Downgrading a "newer" laptop to Windows XP: how new can you get?

[Brad]

I gave away my XP laptop to my stepdad. Its performance was bothersome anyhow. It's not super-high on my list of priorities, but I'm considering getting something a little better. (My phone mostly covers my mobile computing desires, but there are some things you just can't do without PC peripherals.)

I'm sure I'll have to buy used, but what era should I be looking for if I want to install XP on a "newer" laptop? I stopped hearing about people doing it after the first couple years of Vista's existence.

I'm also in need of a little background. Which drivers that aren't included in XP actually cause the inability to downgrade? I imagine graphics drivers are the most critical component missing, though I may not be able to get away with no sound drivers either.

[newpball]

Why not just get Windows 7 or 8?

So much pain and trouble and what for?

[poisondeathray]

What's the reason for downgrading ? Win7 at least is usable for most situations. There are very few programs and situations that you can't get it working on 7 (you can run in compatibility mode). And you can get customization software to make it "work" and look like XP

The best source of info will be on a notebook forum. Look for your specific model. Chances are someone is already the "guinea pig" and has already done the work and there will be a list of drivers etc.. that you need.

[usually_quiet]

I think Sandy Bridge was the final Intel CPU series with motherboard drivers for XP SP 3. I remember reading that the motherboard chipset drivers may need to be loaded via a USB external floppy drive.

[Edit]I did some more looking, and it appears some MB manufacturers have XP drivers available for Ivy Bridge era motherboards too. ...but I know for certain that Intel released no XP drivers for the chipsets designed for socket 1150.

[Brad]

What's the reason for downgrading ?

The thing that jumps to mind is that some USB capture sticks I like to play with work better on XP even when they have Vista+ drivers (proc amp access). There are some other little reasons here and there, though to be honest I don't recall more off the top of my head.

I had grand ideas of using the previous XP laptop's Firewire port to capture transport streams from my Motorola DVR, but for whatever reason none of the Windows software that exists anywhere in the world worked. I ended up getting a cheapo iBook, as "D-VHS" capture on Mac is far more straightforward. I no longer have cable, anyway.

BTW, the idea would be dual boot, not outright replacement. I've grown fond of Win7 when it can be convinced to do my bidding.

The best source of info will be on a notebook forum. Look for your specific model.

Thanks for the tip. The idea with this post was to narrow down my search on Craigslist or wherever, since I don't have any specific model in mind. I'm looking for information like "up to this year/architecture/whatever, downgrading may work, but beyond X there is no chance" (as with usually_quiet's post).

I think Sandy Bridge was the final Intel CPU series with motherboard drivers for XP SP 3. I remember reading that the motherboard chipset drivers may need to be loaded via a USB external floppy drive.

[Edit]I did some more looking, and it appears some MB manufacturers have XP drivers available for Ivy Bridge era motherboards too. ...but I know for certain that Intel released no XP drivers for the chipsets designed for socket 1150.

It didn't occur to me when I built this machine (1150, Haswell) that desktop computers could be prevented from installing XP like laptops are. I actually did manage to get XP up and running perfectly fine on it, but not without putting in a GPU (desperate, I used a super-old and noisy one I had sitting in a drawer). There are absolutely no XP drivers for the integrated graphics, and trying to use the built-in VGA driver was horrendous.

My insistence on using AHCI instead of IDE emulation mode (because I installed the OS on an SSD) necessitated using "floppy" drivers that someone in a foreign land specially modified. I integrated them into the install disc with nLite since I have no floppy drive, along with the sound and LAN drivers. XP drivers for those two were actually included in the Win7 ZIP files on the motherboard's website.

And all that was purely to allow me to test out some mid-2000s capture cards without resorting to an older machine.