need a decent laptop -- suggestions?

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So I need a new laptop and have some questions.

If I buy a laptop with Vista on it, how do I switch to windows xp? Can I just use a disk that came with my current laptop? Is it easy to do? Would I have to buy xp?

Secondly, what brand(s) would you suggest / not suggest? Something at $1000 or less. The laptop will need to be able to run Sims 3 so needs good graphics card, etc.

Thank you.

Depending where you get one from, I would try asking to have Windows XP pre-installed. If second hand then sourcing a disk shouldn't be too hard. The problem with laptops is the fact they have downgraded graphics compared to their big brother equivalents

okay: you could buy mine: PM Seb for all details

will in the and not prove practicable, though

nothing is impossible, but is explicitely ordered non-Vista, ending up Vistaed

we have proven HP wrong, Seb and me, it IS possible to get another OS on the computer, but it ain' t easy,
and XP laptops simply were NOT available first hand, new

in desktop, it is quite easy to still get XP, as you get yourself Vista-downgradable (this might come at added cost around $100

we did not want to return to XP necessarily, now that i had Vista and seemed to be well... vaguely finding my way...
and i wanted to go Linux anyway - so i would not matter that much

which is why i got in touch with Seb so ubuntu&firefox for me;
however, after finally getting instable Vista under control we prepared to go ubuntu, and maybe even upgrade Vista to WinBeta7, to have a look around by the time i could be considered reliable enough in ubuntu only

no internet settings defined yet therein, i hit what proved the wrong button (left with only one choice i thought)

and found myself out of communication

we will still repair the laptop, it is available actually, but not yet

we are now working on the dualCore 64bits desktop i decided i should have bought anyway; and get that&me going dual-boot - only then start repairing the laptop (which cost me $800)
- brand new HPCompaq Presario CX-140

But contact Seb, he can tell you all about it! Just ask hum to get into this thread, if he wont already...

SebbieRules!/[email protected]

Don't ever buy a laptop from a store like Best Buy. All the laptops there have those crappy onboard Intel "video cards".
You need to customize one at the manufacturer's website. If you're going for under $1000 though, good luck with finding a laptop that has dedicated graphics. Dell XPS's are coming with GeForce 8600GT's (still) for around $1100 with 32bit Home Premium and a HP Pavilion with a 17" inch screen comes with a GeForce 9600GT for around $1200 with 64bit Vista Ultimate. Those two also come with Core 2 Duo's and 4 GB RAM.
About XP, if you already have a disc and a key that still can be activated, all you need to do is partition your hard drive and install XP on the fresh partition.

I got my laptop from Bestbuy, and it has an ATI Radeon card.

A computer able to handle the Sims 3 and be under $1000... good luck on that. Sims 3 isn't by any means going to have high system requirements but even looking at laptops with low end 3d-gaming capable video cards, you're probably already going to be looking at over $1000.

Gah. Well, is it true you can buy an Alienware laptop and pay monthly? Has anyone done that before?

I don't know if anyone of you in this thread has ever heard about DriverHeaven. For me I have experienced their reviews of powersupplys to hold very good quality, but they also do reviews on other things including laptops.

Check this out!

I myself like to read a lot and hate bad commercials, so the above link clearly goes into facts and details about different models which I think can be of interest in this thread. What do you think?

I've heard rumours that if you buy a new Vista machine now, you'll be able to upgrade to Windows 7 for free when the final release is made. That might be the way to go, since XP is getting rather long in the tooth.

quick newegg search:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834220459

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834220488