Cheap Laptop

Spynx

Spynx

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What is the cheapest laptop/netbook available. It must be able to run Win Xp though and have at least 2 usb ports. I want to load some vehicle diagnostic software on it.

Thanks in advance.
 
Spynx said:
...cheapest laptop/netbook available. ...able to run Win Xp though ...have at least 2 usb ports.
Click to expand...

Best is to refer to Game, Hi-Fi Corp. specials on a weekly basis (refer to their websites or brochures), and to a lesser extent, Makro or Incredible Conn. for 15.6" laptops sold at R2,999.

Game, Hi-Fi Corp & I/Conn. specials run from Thursday to Sunday every week.

The laptops come pre-loaded with Windows 7 Starter / Home Starter ; doubt you'll find a new laptop with Windows XP or even Vista loaded on it, nowadays.

Maybe someone on this forum can help out, or give advice on where to get XP these days ?

Surely all laptops come with a minimum of 2 ports - my old one from 5 years ago has 3 of them.
 
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You can easily pick any one of these since every netbook/laptop should run Windows XP given that it's about 12, 13 years old now. The main problem you will have is finding drivers for those netbooks/laptops since they come pre-installed with Windows 7 Starter Edition or higher and the manufactures don't support Windows XP anymore so no official drivers are made.

I was however able to find official Windows XP drivers for this one: Lenovo IdeaPad S Series S100 10.1" Netbook Computer (59311688) - Black

All you would need to do is either buy an external CD/DVD-ROM drive or put a Windows XP on a flash drive and install it that way. You can use this program to put Windows XP on a flash drive for you.

Do note however that the wizard for the program is set to use a format that makes Windows XP install very slowly, to fix this you can run the Advanced mode and under formatting you must change "FAT 32 LBA" to "FAT 16 LBA", which will make Windows XP install much quicker. You will also obviously need a Flash Drive, a 1GB size one should be sufficient.

Here is a guide I found on the internet on how to do the fresh install of Windows XP: Ideapad S-Series Windows XP Clean Install

Here are the official drivers for the Lenovo IdeaPad S Series S100 netbook for Windows XP: Lenovo IdeaPad S Series S100 netbook drivers for Windows XP
 
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I used to have an Acer Aspire A110. Paid R2000 for it new, and they can be picked up 2nd hand for around R1000. It came with an 8GB SSD and a Linux pre-install, but I did get Windows XP running on it, and there are drivers available. The same netbook was also available with a 250GB HDD and I think came standard with Windows XP.

I ran the VAGCOM diagnostic software on it, using an older version that was compatible with a USB->Serial Converter.
 
The software is also compatible with windows 7 and also prelimenary win 8 so the laptop does not have to be win xp. The software is not compatible with linux.
 
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