Laptop that I can load up with XP

F

Findlay

Member
Does anyone know of a laptop I can buy in the UK on which I can easily install XP? I'm asking because I need XP to run my old DAW software and effects, a lot of which are incompatible with anything later. I previously had a Toshiba running Win 7 which I rigged up with a dual boot but this has just has had the graphic card blow. Most new laptops seem to make it really difficult to get to the hard drive, which make things a bit harder. With the Toshiba I could put in a new hard drive, load up XP and then Win 7 from an image. On my new Dell you have to take the keyboard out and all sorts before getting to the HD and I'm reluctant to do this under warranty. Running the old software in compatible mode is no good. Grateful for any help!
 
There are always used Panasonic Toughbooks on Ebay and I have a couple - one on windows 10, and another on 7, and I really like them - and they're bomb proof.
 
Thanks Rob. Can you get to the hard drives easily? I worry a bit about used laptops having had 2 Toshibas die on me recently as a result of the video chips eventually getting too hot. It seems a lot of them fail this way and they usually can't be repaired.
 
What kind of video chip are you talking about? If the laptop has discrete graphics, like NVidia, it might also still have Intel graphics you could switch back to. My old Envy has NVidia graphics but they stopped making drivers for it after Win7, but I could just switch to the Intel chipset graphics, which is what it's using now (running Ubuntu).

If you have an ISO of the XP hard disk, you might be able to load it in a Virtual Box VHD - maybe something like that is what MS is doing. It's always a bit finicky setting up a virtual system to have direct access to USB devices, like audio interfaces, but I've done it with the old Envy.
 
Thanks Keith. It is the graphics chip directly soldered on to the laptop board. I just get a black screen on start up so it is impossible to get anything else going. I've taken them both to bits and got them running for a while after blowing hot air on the chip to make the solder re-flow but they packed up again soon after.

I tried using a virtual system a few years back and it was too sluggish to cope with Nuendo. Maybe Virtual Box is worth a try as I have an image of the hard drive. Would need to use the USB for my soundcard though. I really like to use a laptop for mixdown as it is so much more convenient than setting up the PC in my living room. Part of me is wondering whether to buy a Tascam DP32 portastudio instead to avoid all the hassle, if that makes any sense? But I would miss the automation and the nice effects I had on the laptop.
 
I’ve had better luck keeping the case open and using canned air on the hot spot to get to a short lived boot up.

Even an external graphics chip would be soldered to the board in a laptop. But it does seem like a dim hope. If that system wants to boot to anything other than Intel graphics you may not have any luck in a virtual system since they generally don’t have nvidia or Ati emulations to match whatever driver your XP system loads.
 
Those Panasonics have removable everything - drives all pull out. Screen flips around to become a pad, with a prodding stick - so it's a touchscreen too. Have a google on them - they're damn ugly, metal and loads of rubber. Great things.
 
Findlay said:
Does anyone know of a laptop I can buy in the UK on which I can easily install XP? I'm asking because I need XP to run my old DAW software and effects, a lot of which are incompatible with anything later. I previously had a Toshiba running Win 7 which I rigged up with a dual boot but this has just has had the graphic card blow. Most new laptops seem to make it really difficult to get to the hard drive, which make things a bit harder. With the Toshiba I could put in a new hard drive, load up XP and then Win 7 from an image. On my new Dell you have to take the keyboard out and all sorts before getting to the HD and I'm reluctant to do this under warranty. Running the old software in compatible mode is no good. Grateful for any help!
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Hi,
Can you talk us through the plan a little bit? Do you only need access once, or are you planning to physically switch drives regularly?
I'm thinking you'd just get a machine with enough space for two installs and partition the hard drive, so you can dual boot at the bootloader. Maybe I'm not following you, though?

My old Vostro 1500 had a removable hdd, done in a nice way. It was a moulded hand grip on the end of the drive, so it slotted in the side like a blade.
There are two retaining screws but it's a snug fit so I used to leave them out, then just slide out the HDD and take it with me if I was going to uni or whatever.
 
I'm not entirely following why HDD access is necessary?

If you're not trying to dual boot or anything, basically any old laptop with a CD drive could install XP.

If you are trying to do a dual boot, maybe try making a boot disk (USB) to run XP off of.
 
Thanks. I like to be able to replace the HDD easily, not only for when it fails but 'cos on a new laptop that comes loaded with, say win10, you have to erase this before loading XP and I wouldn't want to risk this under warranty - would rather put a new HDD in to start from scratch, loading XP then Win10 from an image of the original disk.

I don't want to buy an old laptop because it seems the older they get the more likely they are to overheat and die - but I'm not sure drivers are available for the latest models loaded with Win10 - I had a heck of a job getting them for my Toshiba from Win7 days!

I tried running of a boot disc before but with USB2. It didn't work properly with the DAW as too slow. Maybe USB would work? Has anyone tried it?
 
Findlay said:
a new laptop that comes loaded with, say win10, you have to erase this before loading XP and I wouldn't want to risk this under warranty - would rather put a new HDD in to start from scratch, loading XP then Win10 from an image of the original disk.
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Honestly, I'd be more concerned about physically removing a drive under warranty than wiping the contents.
Wiping data isn't going to void warranty, but opening the machine may. Some have special cases for ram/hdd upgrades but that depends how accessible they are, I suppose; If they were intended to be user-replaced or not.

If you can get some partition/drive management software you should be able to shrink the main win 10 partition and create a new one on the rest of the drive for XP.
That's assuming the drive is a decent size.

I'm out of touch with Windows. The feature may even be built in to the OS now.
Hopefully someone can advise.
 
Thanks Steenamaroo, I guess I was lucky with the Toshibas as the HDD was in a caddy accessible under a flap held with a single screw. I tried the partition route once before but got stuck because Win7 doesn't allow you to install an earlier version. Not sure if Win10 is the same but probably...

By the way, the Shure Unidyne III mic you helped me fix a few years back is still working well - thanks again!
 
Findlay said:
Thanks Steenamaroo, I guess I was lucky with the Toshibas as the HDD was in a caddy accessible under a flap held with a single screw. I tried the partition route once before but got stuck because Win7 doesn't allow you to install an earlier version. Not sure if Win10 is the same but probably...
Click to expand...

I think you'd need to make the partition within windows 10, but then install XP to that partition from a boot cd or other bootable source so the existing modern windows 'knows' nothing about it.

Findlay said:
By the way, the Shure Unidyne III mic you helped me fix a few years back is still working well - thanks again!
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Glad to hear it! Nice work. :)
 
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