jimstamos]

unfortunately, the new dell laptops only come with vista, no option to opt for xp. can i load xp pro on it. would it override vista. how can i do this and will it void the warranty?