OS suggestions??

I just got my new laptop from HP. It's got windows XP Media Center edition. I don't have any major problems with it at this point, however since I've only had it a few days and can still return it, I think I am going to for one small problem. The battery that came with it doesn't stay charged long at all. It is a 6 cell, but it only holds charge for a little over an hour....hour and a half tops. I spoke with HP and was told that I could send my system back and they'll give me a new one. I can pay the difference and get a bigger battery. They said they pay for the shipping. I get to keep my rebates and "free" printer. Only thing I am losing in the deal is Media Center. I guess that was a one time promo or something..I don't know, but they said it wouldn't have it:( So, my question is this: what OS should I get??? I'm leaning toward XP Professional. It's probably going to come with Vista, but I really am going to fight against that!! Any suggestions? Also, is there a way to speak to someone who really knows what their talking about when speaking to Customer Service or Tech support?? I always get a guy with poor English.:banghead: Is it rude to ask to speak to someone else?? thanks!!!

Personally, I would go for XP Pro. Wait a while until Vista has had its upgrades and isn't so full of holes. My Mom's laptop does the same thing with her battery, not sure about the size, but it only lasts an hour at full charge, and the lapto isn;t that old either. But it's a Toshiba. As far as tech support goes, I don't think there is any way around it, but I'm not sure, see what others say about that.

Vista is sure to have holes, thats a no-brainer--I personally like XP Pro, it's a decently stable OS. As far as the customer support, call any of them, 80-90% of the time, that's what you're gonna get!

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who has noticed this short battery life!! It's really annoying. I probably couldn't even watch an entire DVD without having to plug it in. I got a laptop because I wanted to be able to take it with me...however I really don't want to have to stay near a wall outlet!!! I'm just gonna pay for the upgrade to the 12 cell battery.

Those tech support guys are just doing their job, but they drive me nuts!!! It's really sad, the people who sell the products are GREAT.. but once the product is in your hands the company is little or no help.

I would wait on Vista for a while, XP Home, Pro, Media center O/S's are track-recorded for a few years now. Bunches of headaches with Vista, if the system isn't "Vista ready" or "Vista pre-installed", and even then it new O/S which has no track record yet.

Ask them if you can just exchange the battery. They save on shipping, you save on hassle and get to keep XP Media Center. Everybody wins. If they don't wanna do that, then I would go with XP Pro unless you actually use the functions of the Media Center edition. Avoid Vista like the plague for atleast a year, you will save yourself a lot of headaches.

I work in tech support. I wouldn't mind if somebody I was helping asked to speak to someone else because they had a hard time understanding me. I would rather you understand what the fuck was going on than me trying to beat it into you. Maybe the people of India feel differently though, who knows.

I'm not sure why, but they told me that I couldn't just send in the battery alone. I know that the 12 cell that I want is larger and makes the computer sit up higher. There might be a connectability issue. They said that they send out an entirely new system...so connectability has to be the issue there. Either way I want to get this done and get a decent battery.

I will ask to make sure that I can get it re-installed with XP pro. I've messed with Media Center for a few days and it seems alright. Nothing that I can't live without though. It looks like it just makes playing DVDs/Music easier because they're all in the MC main menu.

I will take your advice and ask to speak to someone else if they are hard to understand. Last time I spoke with the "head honcho" there, his English was much easier to understand, so I might go that route again.

Thanks to all for the great responses!!!

I would wait at least a year for Vista. That will the "major" bugs and vulnerabilities should be known. At least until a few years later when a bunch of others are shown. I'll probably end up installing Vista on an external hard drive first.

Installing Vista on an external hard drive is a bad idea.

Why not install a 30 day trial of Vista and see how it goes? Just make sure you backup your data on day 29 in case something happens that disables your access to it. It's an awesome OS on new hardware.

If you don't like it, you can always format and go back to XP...or dual boot.

Installing Vista on an external hard drive is a bad idea.

Why not install a 30 day trial of Vista and see how it goes? Just make sure you backup your data on day 29 in case something happens that disables your access to it. It's an awesome OS on new hardware.

If you don't like it, you can always format and go back to XP...or dual boot.
Haha. Oz, I know it's a bad idea to install it on an external. I'm not looking into getting a new OS for a while. I just got my laptop and won't rush to upgrade this time around.

Just reparition you internal drive and dual boot - it's easy. :)

Just reparition you internal drive and dual boot - it's easy. :)

I did that with RC1 and it slowed down my laptop even when using the XP partition for some reason. Maybe it was just because it was RC1 and not the actual release copy, who knows.

I've got both installed on my laptop and haven't noticed a decrease in XPs performance.

From my expierence with dual booting, I've never had any problems except for the fact that I have a 10 year old computer maxxed out, never ran into any issues with performace because of the dual booting though.