Best Notebook with XP Pro pre-installed

[Karim]

Hello,

I need to buy a notebook that comes with XP Pro pre-installed on it
after having gone through a nightmare of upgrading an XP Home Edition
on a Toshiba Satellite A25-S207 to XP Pro. The modem and the sound
drivers stopped working and Toshiba won't provide any support on that
because altering the OS voids the warranty. I had to revert back to XP
home edition using the recovery disk and was able to sell the
notebook.

Now, I don't want to buy something with Home Edition then upgrade to
XP Pro and muck around with the different drivers. Is there any
recommendation for a specific notebook that comes with XP Pro? I found
some Dells and Toshiba in the $1400 range. My budget is not to exceed
$1600-$1700.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[Jim Macklin]

Look for a laptop with the features and price you want to
pay, use the on-line customization menus to select the OS
and software you want. Dell and Gateway, as well as Toshiba
and HP/Compaq offer these services. Don't buy from a store
off the shelf.


| Hello,
|
| I need to buy a notebook that comes with XP Pro
pre-installed on it
| after having gone through a nightmare of upgrading an XP
Home Edition
| on a Toshiba Satellite A25-S207 to XP Pro. The modem and
the sound
| drivers stopped working and Toshiba won't provide any
support on that
| because altering the OS voids the warranty. I had to
revert back to XP
| home edition using the recovery disk and was able to sell
the
| notebook.
|
| Now, I don't want to buy something with Home Edition then
upgrade to
| XP Pro and muck around with the different drivers. Is
there any
| recommendation for a specific notebook that comes with XP
Pro? I found
| some Dells and Toshiba in the $1400 range. My budget is
not to exceed
| $1600-$1700.
|
| Any help would be greatly appreciated.
|
| Thank you.

 

[Jonathan E. \(NZ\)]

I suspect this is not really a question for the Windows XP newsgroup...
What you are wanting to know is about what laptop to buy which has very
little to do with Win XP directly.
I would suggest you take a look at the many hardware review sites on the
net.
One I use is at cnet.com (look for their reviews section).
Or do a search on www.google.com for - laptop hardware review -
or - laptop computer reviews -
or something like that.


J

 

[Cari MS-MVP]

The drivers for modem and audio will be exactly the same for XP Pro as XP
Home and should be available on the Toshiba website. The reason they
haven't been installed is because the CD of XP doesn't include them and the
upgrade will have removed those that were there before.

Just go download them from Toshiba's website and install them.

Cari
www.coribright.com

 

[Rob Schneider]

Hello,

I need to buy a notebook that comes with XP Pro pre-installed on it
after having gone through a nightmare of upgrading an XP Home Edition
on a Toshiba Satellite A25-S207 to XP Pro. The modem and the sound
drivers stopped working and Toshiba won't provide any support on that
because altering the OS voids the warranty. I had to revert back to XP
home edition using the recovery disk and was able to sell the
notebook.

Now, I don't want to buy something with Home Edition then upgrade to
XP Pro and muck around with the different drivers. Is there any
recommendation for a specific notebook that comes with XP Pro? I found
some Dells and Toshiba in the $1400 range. My budget is not to exceed
$1600-$1700.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

As others said, this question really nothing to do with XP other than to
say the drivers for Home and Pro will be exactly the same.

Re Toshiba not providing support ... I re-read my documentation for my
Toshiba and doing an upgrade from XP Home (as bought) to XP Pro (upgrade
version bought off shelf) doesn't void warranty. It just means they
won't necessarily be able to help since they don't really have a way of
knowing what user did on the software. Warranty on the hardware still
valid.

If you are buying a new laptop simply to fix your XP Pro upgrade ... it
would have been better to work the problem here. Support here will be
better than Toshiba Telephone Support, in all probability. Toshiba's
support personnel's goal is to get you off the phone to declare
"success" as soon as possible.

(by the way ... I used Dell's for many years ... so far, I prefer my
Toshiba Satellite 1135 ... has lasted longer and more reliable than any
of the many Dell laptops used and traded due to one flaw or another.)