Which laptop should I downgrade to XP?

[furzball]

As I've gone through reviews and such it appears that XP is still by far the best windows system. The only thing is at least for my Acer Extensa 4420 it's hard to downgrade to XP due to drivers and such. I've downgraded it once before and tested oblivion on it, and it ran sweetly. I'm curious as to how Fallout 3 will run on it.

 

I also have the new Sony VAIO VGN-NW23SF I think. It was whatever one for the black friday deal at Best Buy. It is running windows 7. Which is alittle better then vista in my books, in terms of running standard stuff. Mainly web and all that. But I have been getting all sorts of errors trying to run Fallout3 and all that.

 

Anyways I'm wanting to downgrade either one or downgrade both. But would Fallout 3 work on XP? Also would Sins of a Solar Empire Work? Basically what I am going for is

1 laptop to be my "work" laptop, basically me writing stories, going online, writing code, etc. The acer seems obvious for this but with the Vaio I'm not sure if cause of the way it's set up is why it is tweaking my games. Oh and also here is my games list.

-Fallout 3

-Oblivion

-Sins of a Solar Empire

-Final Fantasy VII

-Final Fantasy VIII

-Second Life

Reason for these games is cause they are moddable and I'm working on some projects with them.

 

Anyways if I do downgrade how do I fix driver problems with XP not finding drivers. That's the problem I've had in the past where on my Acer, I could get my graphics, sound and basics working but not wireless. Would I be stuck with the same on my Vaio?

[CommanderCrazy]

They all work with XP.

I recommend keeping 7 for the 'work' laptop, and XP for games. Unless you want to play Just Cause 2. :thumbsup:

[furzball]

They all work with XP.

I recommend keeping 7 for the 'work' laptop, and XP for games. Unless you want to play Just Cause 2. :thumbsup:

So I shouldn't use the Vaio (2009) over my Acer(2008) as my gaming laptop. Is there reason to this? Also is Just Cause 2 any good? Is it Mod friendly? If not then I can do just fine without it.

[DarkWarrior45]

Windows XP will run all of those games without a problem. Windows XP is also a very solid operating system. And I do love good ole' XP.

 

But good luck getting newer drivers for it; your free-fall sensors will most likely NOT work with XP. You will not be able to load directx 11, from what I understand. You will not be able, unless you have 64bit edition, to use more than 3.5 Gigs of RAM. And you will have to deal with the constant security holes that Microsoft is about to stop releasing patches for because they are eventually going to discontinue support for XP and Vista if not already; XP is currently being overrun with spyware, malware, and other beasties.

 

I've been using windows 7 since the Beta, and let me tell you, an upgrade to windows 7 over XP for gaming is worth it. I've noticed that it runs just as fast as XP and is actually more stable. Yes it does use more RAM, but as long as you have adequate RAM that fact will not hinder performance. Plus it will have directx 11 support. In addition, if you have games that will not run on Windows 7, then 7 has an XP mode that can definitely play those older games.

[Vagrant0]

I've been using windows 7 since the Beta, and let me tell you, an upgrade to windows 7 over XP for gaming is worth it. I've noticed that it runs just as fast as XP and is actually more stable. Yes it does use more RAM, but as long as you have adequate RAM that fact will not hinder performance. Plus it will have directx 11 support. In addition, if you have games that will not run on Windows 7, then 7 has an XP mode that can definitely play those older games.

The fact that we're talking about a laptop here invalidates most of those conditions.

[CommanderCrazy]

Quick thing DarkWarrior, Just Cause 2 will not run on XP. It needs DX10 or higher.

 

To OP: I would use the Vaio for games. You wont be able to play them great, but its better in the long run.