Back to Windows XP - Which version should I choose?

[Jim66]

Hello all,

I'm currently using a Lenovo X200 which runs Windows 7 professional. While I don't really mind this opperating system, there are a few things that really grind my gears (e.g., the amount of crap loaded onto the OS that I don't want).

Now... recently, I have been working on a PC which runs a stripped down version of Windows XP and I must say that I have totally fallen for XP again. I like it so much that I have decided that I'm going to get a copy and install it on my laptop.

Great; but, I want to ask a couple of questions to make sure that I'm not setting myself up for a headache.

1). Which version of XP is the best if I want a stripped down version? I'm going to be recording EEG signals and button presses that need to be recorded as accurately as possible; don't want loads of crap running in the background. Is professional the least bloaty? Was SP3 the last version released?

2). Is it worth getting the 64 bit version?

3). If I get an OEM version am I going to struggle to find the drivers for my laptop hardware?

4). Am I going to experience problems trying to run new programs on XP? Do developers produce software with XP in mind?

I think that is about it? Have I missed any other pitfalls?

Thanks in advance,

Jim.

P.s., sorry for the retarded questions.

[Malphas]

1.) TinyXP, I guess.  Or it might be better to use nLite to strip out the things you want yourself.

2). Nah, too many headaches and incompatibilities.

3.) Shouldn't make any difference as far as I'm aware, the only major difference is the activation, not the drivers.  Unless I'm missing something, I might be misunderstanding the question here.

4.) Everything still runs fine on XP so far, besides some Microsoft stuff.

[Jim66]

Thanks, I'm having a look at TinyXP now.

I take it TinyXP somehow bypasses the serial? Does anyone else have any experience of using it? Does it get blocked by microsoft after a while?

[alaricljs]

Make sure that all the important laptop stuff for your system is compatible with XP.  It sucks when you have no intelligent battery and cpu management.

[Ekaros]

Not reacent experience with x64-version, but when I tested it out there wasn't many drivers out so 32bit is only option. Also you can only choose either Home or Professional...

[Jim66]

What's the main difference between home and professional?

[alaricljs]

The only thing I remember clearly is Home has gimped file sharing.

[DaemonRaccoon]

64-bit Windows XP is terrible and only came in Professional Edition. If you don't like the crap in Windows 7 try Server 2008 R2, it's the same as 7 with all the crap stripped out.

[Malphas]

I wouldn't advice using XP in this day and age, frankly.  I can't think what crap Windows 7 comes with that you can't just disable, or that isn't there for good reason.

[peda]

I would also take a Linux distribution into consideration.

As long as you don't game (that much) , cut videos or produce music you should be fine. (and even then wine should be sufficient. )

I can't see any good reason to use such an outdated os as xp is.

[suprsmo]

As usual, The Dude is on the money!

Fresh install of windows7 32/64 bit FTW. and on a seperate partition.. or as Ripschter suggests, an SSD

[enoy21]

What's the main difference between home and professional?

The biggest difference I found in Home and Professional was the level of management you had.  

For instance , in Home there is no option to "Manage" users and groups through the mmc console.  I believe there were a few things lacking for networking management in the home version as well.    I don't think there is any real difference in the preloaded applications.

You could always look into slipstreaming  to add/remove items before install if you dislike manually removing them after the install.


Any pre-built system that family buys ( as I don't buy I build ) I always .... ALWAYS recommend that they reload so fresh and so clean clean  to avoid all the preloaded **** that destroys system performance.  I also always reccomend that they immediately buy more memory than a laptop generally comes with.  I can't tell you how many times I saw Vista machines with 1GB of memory and 75 items in the startup process ..... and people wondered why  their system felt " sluggish"

[keyboardlover]

File sharing is all kinds of f**ked up in the Home version.

Even if you try to share a networked printer, you're going to run into headaches. Go for Pro.

[Multiple]

Good choice going with XP, works great on thinkpads but I don't think all the drivers from lenovo are available for 64bit, so ask if you really need >4GB.

Not sure how you're going to record your signals, maybe you have custom hardware for this, or perhaps you'll just plug-in directly(w/o amp/resistance) into your soundcard line-in and hit the record button?

[EverythingIBM]

Okay here's the facts:
XP Home doesn't have a few things, like being able to use remote desktop.
XP x64 is very temperamental and doesn't like a lot of drivers.

Personally I use XP Home x86 for my audio workstation, it works great and there's no issues.

XP is older for sure, but, it's still compatible with virtually everything (minus the newer versions of internet explorer)

And I wouldn't install linux on the X200; there's no official drivers for the hardware (trackpoint etc), and, replacing your windows software with linux equivalents could be annoying.

[Lanx]

if i wasn't for my ssd i'd still be running xp, foget the reason why win7 is better for ssd tho...

[alaricljs]

Win7 has TRIM and knows enough to disable defrag and disk optimization.

[flyball]

reinstall win7