Dell XPS 1530 dual boot with Win vista home edition

Hello All,
I am planning to buy Dell XPX 1530 or HP DV4 1131tx for purely to run virtual machines.
is there any possibility to make it dual boot with Windows server 2003 standard edition or Win XP 64 bit? If possible then what are features i won't be able use for above both notebooks.

Thanks in advance.

Rajesh Gawai.

 

Yes You can have those OS's as Dual Boot with Vista , I don't know about HP but for Dell you get all most all features in those OS's too

and for running VM's i would you to get atleast 3GB of Ram

 

Thanks for your quick response.

Please guide for how to achieve this. If possible plsease give me steps for this.

1. Wipeout my preinstalled notebook OS and then install Vista first or Windows server 2003 first?
2. It wont affect any features of notebook like multimedia, sound control?

Thanks & Regards,
Rajesh Gawai.

 

I would make sure each notebook support Intel Virtualization Technology (VT). Intel VT helps run guest OS faster with newer Core 2 processors. AFAIK, only Windows guest OS currently utilize VT. Some manufacturers remove this option from the BIOS (like Sony).

 

hmm Install Win2k3 then install Vista ( Always Newest OS last )

One more thing : Why Win2k3 ?

 

As it supports for MS Virtual server 2005 SP1.

One of my friend had said that there is some issue MS VS 2005 SP1 on vista.


Thanks & Regards,
Rajesh Gawai

 

Below is the configuration of dell xps 1530, which i am planning to buy.

Please have a look.
****************************************************
Build My Dell
PROCESSOR Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor T8300 (2.4 GHz, 3MB Cache, 800 MHz FSB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista(R) Home Premium SP1 32 bit Edition (English) edit
SOFTWARE Microsoft(R) Works 9.0 (Does Not Include Microsoft(R) Office 2003/2007 Software)(English) edit
DISPLAY 15.4" Widescreen WXGA (1280x800) TFT Display with TrueLife(TM) edit
OPTIONAL NOTEBOOK COLOUR KITS Tuxedo Black LCD display with Integrated 2.0 mega pixel web cam edit
MEMORY 3GB (1x2G+1x1G) Dual-channel DDR2 SDRAM edit
HARD DRIVE 320GB SATA Hard Drive edit
OPTICAL DRIVE Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Combination Drive with dual layer write capabilities edit
VIDEO CARD 256MB NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) 8600M GT edit
AUDIO SOLUTION Integrated Stereo Sound edit
WIRELESS NETWORK CARD Intel(R) 4965AGN Wireless-N Mini-Card edit
BLUETOOTH MODULE Dell(TM) Wireless 355 Bluetooth Module edit
Accessorise My Dell
CARRYING CASES No Case edit
BATTERIES 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery edit
POWER OPTIONS 90W AC Adapter edit
KEYBOARD Dell(TM) Keyboard with Touchpad (English) edit
Protect My Dell
DELL SERVICES: HARDWARE MAINTENANCE 1-year XPS Premier Service with 1-year CompleteCover edit
SECURITY SOFTWARE McAfee(R) Security Center(TM) 30 days trial (English) edit
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
Item included in the System Integrated 10/100 Fast Ethernet
Item included in the System 1 ExpressCard Slot, (DOES NOT SUPPORT PCMCIA CARDS)
Item included in the System Dell(TM) Media Direct
Item included in the System Dell(TM) PC-Restore
Label Options Label (Core 2 Duo & Intel Wireless)
Modem External USB modem (WW)
Freight Charges Inspiron-NB Handling & Insurance Charges /Express Premium
PalmRest Palmrest with Fingerprint Reader
Remote Control Dell(TM) Travel Remote Control
Dell Services: Remarks Laptop Batteries Carry 1 Year Warranty Only From Invoice Date
Dell Services: Remarks Dell's Terms and Conditions apply
*********************************************************

 

ok you should try thinking if you're gonna want to switch to a higher resolution later on because the display you chose goes up to 1280x800 only (I would personally go for 1440x900 i guess)
but on the other hand if you are comfortable with the screen resolution you've got no problems

other than that it seems pretty nice
If you're gonna use a 32bit system then you're good with 3Gigs of RAM
but if you plan on giving your virtual machines more RAM you should maybe go for the 4Gig ? dunno

just giving you some ideas to think on

 

4 GB RAM and higher screen resolution is recommended for your use. Try to get atleast 1440x900 screen.


BTW how much does that config costs u?

