Where can I find decent laptop...xp or vista?

Mainly doing word proc, surfing net, listening to music, but want best spec poss for the money. AM really unseure whether to go with Vista, or seek an xp system...help please!!
Where can I find decent laptop...xp or vista?
used one and cheap? cragslist.org or ebay
Where can I find decent laptop...xp or vista?
I got my Toshiba latptop from PC World about 3 months ago for 拢399. It's got a 120GB harddrive and comes with Vista. Really good thing. It's probably come down a little in price since then!
Reply:The computer that matching for your needs is XP.
Reply:urgh! id say get xp. vista has alot of errors and compatibility issues and they have changed alot. when i first got vista i couldnt figure out how to show hidden folders coz it was under the drop down menus anymore its so confusing! and also in vista you have a folder that is your user name with "documents" "pictures" "videos" and "music" folders in it where as in xp there isnt really a dominant username file and "my pictures" "my videos" and "my music"are under "my documents" instead which is quite confusing at first too. then again its always best to have the newest in technology and i guess the compatibility issues will eventually be worked outif you can be bothered waiting for them, though i they annoy me alot, i cant even play my old games on them like the sims2
Reply:Vista has problems, partly because it is too large, bloated and buggy for the machines that can run it. And partly support by the manufacturers out there which have been slow to pick up the support issues.





For what you want I would say XP, under Vista licencing you can request to downgrade to XP as some shops tell you they don't stock XP anymore. Microsoft have had to backtrack numerous times to continue supporting XP as Vista is not being taken up by business because of the issues with it. (and there are many)





For a laptop with Vista you need at least 2 GB, RAM. A law suit in America is taking to task the "Vista ready stickers" as they are usually under performing PC's that can only run the basic Vista, without the fancy stuff turned on. If they are turned off it is pretty much Xp to a normal user.





Otherwise you would do okay with a 1 GB RAM, 40 or 60 GB minimum hard drive (unless you intend to store music) and for some kind of future proofing (Will last you a few years) I would suggest a dual core, which are not that expensive now for AMD cores.





Depending on your budget I would suggest a speed for the CPU as around 2.0 GHZ or bigger assuming it is dual core. If not then go for something above 3.0 GHZ single core. (ask at the shop and they can explain)





Graphics I would reccommend for Vista that it is 128 AGP minimum, don't get a built in graphics chip (called integrated by some shops) if you want Vista, it won't cut it in the real world.





For Xp then 64MB integrated will do for what you suggest (Though I still reccommend an AGP card or PCI card for single cores of 128MB it takes the hassle of graphics away from your CPU.)





Brands, HP are the biggest, then Dell then Acer and IBM and toshiba are 4 and 5 (not sure which order)





Shops, go for the ones you trust. Ebuyer.co.uk, laptopsdirect.co.uk. Pc world I wouldn't recommend as their IT support is known to be dubious and there sales people can easily be proved inadequate when pushed for questions.





But shop around and you can get good deals for Pc's and good prices as well.





BOOTNOTE - Vistas replacement is being scheduled for 2009 / 2010, called Windows 7 at the moment. So might be worth getting XP and hanging on to the next one.
Reply:Go to the Dell website and choose laptops for business, they are better spec than the personal models and are less money. All the laptops are fully customizable with either XP or Vista.


I'd recommend getting Vista, It'll be necessary to have it in a couple of years so you might as well just get it now.