Substitute Windows XP for Vista?

Question

Has anyone done a "downgrade" of Vista to XP. I'm planning on getting a new laptop, but they all have Vista on them, and I've heard nothing but bad things about it. And I'm not interested in paying another $90 for "downgrade rights".

How did the substitution of XP go? Any driver problems? I'd like to hear people's experiences that have done the downgrade.

Answer 1

I've not downgraded.

I think it's perfectly fine, it really depends on what you're trying to run. For everything I use, it's fine, I don't need XP but for Vista I'd recommend you have at least 2GB RAM but 1GB at the very minimum.

Vista is quite a wise choice for all the new games and graphical wise gaming, it's also quite stylish but it requires a lot of the CPU. Overall I think Vista is amazing.

Answer 2

i hear ya. i reformated a toshiba laptop.. everything seemed to go well, however i did have an issue with getting one driver. i remember having issues with the wireless drivers or something but could get some. it all depends on what you get. i'm sure if you tried hp or dell you'd have better luck. It's a matter of time, sometimes, for the drivers needed to come out. I was able to get a new(er) laptop (HP) for my mother that was made for xp.  

Answer 3

I've downgraded a dozen or so.  You'll need the raid drivers to install on most laptops today. (they mostly come with a raid config) If not there are options in the bios to change the SATA config so xp will recognize the disk.  Other than that the only drivers that i've ever needed were the touch-pad drivers. some i've found and some i haven't.  They all worked except the scroll features.

Answer 4

to go through all the trouble to downgrade to xp was worth it computer is so much faster. But i had a xp cd and key from my desktop.

Answer 5

I have vista and it has been great! it was bad when vista first came out because it wasnt compatible with alot of things but now its great because windows has made it better and it is compatible with alot of things.So technically if i was you i wouldnt downgrade

Answer 6

I've heard a lot of bad things about Vista too but it all came from Mac/Apple computer commercials... I just bought a new Dell with Vista Home Premium, have been using it about a month,  and I like it so well I'm going to upgrade my other computers, one with XP and one with XP Professional, to Vista as well. Vista is much more advanced, has a lot more features than XP, is more fun and easier to use... Don't believe everything you see on tv, and certainly not commercials from competing companies.

Answer 7

I just got a new laptop too. I had planned on getting windows XP on it when it came because I thought Vista would be bad. But now they have come out with service pack 1. Vista is awesome now!. I decided not to downgrade. So far I have had no problems with it at all.

If you do downgrade it will be hard, the hard drive must be made compatible with XP, and it can sometimes be hard to find all of the right drivers for your laptop.

hope I help

-hoot-