[Samizdat2003]

Buying a Mini 10v (tonight!) and need to decide whether to get it with Windows XP SP3 or Windows 7 Starter Edition for an additional $30. Personally I am fine with XP -- know it well, like it -- and don't see why I should spend $30 more for 7, especially as it is somewhat "crippled." Any good reason I should choose 7 instead? (I don't care that support for XP ends in 2014; I doubt I'll still be using the Mini by then!)

Plan to make it a hackintosh anyway, though I would love to allow it to multiboot between Windows/OS X if that's possible (haven't read up enough on it yet) so I would not just be wiping Windows off the drive, hence the version I choose does matter.

Thanks!

[canada eh]

personally I would take the windows xp, the windows 7 one is extremely basic with really no features not even aero so to a point its not even visually appealing. Performance I believe is the same. So in the end it is up to you.

[Samizdat2003]

Following up on my own post from moments ago: I had to make a decision, so I went with XP SP3.

Why such a rush, you ask? My niece is buying a higher-end Dell laptop for her parents, and she is taking advantage of the "buy an additional Mini 10v for only $150" offer for me. (I did decide to spend an extra $35 for the longer life battery, but an additional $30 for Windows 7 just seemed not worth it. I hope you don't all start disagreeing with that!)

Anyway, I'm still interested in eventually multi-booting XP and OS X on this Mini. If you know whether or not that is possible, I'd be interested.

---------- Post added at 04:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:07 AM ----------

Originally Posted by canada eh

personally I would take the windows xp, the windows 7 one is extremely basic with really no features not even aero so to a point its not even visually appealing. Performance I believe is the same. So in the end it is up to you.

Thanks, Canada eh! (Congrats on that Olympic hockey win too.) As you can see from my second post, I am glad you don't disapprove of XP! I see you have a 10v hackintosh -- do you happen to know about the possibility of multi-booting?

[canada eh]

yes I have a dual boot of Windows XP SP3 and OS X, with a custom bootloader theme. I made a post about it in the dual booting forum, wi will try to find a link for you. But really I just followed mechdrews guide.

Also what may be easier for you if you still want XP, but just to run a couple simple applications that don't need much processing power you can run Windows XP in a Virtual Machine on the OS X hackintosh.

if you have any questions you can PM me or post here

[Yellowxboy]

LoL I just ordered my 10v today as well (thanks to slickdeals), I ordered 2 of them, one for myself with a 6cell and the other is just a 3cell to sell later on. I was debating between 7 vs xp as well, I've used xp for the longest time (both at home and work) so I chose xp. I was looking at all the guides and noticed all the dual booting guides using 7 instead of xp, I'm sure its the same procedures though (hopefully). Mine doesn't ship out until the 25th of March

[jovian]

I ordered two new Dell Mini 10v's also with the current deal thats going on, both with Windows 7 Starter. I picked it specifically for homegroup features only available in the Windows 7 family of OS. I figured if it really is horrible and too basic I can get the upgrade from Starter to Windows 7 Home which is cheaper than the normal Windows 7 Home Upgrade.

Newegg has it here: Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Anytime Upgrade from W7 Starter - Operating Systems

But I also plan on dual booting OSX and Win7 Starter and I hope to spend most of my time in OSX.

[Scarpad]

You guys that picked XP made a good choice, at least for me, I know that all the apps I use are going to work on XP, I know the higher versions of 7 allow XP comaptibility utilities not sure about starter, but why go thru all that hassle, XP SP3 is a good solid os for a netbook.

[jovian]

XP Mode is not available on Windows 7 Starter so if you have something that requires it pick XP.