Xp laptops are losing ground to the more sophisticated breed of Windows 7. These laptops have been a part of portfolios but their time has gone, and they need to go as well.
Windows XP was released in 2000 and Microsoft has been patching it since then. There were 3 major service packs, heroic efforts to douse the fire. Windows XP has its reputation for security and power management issues. 32 bit versions are still popular but should you ever get more than 3 gigabytes of memory in your laptop, you’ll get to discover that there are limitations to this technology. A 64 bit version is needed for your laptop to be able to map more than 4 gigabytes of memory and video card memory is also counted. Modern processors are able to execute 64 bit operations but windows has been holding development in that direction back, basically using a system with it was a ticket for a ride if you wanted to have all your accessories and programs to work.
The most popular version of Windows 7 is also on 32 bits but 64 bit versions are supplied with proper drivers written by manufacturers and apart from legacy applications it runs everything written for 32 or 64 bit XP very well. Windows 7 also has more options to keep the power consumption at a tolerable level, such as automatically simplifying graphic settings so that shiny details don’t consume any memory or processor power while on battery. Windows XP laptops were known for their bad habit of refusing to go into hibernation or sleep mode, 7 fixed these for good.
A market segment is still open for Windows XP on laptops though, netbooks are often sold with this operation system due to its lower price and lower initial memory consumption. Both qualities are great when resources are limited both money and power. If you are serious about picking one up, maybe because your parents are reluctant about getting used to Windows 7 or you like it better, I suggest you to do that until Christmas as we won’t see them around for too long.
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