Windows 2000 SP4 or Windows XP SP2 on this lappy?

[pr-man 1]

Dell Inspiron 8000

 

P3 1ghz

512 megs pc133

30 gig HD

CDRW/DVDrom combo

wifi card

15" UXGA

Geforce2 Go 32 meg

56k/v90

etc etc

[pr-man 1]

also is it worth overclocking the p3 1ghz?

[peterh 1]

Windows 2000 or XP will work fine on this machine.

 

Microsoft will end Mainstream support for Win 2000 Pro in June 2005 which means you will not be able to buy it from retailers etc.

 

See

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];LifeWin

 

[pr-man 1]

anyone else?

 

Plus does sp4 add any plugnplay functionality to 2k?

[GTwannabe 0]

XP SP2 if you use wireless; wireless support in 2000 is clunky at best. W2k is NT 5.0 and XP is NT 5.1; just turn off the Fischer Price desktop and switch to Windows Classic mode and you'll forget you're even using XP. XP features System Restore, which is very useful for recovering from driver installs gone bad that would permanently BSOD/hang-on-boot a W2k box.

 

As far as SP2 causing problems, it doesn't unless:

 

1. Your machine is infected with Spyware/Mal-ware/Viruses

 

2. You don't know how to work the Windows Firewall, which is turned on by default in SP2.

 

 

[ah111467 0]

I have a Dell Inspiron 8100, 1ghz, 512mb RAM, 60gb HD, CDRW & DVD drives, pretty much matches your setup. I run XP SP2 with no problems. It moves really fast and is definitely good for wireless (just upgraded my Dell TM 1500 internal to an Intel 2200 802.11g internal, does great).

 

2000 SP4 would do very good also, ran faster on my laptop, but XP SP2 is just slightly slower, no real important degredation. Just the usual you would expect from moving to the next OS.

 

And definitely get rid of the crayola interface on XP...

[GTwannabe 0]

Originally posted by Alec§taar:

Quote:

Was wondering about the "wifi" part myself in XP vs. 2000, but I don't use a laptop or that type of networking here on desktops so it was unknown to myself.

 

(Is it "IMPOSSIBLE" to use this 'wifi' networking in 2000 vs XP though? OR, is it unstable & unreliable... thanks for info. because what I don't use? I can always learn something about via word-of-mouth!)

 

No, it's not impossible to WIFI with W2k, but it's damned inconvenient. With 2k, you need to manually configure your wireless card by disabling it, going into the network hardware settings, and manually setting the WEP encryption/SSID/channel/etc. Sure, you can use the horribly insecure SSDP service, but that rarely works and just isn't a good idea.

 

XP SP0 will automatically connect to any wireless network regardless of security - bad!

 

XP SP1 will generally refuse to connect to insecure networks - bad!

 

XP SP2 has a well thought out WIFI console. You open the wireless icon from the system tray and see a list of wireless networks. Click Connect on a wireless network, and enter the WEP/WPA key if required. Windows will save the wireless network in its Preferred Networks access list. When you move around with your laptop, Windows will automatically switch off to the strongest network based on how you ordered the list.