Upgrading to Xp?

[79Bandit]

If i wanted to "Upgrade" from vista to xp do i only need to download all my drivers from the manufacture and just wipe the drive and install xp like normal? Im also hearing something about sata hard drives wont allow you to do this? Its not that i do or dont like vista its just it uses up a lot of resources, and i dont really like the new "features". anyways any help would be appreciated.

the computer is a nc1503

[Oz]

Going from Vista to XP is a downgrade. Have you thought about upgrading the RAM on your machine, or adding a better graphics card - either/both should see Vista perform better.

If you want to downgrade to XP, just boot from the XP source and format the disk. There shouldn't be any problems using SATA disks.

[79Bandit]

Originally Posted by Oz

Going from Vista to XP is a downgrade. Have you thought about upgrading the RAM on your machine, or adding a better graphics card - either/both should see Vista perform better.

If you want to downgrade to XP, just boot from the XP source and format the disk. There shouldn't be any problems using SATA disks.

Oz my man, i just wanted to clear up im not a complete idiot. i know its called a downgrade i just called it an upgrade cause vista still in my opinion isnt as good as xp was, which i guess is to be expected from new os's but thanks for the info pal.

And as for the ram i have a gig already on here and i already have the xp disk so i figured it would be a cheaper route and since i prefer xp over vista sounds like a win win as long as there are no problems but i can always hold on to my vista cd's just incase i ever want to re-upgrade. Just wanted to make sure i wasnt going to have any problems.

[dave92cherokee]

I was looking at the specs for that laptop that you are running and unless you added more ram from the initial configuration it only ships with 512 installed which will cause extremely slow performance in vista as it requires 1 gig. And yes vista is a resource hog but if the system is capable of handling then there's no problems and after a month of usage vista tailors itself to what you do with the computer to where it using the resources available isn't as noticeable. Also that system ships with the lowest most basic version of vista being home basic for vista versions that's like 2k and vista ultimate is more like xp pro based on the ranges of vista that are available. As far as downgrading to xp you can do that as long as it's not an OEM version of xp because if it is and it was not made for that system the product key will be useless, it's like trying to install a dell copy of xp on a emachine it won't work. For xp there's been no major problems with installing it on a sata hard drive. If you want to downgrade that's up to you but it's not really vista hogging up the resources which it does do some, but because it uses a rating system and the more you use it the more it tailors itself to what you normally do with the system. It's more likely the system itself that really isn't that fast causing it to run slower than it would for a system specifically designed for that purpose. You're running a 1.5GHz single core with initial design of only 512MB ram unless you added some after you bought it then you're mistaken about the amount of ram. Based on the requirements for vista that would be like running xp on a p3 system with 256mb ram. I'm running vista ultimate with all options and extras and it's only using between 5 and 10% cpu and 65% mem. And yes it is a new OS and takes some time to get used to like when xp came out and everyone had to get used to it from 2k something new and people didn't know how to control it like the old version. And lastly there's no reason to bash the mod's there here trying to help you like everyone else is he was just simply stating that it's a downgrade and to try upgrading the hardware.

[Damien]

I've used vista and the resources don't really make it out to be much better than xp in the sense of everday users. XP its me fine. A lot of the resourses on there are those things you can find at www.wincustomize.com. While my comp runs fine with a few of those, mainly caus emy RAM is up to par, vista still provides little for me. Photoshop and RAM go hand and hand together and well, ya got them RAM, I can edit.

I love XP. Maybe just because it's not as shiny and fancy and not everyone needs it.

[l_eclipse_l]

XP will run so much better on that laptop it won't even be close. If you have an XP SP2 disc, you shouldn't have problems with SATA drivers. Some of the base XP discs didn't have the necessary drivers for laptop SATA drives and it was a pain getting them to work.

[79Bandit]

i might of got the model number wrong as it doesnt say on the laptop i was just trying to remember what it said on the box when i bought it but it came with a gig ram and the basic version of vista but like i said i cant een watch a movie on this thing because it skips and freezes, i understand i bought one of the if not the lowest quality laptops out there but i thought it would atlease get me through the work day as i bought it for only surfing the internet but itwont even play a youtube click without skipping and messing and unsyncing the video to sound. thanks for all the info fellas

[ericn1300]

I just did that this afternoon. My new laptop came with Vista and it really sucked, wouldn't run the main app I needed a laptop for and the networking was a real hassle, so I installed XP SP2 and all is fine now.

The most IMPORTANT thing is to download the XP drivers for your ethernet nic and wireless card and burn them to a cd. If you're online after the XP install all is good as you can down load any other drivers and programs you might need. If you're not online life will suck unless you have another pc online with a cd burner. I had no problems with the SATA drives.

Go for it, but first make sure you have a recovery disk in case anything goes wrong. I had to recover once to get the network drivers. The only problem I have is that my daughter misses the Penguin game that came with vista.