Which Netbook (brand, etc...) is the Easiest to Install Either XP or Ubuntu on?

[Smoolean]

Hello,

I'm in the market for a netbook. However, my friend recently purchased an HP netbook with Windows 7 Starter edition and we were both very disappointed by the lack of settings, etc...

I would prefer to install XP (or Ubuntu if necessary) on a netbook, but I've heard horror stories of people not being able to find the correct drivers, etc... and XP turns their netbook into a hockey puck.

So my question is: does anyone know if certain brands of manufacturers make it easier to find the correct drivers, etc... so that installing another OS won't be extremely difficult?

Does anyone have any success stories?

I understand that certain netbooks come pre-installed with Linux, but XP would be my first choice, and from what I've seen, XP netbooks are no longer on sale at most stores.

Any tips are greatly appreciated!

 

[RaiderJ]

I'd just go with Windows 7 Home Basic/Premium, throw the starter edition in the garbage.

 

[Binky]

Just google/bing "linux netbook distros" and you'll find various lists related to different distros specifically tailored to (low-powered) netbooks. The Asus netbooks always seem to dominate these lists due to sheer popularity.

 

[pukemon]

You can find refurbed XP-based netbooks at Microcenter if you have one near you.

I think it was mainly netbooks that had the Atom Z520/530 and the integrated GMA500 that was problematic. The older ones with the N270/280 and the GMA950 pretty much were identical except maybe for the WiFi adapter used, and the size of the batteries supplied.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Get an older N270 Atom version that had models that came with XP and you are sure to be able to use XP. Stick to either an ION or a GMA950 GPU and you will have full Linux compatibility if you need it!

 

[Fayd]

Hello,

I'm in the market for a netbook. However, my friend recently purchased an HP netbook with Windows 7 Starter edition and we were both very disappointed by the lack of settings, etc...

I would prefer to install XP (or Ubuntu if necessary) on a netbook, but I've heard horror stories of people not being able to find the correct drivers, etc... and XP turns their netbook into a hockey puck.

So my question is: does anyone know if certain brands of manufacturers make it easier to find the correct drivers, etc... so that installing another OS won't be extremely difficult?

Does anyone have any success stories?

I understand that certain netbooks come pre-installed with Linux, but XP would be my first choice, and from what I've seen, XP netbooks are no longer on sale at most stores.

Any tips are greatly appreciated!

huh? correct drivers? netbook = hockey puck?


you do realize that XP has just about the most compatibility available of any OS ever made..right?

intel's 945 chipset, while cheap and crappy, still works and has stable drivers available for it in most any OS you could want.

as long as the hardware works, xp should work just fine.

 

[BoberFett]

Hit up Newegg. They still have some XP netbooks for sale. There's even an Acer using Pineview which still has XP.

 

[Rottie]

Dell has windows xp runs on Mini 1010 netbook

 

[MJinZ]

I'd just go with Windows 7 Home Basic/Premium, throw the starter edition in the garbage.

The Starter Edition is perfectly fine for my Netbook purposes. The Netbook can't really take advantage of anything else, and I do have an extra copy of 7 64bit Pro which I'm not bothering to install.

 

[lobbyone]

Had a recent visit from Bestbuy and they have an abundance of netbooks running WinXP. As for the Win7 starter, you could always installing something else. I successfully installed Win7 64 on my HP Mini 210 with no problems, driverwise. Even got aero to work!