Buying a New Laptop Op Sys Question

Hi,
I'm looking at buying a laptop. I've noticed that many if not most come with pre-loaded operating systems and the limitation that only that operating system can be used on that machine. I don't want to be limited to some version of XP or VISTA that the manufacturer supplies. I want to be free to wipe the drive clean and install any operating system I want at any time. What are my options please?

 

Insist they supply it without an operating system. If they want the sale, they should do it.

If you decide to go VISTA, a lot of companies are suppling a XP CD so you can go back to XP, from Vista, if you don't like Vista. That is the way I'd be going if my new machine came installed with Vista.

Another gotcha, many PC's are now being specifically built for VISTA and it is extremely difficult to back to XP. Bazza

 

You can install any operating system that is capable of running on your hardware that you wish. There are no legal limitiations in this regard but, as has already been pointed out above, there may be driver issues with newer hardware.

 

This only legal if you are buying a machine with Vista Business or ultimate edition & you can downgrade to XP pro.
If you want to have Linux on your laptop have a look at Dell, they are selling machines with Ubuntu Linux installed.
They should work out cheaper as well.