Dell does not sell that system with WinXP as an option, so we haven't posted any drivers on the support site. This is because we haven't tested the system with XP or XP drivers, and thus don't know whether there will be any problems.

 

If you can find the corresponding drivers for the hardware you will most likely be able to run XP with no problems.  You can check for drivers on older Dell systems that use the same hardware, the manufacturer's website(s) (e.g., Intel.com for the chipset), and I have heard of some users getting drivers from other system manufactuers.  Getting the correct drivers, and getting them to work on the system, however, is entirely up to you as it is not a configuration supported by Dell (we only support the OS we sell the system with).

Studio 17's situation regardign XP drivers is similar to Inspiron 1720's case in the earlier months of the Inspiron model. Later, Dell made available all the drivers for 1720 on the Drivers webpage. I hope that Dell does the same for Studio 17 shortly. I am holding on buying Studio 17 until Dell posts the XP drivers. That's because searching for drivers on manufaturer's websites is no easy task because it is hard for me to find out the exact hardware in a laptop before buying the computer. And if buy it, and then can't find the drivers, my purpose of buying the laptop is lost.

Well, the list of drivers for the Studio 1735 notebook (for Vista) is:

• Dell™ Notebook System Software
• Intel® Mobile Chipset Driver
• Mobile Intel® GMA X3100 Video Controller
• Ricoh® Media Card Reader Driver
• Intel Flash Cache Logic Chip (Intel Turbo Memory)
• Broadcom® 440X 10/100 Integrated Network Controller
• Wireless driver (if applicable)
• IDT® STAC 9205 Audio Driver
• Dell Touch Pad Driver
• Bluetooth® driver and stack

The Flash Cache driver has no XP equivalent, but all the rest would be needed for XP.

Links that might help:

 

http://www.laptops-drivers.com/laptop-news/installing-windows-xp-in-dell-studio-1535.html

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=270228

 

They're for the Studio 15, but I'm guessing the 15 and 17 are pretty much the same anyway.

Thanks for the tips. I'll wait and see what progress the more technically savvy people make in installing XP on the Studio 1735 laptop. Meanwhile, I am looking for other 17" laptops that can run Windows XP. I'll keep checking back here.