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Author: Subject: I want to buy a new laptop...but I dont want vista!!!!
tegwin

posted on 1/8/08 at 09:11 PM Reply With Quote
I want to buy a new laptop...but I dont want vista!!!!

Im trying to buy a new laptop at the moment, just something cheapish at the bottom of the range...

However they all come with vista...which as we all know is generally crp....

What is the deal with this at the moment? Are Microsoft still doing free downgrades to XP or am I going to have to fork out for an XP liscense ontop of the laptop price?

Im sure these people would sell more laptops if they didnt supply them with satans personal OS!!!





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UncleFista

posted on 1/8/08 at 09:21 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by tegwin
Im trying to buy a new laptop at the moment, just something cheapish at the bottom of the range...

However they all come with vista...which as we all know is generally crp....



Actually no, we don't all "know" that.

Some of us think it's the most stable MS OS so far

Have you tried Vista on a decent new-ish PC ? If your PC is a bit on the old side, then Vista aint for that machine





Tony Bond / UncleFista

Love is like a snowmobile, speeding across the frozen tundra.
Which suddenly flips, pinning you underneath.
At night the ice-weasels come...

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tegwin

posted on 1/8/08 at 09:23 PM Reply With Quote
Im looking at budget laptops....circa 1.5Ghz single core processor with 1Gig ram....

Vista WILL NOT run properly on that laptop..

Ahd yes I have had a play with vista on quite a powerful machine (3.8Gig quad core, 4Gb DDR2) and it was slower than XP by a long shot....I just cant stand it, from a system admin point of view its a nightmare....

Personal choice, this isnt an argument about the pros and conse of vista, I just want rid of it!





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whitestu

posted on 1/8/08 at 09:40 PM Reply With Quote
You can still buy notebooks with XP Pro installed under MS Vista downgrade.
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Hellfire

posted on 1/8/08 at 09:48 PM Reply With Quote
Vista vs Xp... it is generally known (almost every review site) that on an equivalent machine of almost any setup (upto 4GB of RAM, XP does not support 4GB+), XP is slightly faster, when running none CPU intensive applications.

When using heavy usage CPU applications such as Video Editing, Graphics conversions, CAD etc etc XP is generally 30% quicker.

Therefore - when you downloaded a film or other large CPU heavy file. Instead of taking 2 hours to put onto DVD it takes 3.

It is also reflected in the OEM prices as Vista is soo cheap compared to XP...

Steve






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UncleFista

posted on 1/8/08 at 10:00 PM Reply With Quote
I wasn't trying to get into a debate, I just didn't know whether you'd tried it on an old machine first and been put off. I've seen it on an older PC and it's not funny

Isn't XP going to be without updates etc. pretty soon, I thought I'd read that MS were abandoning it ?





Tony Bond / UncleFista

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At night the ice-weasels come...

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the_fbi

posted on 1/8/08 at 10:29 PM Reply With Quote
Vista Business comes with downgrade rights to XP Pro. You just need to phone M$ up, give them the Vista licence key and they'll generate you a nice XP Pro one.

If you purchase an HP machine, you can go online, fill out a support request for XP Pro re-installation media (after inputting your serial number) and they'll post your free of charge the XP Pro recovery media.

Dell you can buy online (or over the phone) and select XP Pro still instead of Vista on a lot of machines.

You don't mention budget, but http://uk.insight.com/apps/productpresentation/index.php?product_id=ARRYA05R5C comes with XP Pro and a good spec.

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wheelfelloff

posted on 1/8/08 at 10:44 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by tegwin
Im trying to buy a new laptop at the moment, just something cheapish at the bottom of the range...

What is the deal with this at the moment? Are Microsoft still doing free downgrades to XP or am I going to have to fork out for an XP liscense ontop of the laptop price?

Im sure these people would sell more laptops if they didnt supply them with satans personal OS!!!


As far as I know some manufacturers still had the "downgrade" option open a few wekks ago. A friend mentioned that Dell did if you "ask nicely"

I found a good deal on a couple of very basic Fujitsu laptops a little while ago and found that it was easier to buy copies of XP pro at the local computer fair at £15 each. Of course "the waranty is void sir" but as I broke the tape and upgraded the memory anyway didn't care.

Personally, I find Vista very stable once set up on a reasonable machine particularly when used as the typical office, browser or entertainment console. However, I agree it is a real pain to use in a productive situation. I've been there and am back with XP for as long as I can get reasonable drivers etc.

Best regards

Keith

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phoenix70

posted on 2/8/08 at 12:34 AM Reply With Quote
as stated Vista Business and Vista Ultimate come with downgrade rights but Vista Home does not, so be careful of that one.

