thinking about getting a cheapo vista laptop and installing xp

[OBLAMA2009]

i want a cheap laptop ($400 range) to just websurf and check email at starbucks. of course $400 laptops are really crappy if they are running vista but pretty good if running xp (t2000 series chip and 1 gig memory would be fine for xp). im wondering though if most such laptops with vista are xp compatible. has anyone done this (bought a cheapo vista laptop) and installed xp and had no problems? if so what laptop do you have?

would there be any reason not to do this? are $400 laptops particularly junky or are they cheap just because they have slower chips and less memory?

 

[Billb2]

Just check that all the drivers (chipset/video/network card/etc.) for Xp are available before you buy.

The problem won't be that the lappy can't run XP, but that you can't get the drivers you need for it.

$200-XP used > $400-Vista new though, for what you want.
Hell. I bought an IBM 600 (PII) for $25 and put XP on it and it does what you want to do.
I use it when I travel, for web/email/pictures. Lost/stolen/dropped ... \/ $25!

 

[RESmonkey]

I'm also looking for a cheapo laptop, and am browsing Slickdeals.

 

[slugg]

what about one of the new "netbook" class laptops? like the asus eee or msi wind

 

[OBLAMA2009]

in my opinion they are too expensive for what you get

 

[OBLAMA2009]

eepc and wind are 500-600 with a slow chip and i heard the wifi chips on them arent stable

 

[RESmonkey]

netbooks aren't suited for college.

 

[quizzelbuck]

Probably going to have to dell your selves. Dell is, as far as ive seen, the best when it comes to making available XP driver on what are sold as vista machines. Check out dell, find a note book you like, then check it out under XP driver downloads.