My father is terminally ill and the dining room of my parents' house
is going to be turned into a bedroom for him.

At the moment, we want him to retain his quality of life as much as
possible, and he enjoys doing things like the church newsletter and
managing the leagues of his bowls club.

At the moment his computer is in a study upstairs, so I want to get
him a laptop so he can continue with these interests when he is
permanently downstairs.

So here is the question ... if I get him a laptop now, will it have to
have Windows Vista, or will I be able to still buy one with Windows
XP.  He is familiar with Windows XP, and I just don't think it is
worth him having to get to grips with Vista, whatever its merits or
shortcomings.

Thanks for anyone's help.

Ahoyhoy

Ahoyhoy wrote:

> My father is terminally ill and the dining room of my parents' house
> is going to be turned into a bedroom for him.
> 
> At the moment, we want him to retain his quality of life as much as
> possible, and he enjoys doing things like the church newsletter and
> managing the leagues of his bowls club.
> 
> At the moment his computer is in a study upstairs, so I want to get
> him a laptop so he can continue with these interests when he is
> permanently downstairs.
> 
> So here is the question ... if I get him a laptop now, will it have to
> have Windows Vista, or will I be able to still buy one with Windows
> XP.  He is familiar with Windows XP, and I just don't think it is
> worth him having to get to grips with Vista, whatever its merits or
> shortcomings.
> 
> Thanks for anyone's help.
> 
> Ahoyhoy
Try Dell

They still sell to schools (& corporate customers) with XP installed.

About 11 months ago a friend bought a laptop from Dell with Vista 
pre-installed.  I tried to help install Virgin Broadband but couldn't as 
Virgin at the time 'didn't support Vista'..  Dell immediately sent an XP 
disc but I had to install it & downloadthe correct drivers from Dell.

I would suggest that you try Dell and see if they will pre-install XP. 
Otherwise cany you cope with what I had to do?

Malcolm

Ahoyhoy wrote:
> My father is terminally ill and the dining room of my parents' house
> is going to be turned into a bedroom for him.
> 
> At the moment, we want him to retain his quality of life as much as
> possible, and he enjoys doing things like the church newsletter and
> managing the leagues of his bowls club.
> 
> At the moment his computer is in a study upstairs, so I want to get
> him a laptop so he can continue with these interests when he is
> permanently downstairs.
> 
> So here is the question ... if I get him a laptop now, will it have to
> have Windows Vista, or will I be able to still buy one with Windows
> XP.  He is familiar with Windows XP, and I just don't think it is
> worth him having to get to grips with Vista, whatever its merits or
> shortcomings.
> 
> Thanks for anyone's help.
> 
> Ahoyhoy

There are laptops around loaded with XP but also be aware that if you 
get a lappy with a business (not home) edition of Vista, you can 
downgrade (install) XP and then phone M$ and request a licence key for 
the downgrade.

Lappys with XP:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/136627

...and there's more...

Pop over to ebuyer, go the the Computers...Laptops
Click show all
Search for 'XP'