[Edited on 2/8/08 by phoenix70]

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geoff shep

posted on 2/8/08 at 07:34 AM Reply With Quote
There are places that do laptops without an OS. Novatech for one. Or it may be just as cheap to get one with an OS from an alternative supplier and buy XP. XP Home is available for around £50 - Ebuyer
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Macbeast

posted on 2/8/08 at 08:10 AM Reply With Quote
Quote -

Isn't XP going to be without updates etc. pretty soon, I thought I'd read that MS were abandoning it ?

Unquote - wish I could work out how to do it properly

According to Computer Active rag, Microsoft have extended support for XP until 2012

[Edited on 2/8/08 by Macbeast]

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martyn_16v

posted on 2/8/08 at 09:08 AM Reply With Quote
Microsoft extended support because HP/Dell etc kicked up a massive fuss about XP being dropped as they were still selling so many copies

Security updates will continue for ages, MS are still releasing them for w2000...






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tegwin

posted on 2/8/08 at 09:15 AM Reply With Quote
on the MS website it states that XP will no longer be sold from June 30th 2008 but that it will be supported until 2014....

I just cant believe there is not more choice....im sure we didnt have this issue when XP came out as an upgrade for win 2K/ME





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BenB

posted on 2/8/08 at 09:44 AM Reply With Quote
If you can't get a downgrade then can't you just use an XP DVD and an XP serial key!?!?! Our local tip is full of old computers (mostly XP now) with their XP key stickers still on the side
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the_fbi

posted on 2/8/08 at 10:18 AM Reply With Quote
XP (along with 2K, NT4, 98, 95, 3.11, DOS) can still be purchased through the Embedded channel from M$ so updates/patches are still being released even though the OEM/Retail channels can't buy (or more correctly M$ aren't selling through them) OS's below Vista any more.

The Embedded channel is supported way way longer than Retail/OEM (hence we can still buy DOS/NT4/etc) so have no worries about long term support for XP.

(please also note that I don't mean Embedded as in XPe (XP Embedded), I mean XP Pro via the Embedded channel, 2 totally different things).

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the_fbi

posted on 2/8/08 at 10:22 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by BenB
If you can't get a downgrade then can't you just use an XP DVD and an XP serial key!?!?! Our local tip is full of old computers (mostly XP now) with their XP key stickers still on the side

You can get a downgrade if you purchase Vista Business or Ultimate, this is the only legal route (and what you are supposed to do) to buying an XP Pro licence other than from an Embedded channel reseller (with hardware).

Reusing a licence from another PC (found at a tip/school/etc) isn't legal (unless it happens to be a Retail licence key which is very unlikely).

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BenB

posted on 2/8/08 at 10:39 AM Reply With Quote
I wasn't saying it was legal I was saying it would work!!!

Microsoft shot themselves in the foot majorly with Vista. It seems silly to have to upgrade to a majorly fast computer just to do the same things as XP will do on a basic spec computer. It's not as if Vista offers stuff that XP doesn't- the advantages of upgrade are slim especially when you have to switch off all the eye-candy.....

Then again the Mohave project experiment was amusing.....

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the_fbi

posted on 2/8/08 at 10:44 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by BenB
Then again the Mohave project experiment was amusing.....

Mojave

(ps. purely so people searching to know what you're talking about can find it, not because I'm an anal spellchecker).

[Edited on 2/8/08 by the_fbi]

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David Jenkins

posted on 2/8/08 at 10:51 AM Reply With Quote
You could buy a Dell laptop with Linux on it...

...sorry, someone had to post it!






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the_fbi

posted on 2/8/08 at 11:00 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
You could buy a Dell laptop with Linux on it...

...sorry, someone had to post it!

Then we'd have the KDE vs. Gnome thread instead

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Hellfire

posted on 3/8/08 at 08:57 AM Reply With Quote
Isn't this the problem with all things that are not thought out well enough. You spend 90% of your time fixing the faults because it hasn't been tested properly, but rather than do this you design an updated system. Just as "your customer" is getting to grips with all the problems of the old system, the new one is released. Why not, just extensively TEST the bloody thing (OS) properly in the first place, rather than do it on the cheap by getting joe public to test it for you.

Bill Gates was a mediocre salesman with more than his share of luck - period. I see it with most half arsed salespeople, go for the sale bugger the consequences...

Steve






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JamJah

posted on 4/8/08 at 02:00 AM Reply With Quote
second to novatech!

they will factory build with xp, might just be a lagg of a day or two instead of stock. check their website might be wrong!!!





This is personal advise or personal opinion.
Constructive comments gratefully recieved, picking is left for noses.

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