Microsoft plans to take XP off the shelves on 30 June this year. Although there's been precedent for extending deadlines a number of times in the past (it took a long time to kill off Windows 98), it still sets a time limit within which you can pick up a copy of XP without a lot of hassle. Even now the stocks are starting to dwindle, and people will eventually be limited to eBay.
So how do you get Windows XP preinstalled on your laptop instead of Vista? Sadly unless you're buying a business class machine, by and large you can't -- most come with some flavour of Vista. As laptop lines are refreshed, even XP-based business laptops will slowly dwindle away. Currently Dell is the only remaining vendor including XP on some of its consumer range.
Fortunately a lot of vendors are including a Windows XP restore CD with their laptops -- a CD you can boot from to wipe out Vista and install XP. Microsoft is offering this program for machines with Vista Ultimate and Business installed until 31 January, 2009, although it us up to the vendor as to whether they support this and to what extent.
The recovery CD completely wipes all existing data, so don't expect anything to survive. Burn your important files to disc or copy to an external drive beforehand.
If your vendor hasn't included a Vista install DVD with your laptop, you'll want to create a Vista recovery DVD as well -- the process for this will be different depending on the vendor, and most bundle a tool to do the job. Some will already provide a recovery partition on your hard drive, that is accessed by the recovery CD -- so make this isn't deleted when installing XP!
Microsoft will support consumer versions of XP until 14 April 2009, and security updates will continue to be provided until 8 April, 2014.
Below is a table of the current laptops offered on the market with XP as an option, as well as the particular brand's downgrade policy. Please note this may change as new models are offered and old ones reach end of life.
| Brand | Laptops with preinstalled XP option | XP downgrade policy |
| Acer | TravelMate 7720, 5720, 6942, 6592, 6292; Extensa 5220, 5620, 5620G, 5620Z |
Vista Business equipped Travelmate laptops come with an XP recovery CD. |
| ASUS | F3E | Selected Vista Business and Ultimate models come with an XP recovery CD: F3E |
| Dell | Inspiron 1520; XPS M1730; Precision M2300, M4300, M6300; Lattitude D531, D530, D520, D830, D630, D630c, ATG D630, D430, XT Tablet; Vostro 1000, 1200, 1400, 1500 |
Option exists to downgrade on all Vista based Lattitude laptops. |
| Fujitsu | None | All Vista laptops come with an XP recovery CD. |
| HP | Compaq 2210b (KF094PA), 2510p (GP137PA), 2710p (GP141PA), tc4400 Tablet PC (RM735PA), 6710b (GY259PS, GY261PS, GY263PS), 6910p (GP104PA, GM903PA), nc8430 (RM738PA, RM762PA), 8510p (GT51PA, GT53PA), 8510w (GT645PA), 8710p (GT647PA), 8710w (GT649PA) | Selected Vista Business models come with an XP recovery CD (essentially the Vista equivalents of the models on the left). |
| Lenovo | 3000 N, V; Thinkpad R61 (8932A19), T61 (7664A11, 7664A18) |
All Vista laptops come with an XP recovery CD. |
| Sony | None | Vista Business/Ultimate Editions may be downgraded. Users will need to contact Microsoft during the downgrade process and explain that they are downgrading to XP Pro, and an activation key will be provided. |
| Toshiba | None | Selected Vista Business models come with an XP recovery CD: Portege M600 PPM60A-05F01D, Portege R500 PPR50A-00V05C, PPR50A-SP105C; Tecra M9 PTM90A-08P03H, PTM91A-0EY04L, PTM91A-0E104L, PTM91A-05504L; Tecra A9 S52A-0CU03F, PTS52A-0CW03F, P5 PTS53A-06003X; Tecra P5 PTS53A-05H03X, PTS53A-05Y03X |
Segway
02/03/2008 01:19 PM
Just the fact that this article was even written is a testiment to Vista not being ready for prime time. If I wanted a MAC, I'd buy one. Don't get me wrong, I"m not a MS hater, but forcing comsumers to buy new hardware with a buggy OS is criminal. It's the pink elephant in the room. You know it, I know it, computer manufacturers know it, even MS knows it. Kudos to CNET for stepping up to the plate and at least informing consumers of their options. Don't buy a new computer running Vista unless you're willing to give up the true potential of your new computer due to lack of preperation on MS's part. Insist on XP buy only buying computers with the downgrade option. If and when you need to call MS to get your XP key, let them know what you really think about Vista. We need new blood in the OS department. Anyone know of a better OS that will still run MS apps?
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Helper
12/03/2008 05:45 PM
I use Vista and I'm not a fan. XP is much better. There's a new system called ReactOS which is based on Windows architecture, although I don't know when it will be ready for the general public (www.reactos.org). Some Linux distributions are good these days (I use Ubuntu - www.ubuntu.com) and have a simple emulator called Wine, and you can even install Windows in Linux using an emulator. Hope this helps.
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dacarrison
13/04/2008 05:50 PM
I am a happy Vista user. I've had it for a couple of months. If you run it on a decent System (Dual-core processor (not Pentium Dualcore or Sempron Dualcore, if such a thing exists), 1GB RAM, Intel X3100 Graphics or better), it works a treat. My sister, whom was a a bit sceptical about Vista got a laptop with it on it, and it works a treat for her as well. And she's a graphic designer, and runs Photoshop and InDesign at once with huge documents on a regular basis, and it still works fine! Vista is not Buggy (Excluding Basic, of course). It's the manufacturers who are to bame, trying to trick us into thinking that a Celeron D with 512MB of RAM with Vista Basic (<laughs heartily>) passes as a computer these days. It doesn't.
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