Is it possible to buy a new laptop running XP?
- Thread starter SteveR
- Start date
not many, you can hunt on ebay maybe, but remember that your COA is tied to the pc if it is an OEM machine. so if you replace it, it has to be the same exact kind. if it is a retail COA then it will not matter what pc you install on
certificate of authentication, the product key that you use to activate xp
ClippyBeer
Moderator
The biggest hurdle would be XP drivers. I have a Gateway laptop purchased 2009 that came with Vista. Gateway only had drivers for Vista/7 on their website but I wanted XP on this machine. After imaging the whole hard drive including restore partition I wiped the hard drive and proceeded to install XP.
The install completed. I had no sound, wireless, ethernet, HDMI or webcam. Display was 800x600 generic SVGA.
Thus began my quest. The display driver was found easily - AMD HD3200 from AMD's website, installed and my display and HDMI worked properly.
Next was WIFI & Ethernet (Broadcom) - even though I had the right model number it took a lot of trial and error with different driver sets to get them finally working.
Sound was Conexant - couldn't find any XP drivers for my particular chipset. Tried various drivers from various sites and forums including hacked with no success. It literally took days of Google-ing to find drivers that worked.
Webcam was a no-go. No drivers worked. The machine also took significantly longer to boot up, about 5 minutes (Windows XP loading screen displayed normally, then blank screen for several minutes before desktop finally appeared).
I imaged it of course after all that work but decided to install Windows 7 instead. That installed with no issues along with all drivers. Let's not speak of installing XP on this laptop ever again.
As Elizabeth23 mentioned you will probably have to buy an older one made to run XP because your chances of getting it to run on something new are slim to none.
I strongly suggest checking the manufacturer's website for XP drivers for whatever model laptop you plan on buying unless you want to embark on your own prolonged 'Quest for the Holy Drivers'.
there is snappy driver installer that can find drivers. I used it to install all missing drivers that were "unsupported"
I was told it can be done by a comp repair shop owner, this guy,,,who is no wizard for sure says older machines will work, these folks HERE know way more then me.
what ever you do, DITCH win 10.
For example the "last" "supported" laptop that can run/have drivers is the Lenovo G500
For latest drivers I have used the following program a number of times and it works like a charm 
I have never been short of drivers because of this one.
https://www.driverscloud.com/en/features
This not only gets you all missing drivers but also updates them with the latest available. Very easy to use too. Available in many languages. There is also a forum but I never had to use it.
I have never been short of drivers because of this one.https://www.driverscloud.com/en/features
This not only gets you all missing drivers but also updates them with the latest available. Very easy to use too. Available in many languages. There is also a forum but I never had to use it.
There isn't much sense in buying a new one anyway since XP only supports 3GB ram and it isn't going to be much faster than an older one. It will run on just about anything but drivers might be a problem if you don't know what you're doing. If I was faced with this today I would just buy a quad core cpu based system with 4gb ram, which the bios will probably eat up and give you 3gb for XP.. Everything has a workaround, I'm using AMD 3gb cards for video and they're faster than some of the new onboard videos but I don't think laptops would have this. For sound and nic it doesn't matter since they're all just generic and speed isn't an issues and you can always use older drivers.
The other problem with laptops is that the mfct loads up a bunch of garbage devices that use their own drivers. Such as power managment, trusted computing, useless bios features etc.. For these XP would have checkmarks or might need to be disabled before boot to prevent a crash.
Get a desktop if at all possible. I can confirm you won't have problems there as I have used quad core / 4gb / 3gb video / SSD systems which run just as good as a brand new PC running Win10.
The other problem with laptops is that the mfct loads up a bunch of garbage devices that use their own drivers. Such as power managment, trusted computing, useless bios features etc.. For these XP would have checkmarks or might need to be disabled before boot to prevent a crash.
Get a desktop if at all possible. I can confirm you won't have problems there as I have used quad core / 4gb / 3gb video / SSD systems which run just as good as a brand new PC running Win10.
2 years ago my friend got a win 10, and her first flat screen, it was a nightmare, and until she turned it on she did not know what she was getting into, it was so bloated with free junk programs, and her late night UV lite flat screen crashed her life with insomnia till we threw the flat out and put the CRT bulb screen back in.
you almost could not use windows 10, it was like using 3 comps at one time,
confusional as a five way car accident. fox tv and many other junk programs would not delete, Truly at seeing this I lost huge faith in computer culture, the "Singular experience" of computing was gone, pop ups from every where, it was a dizzying nightmare, I could not get the beast under control, and she was way upset, it simply was not a polite experience anymore.
Truly i thought this is not good for a persons mind, I ALSO have a 7 machine, its just too dam demanding for attention, these 7 machines and up has become a existentialistic spider web, it demands way to much of a persons "life time"
I know there is always an answer, but seeking answers eats into my spiritual time, I have a soul to keep up with, its hard work, I owe it to myself and all i love to keep up that soul work, I don't want to lose grasp of soul reality for some digital one, which has already happen to many folks, especially in the massacres and kardashion flight into nothingness, meaninglessness. As well, the net "Bar of Life ART Quality" has dived, the human trash news i have to wade thru to get to my mail is horrifying, humanity at its lowest.
I think a person can use XP and continue seeing a value in books and poetry, dreams and real soul issues.
Far too many have gained a knowing world of computers and lost their souls.
Last edited:
If by 'new' you mean an older (XP-era) model still in box and never opened, then yes. There is no telling what the passing of years could have done to the parts, though, and of course it is going to be EXTREMELY expensive (in some cases equivalent to the cost of buying a brand-new machine with 10 on it, and in a few other cases even costlier). eBay has a virtually never-ending collection of machines you can get with XP installed, ranging from ancient Pentium III/4 computers to primarily Pentium D/Core 2-based PCs. Your best bet would be to look for a computer that has a Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge chipset; these represent the last officially supported XP-compatible machines. There are a few Haswell models that can also run XP (I run XP SP3 on a daily basis on an HP ProDesk 600 G1 with a 3.5GHz Core i5-4690), though your mileage will vary as far as finding drivers goes. After Haswell things get MUCH more difficult (many newer chipsets have completely phased out USB 2.0 ports, and it's next to impossible to find a brand-spanking-new machine in a store that doesn't have nothing but USB 3.0 ports [there are a few possibilities for getting USB 3.0 working in XP, but this was mainly true of very early USB 3.0 cards; later ones have in all but the rarest cases completely removed XP support]), but I will say that your odds improve greatly if you can install a USB 2.0 card (XP was designed to take full advantage of USB 2.0, and its availability will make the installation process a LOT less difficult than it otherwise would be). I apologize for rambling, and I hope this helps, even if only a little.
I think thats a great job of covering it, with all the most important details included to boot , as for speed, of these machines, if it does slow up, clean it. I really don't think folks who use these are looking for a frigging "Computer Experience" but instead "Oh God Please!!" the lack of a computer experiance-thank you. as for expense in finding a good used one, non sense, post a reward for a good machine on CL or a computer shop place, good things in this world are just like good books and lovers, you gotta skip the mall experience.
Last edited: