Odd, most of the older Dells at my work have keys that work for a full retail install.Bahd Zoolander wrote:No, this is with XP as well. If you have a full product key it will work, but the number on the Windows sticker on the side of the computer is not always a real product key. The HP I have has the actual key, but the Dells we had at work had some other number. For those the restore disk was the only way to go. Very annoying.Fallakin Kuvari wrote:I've activated plenty of retail Windows XP installs using OEM keys... That something they changed with Vista?
Maybe Dell is the only one that does it. *shrug*
Help me buy... a new laptop!
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Re: Help me buy... a new laptop!
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Re: Help me buy... a new laptop!
My experience with Win7 has been that it works with 100% of the stuff that works with Vista. You'll run into more issues if you run the 64 bit version, but the 32 bit version just works.
The XP mode thing is a decent fallback, but you still have to treat it like a virtual machine - it's a separate box that has to be managed like one.
Hey Freecare - you see VMWare 7 supports Aero and DX9c now?
Dd
The XP mode thing is a decent fallback, but you still have to treat it like a virtual machine - it's a separate box that has to be managed like one.
Hey Freecare - you see VMWare 7 supports Aero and DX9c now?
Dd
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Re: Help me buy... a new laptop!
I've never used VMware but now virtualization is built into Windows and it's come a long way since Virtual PC 2007. I'm running Aero glass inside of my Windows 7 and Vista VMs and it's really cool.
The Windows support has gotten much better if your CPU suports it, which almost all do nowadays. It's so good that I really do lose track of what copy of Windows I'm in. Right now it's a hardcore geek thing, but I predict it's going to mainstream in the next few years. I've always said that the hardware is just a fancy toaster and better virtualization will make that come to pass IMHO.
The Windows support has gotten much better if your CPU suports it, which almost all do nowadays. It's so good that I really do lose track of what copy of Windows I'm in. Right now it's a hardcore geek thing, but I predict it's going to mainstream in the next few years. I've always said that the hardware is just a fancy toaster and better virtualization will make that come to pass IMHO.