Laptops

[Quackers]

Anybody else finding it harder and harder to get laptops that come with either XP or have XP Drivers on the website for them?

I'm currently looking around, and saw those Dell Inspiron's that come in different colours. Great i thought, 1 colour for 1 laptop trolley, another colour for another one etc so they can be quickly see which trolley they belong in.

Comes with Vista. No problem i thought, just do the usual, format, install XP so i checked the dell site first, and no XP Drivers for that model so contact Dell, tell them i'm interested in these, but i need XP support, reply is a big fat NO, cannot be bought with XP, will not provide XP Drivers.

Quite like the HP 530's, got a few as staff laptops. Again come with Vista but we just format and install XP, but they are not suitable for in a laptop trolley as the soundcards in them do not agree with Dance Ejay and thats with every driver i can find.


So anybody got any recommendations for some laptops that the maker has XP drivers available for ? Also a larger capacity battery would be good!

[kmount]

We've not had any problems with HP 6720s' which come with Vista along with the downgrade kit.

[TronXP]

Lenovo, still do XP drivers, I am about to order 20 and just checked there website and they do XP drivers for them.

[flashsnaps]

Yeah we've been doing the same thing this week, getting rid of VISTA, and whacking XP on them. We haven't struggled yet - fujitsu-siemens, Acer = have all stocked the XP Drivers. But I can imagine as new machines come out manufacturers will stop producing xp drivers soon or later

I would check if the drivers are available before going ahead and buying!

[Quackers]

We've not had any problems with HP 6720s' which come with Vista along with the downgrade kit.

They look nice, (until kids get there grubby hands on them ) . How long are the 6 Cell Batterys holding up in them?

[craiglay]

As kmount said, i just got a load of HP 6720s laptops with Vista Business and downloaded the XP drivers. I think Stone offer something similar (county supplied)

[Joanne]

We have toshiba Satallite L30's. seem to be ok and have xp drivers

[CPLTD]

Lenovo, still do XP drivers, I am about to order 20 and just checked there website and they do XP drivers for them.

Lenovo are a superb laptop for build quality and functionality, do you mind me asking what model your are ordering and at what price as it would be nice to see if we can save you some money TronXP

[Geoff]

Again, HPs here too. No issue downgrading them.

[TronXP]

Lenovo are a superb laptop for build quality and functionality, do you mind me asking what model your are ordering and at what price as it would be nice to see if we can save you some money TronXP

They are R61i mfr# NF0FDUK, All our suppliers are getting special pricing from Lenovo, so don't expect to get pricing back for a few days. Off the shelf price we have a price of £530 ex VAT so I would expect to knock at least £30-50 off that price from previous experience. We are asking our suppliers to include 3 year onsite warranty and a lenovo branded bag into the deal.

[flashsnaps]

Again, HPs here too. No issue downgrading them.

I feel like I am upgrading!

[elsiegee40]

I've bought 1 HP and 2 Toshiba Satellite Pros recently... the HP had XP Pro and the "upgrade" to XP Pro with supplied disks on the Toshiba was very straightforward.

[srochford]

Comes with Vista. No problem i thought, just do the usual, format, install XP so i checked the dell site first, and no XP Drivers for that model so contact Dell, tell them i'm interested in these, but i need XP support, reply is a big fat NO, cannot be bought with XP, will not provide XP Drivers.

can't be absolutely sure about this model but quite a few of the Dell machines do have XP drivers - it's just that Dell don't support them.

The last Inspirons we had (about 9 months ago) didn't officially have XP drivers but actually the drivers labelled as "Vista" worked fine.

Probably better to go with a company which does offer what you want up-front - as you can see there are plenty of alternatives.

I personally have a Lenovo which I love :-)

[OutToLunch]

Still at least 80 on Misco with XP Pro installed - do quite like their site as you can drill down by the OS installed first then do the usual price limits etc...

[Pete10141748]

I know they are a pricier than some, but a lot of RM's kit comes with the option of XP Pro downgraded from Vista Business or just a plain install of XP Pro SP2.