Just got the a Gateway laptop with a Intel Celron 1.7 ghz, 1GB of DDR2 ram and Vista basic. Who much faster would it perform if i wiped the hard drive and installed XP Pro?

The only benchmark that would perform slower is a graphical one granted, the VGA device is DX10 compliant, otherwise, there would be no major differences in the benchmarks.

XP Pro would be faster because it requires less resources then Vista Home Basic, plus it has more admin features then Vista Home Basic.

So what's the advantage of running Vista basic?

Deadhorse - one of the advantages of Vista Basic is you get to replace all your worn out peripherals which are not compatible with this O.S.

Sorry Deadhorse - I didn't mean to be facetious:<(

"So what's the advantage of running Vista basic?"

If you mean over XP Pro, there is really isn't .... unless you are so thrilled about the pseudo-superior graphical interface & UAC bonus ;-)

However, if you have the option of having Vista Home Basic or XP Home come with your whitebox for free -- you might as well go with Vista Home Basic since you've got really nothing to lose.

No you good sky, so what do you thing the chances are that if I load XP that any of the hardware on the laptop won't be compatible?

A lot more slim then Vista, because Vista uses a diff Keranl structure then XP and 2000 did. This is why a lot of older programs won't run on Vista.

Dead - Why don't you just go with Vista and see how it acts. If you have too many problems to deal with, revert back to XP. Like Sabertooth sez, you don't lose a lot with XP, especially if you are a casual computer user!

If you know how to do it, you could set up a dual boot. Just make sure that XP is installed first after wiping the hard drive.

Win 2k Pro provides adequate compatibility, best performance and forgoes the shackles of Product Activation.

Vista was deliberately designed to suck. M$FT is paving the way for their NEXT windoze. When remedial phase of anti-trust expires, they can take the gloves off. In the meantime, they've also freshened up their main revenue stream.

Anyone remember Windoze ME? It was the interim suck job to pave the way for XP...and introduce Product Activation.

Has anyone also noticed that windoze had also become the most expensive component of a PC?

In about '09, when you suckers call M$FT for XP activation, you'll hear:

"We're sorry. We no longer support that".

Do all in moderation...'specially moderation itself.