Can geek squad change my operating system to XP from vista?

i'm thinking about buying a new gateway laptop, i don't want to have vista on it though, my dad's laptop has vista and i don't like it. so i was wondering, if i buy a new laptop then can i take it to geek squad at my best buy near me and can they change the operating system? if you know, about how much would it cost if they can?Can geek squad change my operating system to XP from vista?
You can do it on some notebooks. If you really want to run XP, the short version of how to do it is below. To make sure you can run Windows XP on it, you need to purchase a notebook with Centrino or Centrino Pro technology - as most of the other notebooks today will not work with Windows XP due to driver availability.



The first step is to purchase a copy of Windows XP. With 2 GB or more of RAM, I would recomend Professional due to its memory management, but Home works as well. You will need to purchase the full version, which goes for $199 for Home and $299 for Professional.



Next, create the recovery CD for your laptop. Gateway notebooks come with an OS DVD, but you will need to have the Drivers and Applications DVD (which you must make seperately) for your computer if you ever need to go to Vista in the future (which you will).



Using the Windows XP CD, boot off of it and load the operating system. After this, download and install all of the drivers for your computer. Gateway will not supply these, so you must think out of the box to do it. Intel will have many of them available, but you may have to get some from Dell or other manufacturers to get the rest of the computer working. You will want to have a second computer and a flash drive to do this - some of it is trial and error.



After ALL of this, you then need to go purchase a DVD player (WinDVD, PowerDVD or similar) to play DVDs. Burning software such as Sonic or Nero to burn CDs and DVDs, and some photo management and video editing software to replace what was already there on Vista. This will run you between $150 and $200.



If you want The Geek Squad to do the OS loading for you (and the really hard part, figuring out the drivers) it will cost you $129 for carry in a physical location (inside of a Best Buy, stand alone or other location).



So with a total cost of $350-$630, you end up with Windows XP on it.



The better question is, why do you want to load XP on it? Unless you have a specific incompatible program that you can't live without, it's really not worthwhile. Windows Vista has a lower failure rate, a lower error rate, uses less power and given sufficient hardware (which you will probably have) will run faster after it has been allowed to optimize itself (leave it on overnight one night a week for a month). Also, going forward, you will need to change to Vista anyway if you want to continue using newer and newer acessories and hardware.



At the end of the day though, it's your computer and your money.Can geek squad change my operating system to XP from vista?
Yes they can! However comma it will cost you and the price isnt worth it. Ensure you have Service Pack 1, its not perfect yet but it has many fixes. Unless most of the applications you have are XP friendly and not Vista compatible then going back in time would be worth it, but if not, stick with Vista and again, Service Pack 1--Service Pack 2 is brewing.Can geek squad change my operating system to XP from vista?
Sorry, but service pack 3 resolves a lot of hardware compatible issues, both for Windows XP and Windows Vista. Computer wise try to find a manufacturer that still offers Windows XP. I just bought a new Dell that has Windows XP Installed on it.Can geek squad change my operating system to XP from vista?
Odds are that they will not %26quot;down-grade%26quot; you to XP. With that being said, if you're able to get a copy of XP than you can install it on you're computer.





http://www.computerworld.com/action/arti



That site should help.Can geek squad change my operating system to XP from vista?
Some of the newer laptops do not have drivers written that work with XP. You may want to check out Dell they offer new laptops that have the option of using XP as the operating system.Can geek squad change my operating system to XP from vista?
easiest way is to get their number and just call



Most of the Vista computers now are not made with hardware that is compatible with XP, so i really dont think your gonna be able to do it with a brand new pw built for vista