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W2K PRO vs XP PRO (P III 700, 256 MB)

Forum Laptops & Notebooks : General Laptops & Notebooks - W2K PRO vs XP PRO (P III 700, 256 MB)

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Hi,

I've P3 700 Mhz laptop (256 MB RAM, WiFi 802.11g) with W2K.

I hesitate to install Win XP PRO on my laptop - I'm not sure - this is
expensive for me (I must buy new licence).

I need help and advice - please describe me props and cons of W2K vs XP
on laptop system...

Regards,
Zdziisek

Add a reply

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

On 11 May 2005 03:12:24 -0700, zdziisek@gmail.com wrote:

>I've P3 700 Mhz laptop (256 MB RAM, WiFi 802.11g) with W2K.
>
>I hesitate to install Win XP PRO on my laptop - I'm not sure - this is
>expensive for me (I must buy new licence).

FWIW, the first thing I did when I got my current laptop (IBM ThinkPad
X31) was to uninstall XP Pro and replace it with W2K Pro (better the
devil you know). I don't feel like I'm missing anything.

If W2K works fine with everything you have, why invest on an expensive
XP license?

Cheers, Dominique

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

On 11 May 2005 in comp.sys.laptops, wrote:

> I've P3 700 Mhz laptop (256 MB RAM, WiFi 802.11g) with W2K.
>
> I hesitate to install Win XP PRO on my laptop - I'm not sure - this is
> expensive for me (I must buy new licence).
>
> I need help and advice - please describe me props and cons of W2K vs XP
> on laptop system...

If the systems already have W2K on them, and are doing what you want,
then I'd stick with that. I have W2K on laptops (IBM T22), and XP Pro on
a number of desktops, and I don't see anything compelling enough in XP to
warrant the switch.

--
Joe Makowiec
http://makowiec.org/
Email: http://makowiec.org/contact/?Joe

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

my laptop actually came with XP home, I switched to w2k and I like it a lot.
I don't really like how XP tries to help you a lot more with wizards and
other types of helpers that end up using a lot of resources. Surely XP have
some good things, but for me it doesn't justify buying the license,
especially because of the computer you have (XP will run slow). I have a P
III 900, 256MB, and w2k runs great. XP home was a lot slower.
XP has a nice picture viewer, but I use irfanview (www.irfanview.com) and I
like it better than the XP picture viewer.

I'd highly recommend sticking with w2k.

guillermo

<zdziisek@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1115806344.819159.162950@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Hi,
>
> I've P3 700 Mhz laptop (256 MB RAM, WiFi 802.11g) with W2K.
>
> I hesitate to install Win XP PRO on my laptop - I'm not sure - this is
> expensive for me (I must buy new licence).
>
> I need help and advice - please describe me props and cons of W2K vs XP
> on laptop system...
>
> Regards,
> Zdziisek
>

Reply to Guillermo

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

<zdziisek@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1115806344.819159.162950@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Hi,
>
> I've P3 700 Mhz laptop (256 MB RAM, WiFi 802.11g) with W2K.
>
> I hesitate to install Win XP PRO on my laptop - I'm not sure - this is
> expensive for me (I must buy new licence).
>
> I need help and advice - please describe me props and cons of W2K vs XP
> on laptop system...

As the other posters said, I put W2k on my laptop that came with XP. All
you'll get with XP is some new fancy features that do nothing some free
utilities from the internet can't do, and it'll slow down your system, at
best. (do you even have drivers for XP)

Windows XP is only about 1 year newer than Windows 2000. You aren't getting
any great innovation.

On the other hand, if you want more speed, you can see if you can upgrade
the RAM, and you can almost certainly upgrade the hard drive. Upgrading the
CPU is probably not worth the trouble.

It may sound a bit intimidating at first, but in the end, upgrading the hard
drive and RAM will be just as easy, if not easier, than going to XP.

Pagan

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Hi,

Thanks for replies.

What with Wi-Fi...? Is XP's support of WiFi better that in W2K?

Regards,
Zdziisek

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

zdziisek@gmail.com wrote:
: Hi,

: I've P3 700 Mhz laptop (256 MB RAM, WiFi 802.11g) with W2K.

: I hesitate to install Win XP PRO on my laptop - I'm not sure - this is
: expensive for me (I must buy new licence).

: I need help and advice - please describe me props and cons of W2K vs XP
: on laptop system...

Windows XP is Microsoft's best operating system yet. Yes, it is
better than Windows 2000 (I use both on different computers).
However, 2000 is very good also. It is probably not worth switching
to XP Pro if it costs much money.

