Ok got the young lady lurker a laptop and it runs vista.
Not its not the fastest laptop around and it only has a gig of ram so its running real real slow
What I want to know is can I just install XP over vista or is it as some one told me next to impossible to do that?
Now don't get over tech with me cause Im not all that good with the OS side of things. thanks for looking in.

Blue

i have heard that when you order the comp its best to have xp installed on it... thats not your case so i think you can repartition the drive and install xp that way but not install over an existing copy of vista. hope that helps

yeah did think of that but she wants vista gone
It snot treating her nice as she puts it.
I dont like it all that much either but I will say on a laptop is slows the thing right down.
Thanks but the more I read the more difficult his sounds...

Vista is indeed a resource hog. I would probably install it on my PC (I currently have Vista Ultimate, came on the machine) but I am morbidly afraid of what I've heard about having to manually collect all the drivers and other BS that I have neither the will nor desire to do.

My solution was to bump it to 4GB RAM from 2, although Vista 32 can only use like 3.2GB worth. It is still a lot more speedy, though.

Unless it came with an ' XP downgrade cd' as quite a few Vista laptops do. I'd guess it would be quite a hassle getting all the drivers. Tofu would know for sure. Ram is fairly cheap atm though, so maybe bump it up a bit.
I got Vista Ultimate and runs super fast on my system, but I got 8GB (yes 8!) of RAM.

64 bit....I was considering it, but I always hear about everyone moaning about compatibility issues? Is there really that big a problem? I mean, I hear just as much griping about regular Vista, and I really haven't had any compatibility issues with it so far, and I use a lot of obscure software.

Yeah, get a few things that won't run on it. Autocad (which I use for work) I can't get running. Tried 2006 and 2008....both won't work/install. 2009 will run, but Autodesk want to sell it to me for $7000! I'll just use my old comp for drawings I guess. Basically, I haven't too much stuff installed. It's a bit of a lottery really. Installed some video converter (that I used to run on XP) a couple of hours ago. It installed, but played up big time.
Live and learn I suppose, but I am getting used to Vista and it really couldn't be any faster. I don't think Vista could even read 4Gb of RAM, so I guess I'm 'future proofed' for a little while at least.

Someone call? You can downgrade to XP but it means wiping the drive and reinstalling. You will probably have to order the downgrade CD though. Not many are including them unless you specifically request it at order (afaik). Contact customer support for the laptop and demand the downgrade.

As for drivers you shouldn't have any problems. It's tougher to find Vista drivers than it is to find XP drivers.

Also heed Brad's words. Max the RAM now. You'll just end up wishing you did later. (Just realize that XP can only use 4GB efficiently and after that it's a wash).