BleepingComputer.com: Can XP and Vista be on the same computer?

I ordered an HP g60t laptop with Vista Home Premium with SP1 (64-bit)
* Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T6400 (2.0GHz)
* 2MB L2 cache
* 800MHz front side bus
* 4GB DDR2 SDRAM (2 DIMM - shared)

I keep hearing daunting things about Vista. Is it possible to partition the hard drive and run XP on it? Or would that be nuts?

This post has been edited by taly: 10 March 2009 - 10:59 PM

Don't worry about Vista, many of the initial concerns are mostly moot now that SP1 is released. I say try it for a while, about a week or so, and if you don't like it, go back to XP. Vista has a free drive partitioning tool, unlike XP, that can partition out the drive so you can install XP in a dual boot configuration. Note that in April, Microsoft will be pulling XP from mainstream support and only critical security fixes will be released. Any functionality problems or enhancements will not be fixed and there will be no more XP service packs after April.

Thanks for the reassurance.

One more thing. Doesn't Vista require more power than XP? Wouldn't the computer run faster if I were to use the XP portion while turning off Vista?

taly, on Mar 11 2009, 09:41 AM, said:

First thing to do is track down all the XP drivers you would need. If you can't get drivers to run the machine on XP then it's a moot point. If you can, then burn 'em to a CD or store 'em on an external drive so you have 'em if you decide to put XP on. I got a PC with Vista 32 bit before SP1 and it was quite a bit of work to quiet the HD down. My 2nd Vista PC is 64 bit with SP1 and the services are set up better so it doesn't hog the HD as much. Still there are some things you can do such as turn off Windows Search Indexing and use another search app like locate32, turn off indexing all your media files and use other media players like Winamp or VLC media player. That type of stuff.

Vista does work your HD much more than XP. No question about it. If you do use locate32 disable "monitor file system changes" or it will run your HD like crazy every time you copy a big block of files(like if you backup to an external drive or whatever.)

On the plus side if you use VistaGlazz you can do a lot more with themes than in XP. The exploding windows are fun(seems lame but when I turned them off I missed 'em so I turned 'em back on.)

Vista is definitely way better with SP1 than without. My first PC won't take SP1. I tried 5 times to put it on and it rolls back every time. But I've worked around most of the problems and individual updates can be put on so it's not all bad.

If you want to put XP on that laptop, you will need to purchase a copy of the operating system. The OEM edition of XP costs about $30 more than the OEM of Vista Home Premium. You can also wait and put Windows 7 on that laptop when it is released. 7 is far better than Vista, but if you don't like Vista's visual style or the "under the hood" components, you may be disappointed. At least Windows 7 is faster than Vista and doesn't use the hard drive as much.

Well-- With your 4GB, I don't think you'll feel THAT much of a difference. The performance on my 3GB isn't that bad-- everything moves smoothly, and I can play games fine with my GeForce 9800GT.