XP versus Vista for X61s?

[opto104]

Below is my x61s just ordered yesterday with expected delivery date as 7/24:

7668CT CONFIGURED SYSTEM
7668CTO CTO THINKPAD X61S-1YD
46P4166 VBB MICROSOFT WINXP PROFESSION
42X0239 SBB MSWIN XP PROF US ENGLISH
42X0100 SBB 12.1"ULTRALIGHT L7500_1.6G
41W2067 VBB 3GB PC2-5300 667MHZ 2DIMM
42X0133 SBB KEYBOARD US ENGLISH
42X0754 SBB TRACKPOINT W/FINGERPR.READ
42V9134 SBB 100GB HDD,7200RPM ATA 2.5"
41W1928 SBB THINKPAD X6 ULTRABASE
42V9136 SBB CD-RW/DVD-ROM 24X24X24X8XM
42V8177 SBB INT.WIRE.WIFI/LINK4965AGN
41W1830 SBB 8CELL LI-ION BATTERY 2.6AH
41W1787 SBB CPK NORTH AMERICA
27R1769 SBB PSTN CABLE
42X0165 SBB LANG.PACK US ENGLISH
41W1919 SBB PACKAGING W/ULTRABASE
42V8301 SBB 2GB PC2-5300 DDR2 667MHZ
42V8300 SBB 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 667MHZ
42X1465 SBB CLEAR PLATE X61,WLAN
42V9665 SBB FCC, LABEL
42X0411 SBB GEO LBL US,WLAN
41W1982 SBB LOGO PLATE
42V8229 SBB MS LABEL (XP)
42X0401 SBB MT 7668 SYSTEM LABEL
42X0948 SBB MECH MISC PARTS
42X1232 SBB NEWINTELLAB_DUALCORE/CEPRO
42V8238 SBB ODD SW CD-RW/DVD-ROMCOMBO
42X1461 SBB WLAN,MISC PARTS

I have requested XP as the OS for a fast boot because I have heard complains of slow boot with Vista. A 3GB memory is also chosen for fast data processing. Now becoming a little hesitated because I don't know if the choice of XP is a good one or not. What is the real advantage of Vista over XP? Any comments? Thanks,

[Mack]

Vista seems to drain the battery faster than XP, that could be good to know if battery life is really important for you. I wouldn't worry about the boot times though.

[ZaZ]

One option would be to get Vista then downgrade to XP until you deem Vista to be ready. Vista Business and Ultimate include the right to downgrade to XP Pro. You would need a disc and a key of course.

[Antioch]

Fred, could you explain more about this "right to downgrade to XP Pro?" I've never heard anything about it and am interested.

[opto104]

MACK and FredGarvin, Thanks for the answers. I have the same question as Antioch: how to downgrade Vista then?

[ZaZ]

I'm no expert on the matter, but have seen this talked about on the net. There is an interesting article here:

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Buy-Wind ... 6647.shtml

You'll need a XP Pro CD and a key to install then activate it. Unless you are using the corporate version of XP which doesn't require activation.

[dr_st]

In other words, if you have 1 XP license and N Vista Business/Enterprise/Ultimate licenses, you can downgrade all N Vista machines to XP. That's not too bad.