Windows XP?

[Danlikebooks 6]

Can you still buy a Desktop with Windows XP on it?  I read somewhere that it was discontinued at the end of January... or something like that.  Can someone please help?  My dad is paranoid about anything new and he wants a new computer, but with XP on it.

[hyped_up_boy 15]

I believe that it's possible, but you'd have to check with whatever store or company you're buying it from. All netbooks come with Windows XP, I think. Usually, the problem with buying a new computer with XP is that drivers or other updates might not work.

[hym 358]

All netbooks come with Windows XP, I think.quote>

That's incorrect. If the netbook comes with 1GB of RAM or more, Microsoft says that it must use Vista. If it comes with less than 1GB, the manufacturer is allowed to install XP on the machine.

[hyped_up_boy 15]

Ah, didn't know that. Thanks for correcting me on that lol

[Danlikebooks 6]

So I can't get one over 1 GB RAM? Well more than that is kind of a necessity these days. Anyone else know where I can get one with more than 1 GB RAM?

[Jezus53 18]

Well, you can get a desktop with less than 1 GB of RAM on it and get Xp, then upgrade the RAM yourself. It's not that hard. If you don't want to do that, I think Dell and HP still do it if you go on their site and select computers with XP.

[Easy Bakes 253]

There are still copys of XP out there.

Buy what you want and then get a copy of XP.

[hym 358]

Originally posted by: Easy Bakes There are still copys of XP out there.

Buy what you want and then get a copy of XP.quote>

That may or may not work.  Commercially produced computers, especially laptops, suffer from a tendency to have their drivers effectively locked down to that OS.  By that I mean that the drivers are for custom hardware and thus not available elsewhere, or they are available elsewhere, but are more trouble than they are worth.  I had that happen with my last laptop.  It came loaded with Media Center 2005.  I tried installing XP Pro on it, and when it was done installing, it couldn't access the internet.  Did some troubleshooting and found out that XP knew the network card was there, but XP's entire driver library wasn't compatible with it.  Wound up having to just reinstall Media Center because there was no realistically feasible way to get the necessary drivers to access the internet.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Originally posted by: hym

Originally posted by: Easy Bakes There are still copys of XP out there.

Buy what you want and then get a copy of XP.quote>

That may or may not work.  Commercially produced computers, especially laptops, suffer from a tendency to have their drivers effectively locked down to that OS.  By that I mean that the drivers are for custom hardware and thus not available elsewhere, or they are available elsewhere, but are more trouble than they are worth.  I had that happen with my last laptop.  It came loaded with Media Center 2005.  I tried installing XP Pro on it, and when it was done installing, it couldn't access the internet.  Did some troubleshooting and found out that XP knew the network card was there, but XP's entire driver library wasn't compatible with it.  Wound up having to just reinstall Media Center because there was no realistically feasible way to get the necessary drivers to access the internet.quote>

 

Borrow a wireless card to load drivers?

[hym 358]

That's not a bad idea except there are still major problems with it.

1) Good luck going online and finding drivers you can trust. Most laptops sport custom everything, from the hard drive to the RAM to the network adapters, so only the OEM and the parts manufacturers are likely to have the required drivers. And due to licensing agreements, they aren't likely to be very forthcoming in providing you the needed drivers.

2) In the case of my laptop, it wouldn't mean diddly squat that you had someone else's wireless card. XP gave me a nice little error message saying that it knew the adapter was there, but couldn't find compatible drivers. And because it couldn't find working drivers, XP couldn't configure it's own TCP/IP stack manager, meaning even if the computer could have accessed the internet, it wouldn't have done anyone any good as XP didn't know how to deal with the data it was receiving.

One of the problems with buying OEM machines is that the OEM's have the knowledge to ensure that average users can only modify the machine so much, and, because of licensing agreements, they are either forced or encouraged to restrict what the user can do with the machine.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Originally posted by: hym That's not a bad idea except there are still major problems with it.

1) Good luck going online and finding drivers you can trust. Most laptops sport custom everything, from the hard drive to the RAM to the network adapters, so only the OEM and the parts manufacturers are likely to have the required drivers. And due to licensing agreements, they aren't likely to be very forthcoming in providing you the needed drivers.

2) In the case of my laptop, it wouldn't mean diddly squat that you had someone else's wireless card. XP gave me a nice little error message saying that it knew the adapter was there, but couldn't find compatible drivers. And because it couldn't find working drivers, XP couldn't configure it's own TCP/IP stack manager, meaning even if the computer could have accessed the internet, it wouldn't have done anyone any good as XP didn't know how to deal with the data it was receiving.

One of the problems with buying OEM machines is that the OEM's have the knowledge to ensure that average users can only modify the machine so much, and, because of licensing agreements, they are either forced or encouraged to restrict what the user can do with the machine.quote>

 

Thats why i never buy OEM machines.

[SC4 meister 7]

Like I said, I built my own. I gave in and bought a HP laptop for summer in 07, (was going to be living away from home-no desktop). After I finished in 08, I sold it. OEM= crap

[Boggy1 45]

Just buy it from a small family-run store or business. That's what we do. They can put XP on it, and the local one near me refuses to sell any PC with Vista on it. It also means that you don't have to travel very far if the thing breaks down, and you can also often get a discount on repairs.

[hym 358]

Originally posted by: Boggy1 Just buy it from a small family-run store or business. That's what we do. They can put XP on it, and the local one near me refuses to sell any PC with Vista on it. It also means that you don't have to travel very far if the thing breaks down, and you can also often get a discount on repairs.quote>

That isn't an option for millions of Americans.  If you're building your own (or getting a non-OEM computer), then you can probably get XP to work.  If not, then it's up for debate.  And if you're buying a laptop/netbook, you almost have to buy an OEM machine, as they have near total control over the market.

[Jezus53 18]

I'm sorry, but I'm just curious on what OEM stands for. It looks familiar, but I'm just drawing blanks.

[Barbarossa 51]

.

  Edited September 7, 2012 by Barbarossa  

[panthersimcity4 162]

I wish I would have thought of that. But I'm stuck with Vista now...

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Originally posted by: panthersimcity4 I wish I would have thought of that. But I'm stuck with Vista now...

quote>

"It ain't necessarily so." If you don't know this quote, go find it.  Cynicism is good.

You have the choice of wiping your hard drive and moving to any O/S that will work.  I suggest the Linux family.  I switched to Ubuntu over a year ago, I I haven't run XP (dual booted) in several months.  In fact, I have been thinking of formatting its disk and using the space for graphics stuff.