Dell still sells laptops with windows XP, here is one:
[url]http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/latit_d430?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04[/url]
Other OEMs probably also Windows XP available.
Windows XP should be available somewhere preinstalled at least until
January 2008.

Windows Vista has a few Reliability packs not yet widely available
that when released may address some of your concerns.
Some things relating more to personal preference are less likely to be
changed.

The Windows Vista Service Pack is rumored to be available early next
year coinciding with the release of Windows Server 2008.

--
Jupiter Jones [MVP]
[url]http://www3.telus.net/dandemar[/url]
[url]http://www.dts-l.org[/url]


"Barney Bornn" <BarneyBornn@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:564F6A4B-88CE-4945-99DA-69A1B49E9443@microsoft.com...[color=blue]
> Hi Jupiter,
>
> I had heard bad things about Vista, and I planned to wait until
> Microsoft
> issued a service pack before getting a new computer. But I needed a
> laptop
> and couldn’t find one with XP on it, because they all had Vista. So
> I got
> Vista.
>
> But I doubt that Microsoft will fix a lot of the things I find
> obnoxious
> about Vista. I don’t think they’ll change the silly folders that
> look as
> though they’ll spill their contents. I doubt that they’ll fix the
> view you
> get when you open Windows Explorer, even though the Vista version is
> awkward
> and harder to use. I hope, but I’m skeptical about the prospects
> that
> they’ll fix the design mistakes that make it nearly impossible to
> share files
> and printers between computers running Vista and computers running
> XP on a
> wireless network. I’m certain they won’t change things to allow me
> to remove
> programs like the ones I listed in my first post from my system,
> where they
> use up disk space.
>
> Vista is certainly different from XP, but it is certainly not
> better.
>
> I didn’t want Office 2007, either, but I needed it for compatibility
> reasons. When I started using it I found, again, change for the
> sake of
> change. Outlook and Word are harder to use, with a more complex
> menu system
> that hides many of the functions I used to use.
>
> This is hardly the place for a technical evaluation of Vista and
> Office
> 2007, and I must admit that I’m not qualified to provide one anyway.
> I’m
> simply a user who is confronted with change that accomplishes
> nothing and
> makes my life more difficult.
>
> I wish my laptop were running XP. I wish I didn’t need to read and
> create
> files with a docx extension. (“docx,” by the way is not included in
> the
> Office 2007 dictionary, so gives you an error if you use it.)
>
> Have I answered your question?
>
> Barney
>
>
> "Jupiter Jones [MVP]" wrote:
>[color=green]
>> Why did you purchase Windows Vista and Office 2007?
>>
>> --
>> Jupiter Jones [MVP]
>> [url]http://www3.telus.net/dandemar[/url]
>> [url]http://www.dts-l.org[/url]
>>
>>
>> "Barney Bornn" <BarneyBornn@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
>> message news:DA3917ED-A025-4F1F-9D4C-8C71DB249259@microsoft.com...[color=darkred]
>> > Every time I use Vista it becomes more obvious: Microsoft did
>> > not
>> > improve
>> > the operating system, they merely changed it. And as is so often
>> > the case
>> > change for the sake of change is counterproductive.
>> >
>> > The same is true of Office 2007.
>> >
>> > Barney[/color]
>>
>>[/color][/color]