 

Dell doesnt offer 64-bit vista for XPS in India.

 

well I'm not saying dell offer's 64bit Vista but rajeshgawai wrote something about Win XP 64bit which is also an option
now I'm not sure if it's gonna be easy (or at all possible) to find the correct drivers for Win XP 64bit version because i haven't looked into that matter (I've searched for drivers for the 32 bit windows xp only)

i'm just saying that you need 64bit OS in order to take full advantage of having 4GB instead of 3GB RAM (Vista does eat a lot if not tweaked but thats not the case here).

also a bit of offtopic, sry
You don't have to get the 64bit windows from Dell
I'm experimenting with different editions of XP and Vista because i have them for free with the Microsoft's MSDNAA program for college students (Microsoft Developers Network: Academy Alliance or something - it gives college (university) students access to some microsoft products if the college(university) has an agreement with MS)
Or you can simply use another 64bit OS that is not developed by Microsoft ... you are simply not gonna be able to use full 4GB of RAM on your system if it's 32bit (even if it can recognize 4GB)

 

rajeshgawai, just make a order with Dell for your system. You can confirm it later. Now a days, the Dell price is increasing. So, if the price goes down, get it at new price or else, get it at old price which is low. U could also talk to the sales person and get a small discount.

I recently got a 1530 from dell and if u want, I can get u the contact info for the person who was dealing with my sale.

I recently got XPS 1530 with 4GB from Dell and it comes with Vista 32-bit. If I want to use 64-bit vista, should I get a new license or is it possible to convert this license to 64-bit if I dont want to use 32-bit?

 

I'm not sure if you're allowed to downgrade if It's Vista Home Basic or Vista Home Premium but here is the paper on downgrading

(just go to google and type "windows vista downgrade rights" to see the agreement - i'm not allowed to post URLs yet)

basicly it says only Vista Business and Vista Ultimate have downgrading rights and you can easily downgrade them to XP 64bit

you can always try you luck with downgrading Vista Home though
you have to call microsoft anyways (you can try your luck with dell too but i wouldnt have high hopes about it)
just remember - be persistent and polite
being violent on the phone is not gonna solf any problems
and also phone support is usually more cooperative than mail support but you can try both with mails and phone calls (dell or microsoft)

there is more info on downgrading to win xp on the net


sorry for hijacking the thread and not using any punctuation

 

You don't need a separate license for installing the x64bit of the flavor of Vista ( ie., Vista Home Prem 32bit License can be used to install Vista x64 Home Prem )

Why someone want downgrade to XP ?

 

I am buying it at 60572/- INR.

what will be problem with screen resolution. I am not interested in more graphics or gaming i just want this notebook to run atleast 4-5 Virtual Machines on it.

Thanks & Regards,
Rajesh V Gawai.

 

Higher resoultion lets you have more screen area. So, if the scereen resolution is 1440x900, a virtual machine running with a screen resolution 800x600 will be taking only a small area on the screen than when the laptop screen resolution is 1280x800...Hope make sense. I am not very good in explaining things..

 

Thanks A lot everyone.

Really inputs were very usefull and looking forward get more from you guys.
I had purchased Dell XPS 1530 yesterday and waiting for machine delivery.

Thanks a lot.

Rgds,
Rajesh V Gawai

 

Welcome to the XPS M1530 Owners Club

 

Thanks for welcoming me.
Need more help. I am trying to install win server 2003 R2 on it, but HDD is not getting detected. Shall change HDD mode from AHCI to ATA?

What will be cons if doing so?

Also how to format entire HDD (320GB) and make multiple partitions? is it possible using dell provided Dell provided CD's?

Thanks in Advance.

Rajesh Gawai.

 

hmm you could do that but i would suggest you to download the SATA drivers from Intel website and integrate into win2k3 using nLite .

you can create only max of 2 usable partition using Dell Provided DVD , the advantage is that you keep you MediaDirect but if you use any third party you would lose MD but you can create many partitions

 

Thanks for your Reply.

1. If i go with two partitions, will i be able to run Virtual machines?
2. What are 3rd party solutions available?

Thanks

Rajesh.

 

I have quad-boot on my M1530:

Windows XP Pro
Windows Vista Ultimate
Mac OS X 10.5.5
Ubuntu 8.10

There are quite a few guides online how to achieve that. Rather me retyping all of that, do a search for dual or triple boot on Google, you'll find all the info you need.