I think XP is better than 2000 especially for less advanced users.
For example, if you plug in a digital camera into an XP system, it
will automatically pop up a nice download wizard to help you grab the
photos. This is the biggest reason I got XP for my mom's computer
instead of 2000. It's much easier for her to use than 2000 would have
been.

XP's SP2 does have good WiFi support, but if the software that came
with your laptop's WiFi card is decent and you know how to set
everything up, I don't think you will really have a much better
experience with Windows 2000. Go to the card manufacturer's website
to make sure you have the latest version of their card drivers and
software.

One problem I have found with Windows 2000 is that, because it is used
far less than Windows XP, some companies do not support their
devices on it as well. Example: I have an HP scanner that worked
fine in Windows 98, works fine with my Windows XP laptop, but will not
work on either of the two Windows 2000 desktops I have tried it on.
(They are completely different motherboards, one pretty old, one
really new.) I've tried the USB and the parallel ports. No luck -
the HP scanner software won't communicate with it. Nothing on HP's
website was helpful to fix this problem. Anyway, while you might
rightly say that this is HP's fault, the point is that HP can't be the
only vendor that has lagging Windows 2000 support. This is probably a
fact of life that is likely to get worse as new devices come out.

Andrew
--
----> Portland, Oregon, USA <----
*******************************************************************
----> http://www.bizave.com <---- Photo Albums and Portland Info
----> To Email me remove "MYSHOES" from email address
*******************************************************************

Reply to Andrew

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

<zdziisek@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1115831926.505129.223910@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Hi,
>
> Thanks for replies.
>
> What with Wi-Fi...? Is XP's support of WiFi better that in W2K?

That's one thing I have to admit, XP seems to do much better connecting to
wireless networks. A couple years ago I used a wireless network in my home,
and setting up my computers (all Windows 200) to work with it could be a
pain at times, although once set up they worked flawlessly. Windows XP
might be a better choice if, say, you have a laptop and are constantly
connecting to various wireless networks, or roaming between access points.
For myself, I don't do either, and I've quit using wireless upon moving to a
house and wiring it up with CAT 5.

While I do have a wireless router, I pretty much only use it for the wired
network. When I first bought my newest laptop, I found XP would connect to
the wireless router on it's own, which was kind of nice, but also a little
creepy. (what other networks is it connecting to without my input?) When I
put Windows 2000 in there, I gave a couple half-hearted attempts to connect
to the wireless network, and I never got a reliable connection. No doubt I
could get it to work with some fiddling and fooling.

Of all the benefits of XP over Windows 2000, I'd say this is the most
significant, although it's also pretty likely you'd be able to find a free
utility on the 'net that could do this as well.

Pagan

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

XP has Clear Type - nice on an LCD screen.

On 11 May 2005 03:12:24 -0700, zdziisek@gmail.com wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I've P3 700 Mhz laptop (256 MB RAM, WiFi 802.11g) with W2K.
>
>I hesitate to install Win XP PRO on my laptop - I'm not sure - this is
>expensive for me (I must buy new licence).
>
>I need help and advice - please describe me props and cons of W2K vs XP
>on laptop system...
>
>Regards,
>Zdziisek

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Tim S wrote:
> XP has Clear Type - nice on an LCD screen.
>
> On 11 May 2005 03:12:24 -0700, zdziisek@gmail.com wrote:
>
>
>>Hi,
>>
>>I've P3 700 Mhz laptop (256 MB RAM, WiFi 802.11g) with W2K.
>>
>>I hesitate to install Win XP PRO on my laptop - I'm not sure - this is
>>expensive for me (I must buy new licence).
>>
>>I need help and advice - please describe me props and cons of W2K vs XP
>>on laptop system...
>>
>>Regards,
>>Zdziisek
>
>
If you have to buy a licence for XP but can use 2K without any
additional cost, do not look further and go ahead. Especially
considering that you machine is relativement slow and has limited RAM (I
would still advise increasing your RAM to a minimum of 512). I have
never found the much touted Clear Type feature of XP of any value to me.
I tried it both on an old Twinhead with 1024x768 screen and on a
Thinkpad 1400x1050 and in both cases, I prefer my screen without it.

The fact that MS gradually stops supporting 2K would make no difference
to me: as long as you have a good AV, a good firewall and run Adaware or
equivalent, you will be perfectly OK. You will not miss XP and I have
not heard of any program designed for XP not running on 2K, but here,
others may be better informed than I am.

Hope this helps.
--
John Doue

Reply to Anonymous

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