New Laptop and Software questions

[MuleShack]

I'm contemplating getting a laptop partly for work and partly for personal stuff.

All the new stuff (looking at a Dell) comes with Vista installed. In order to be compatible with my work files I need the office 2000/XP installed.

Can I use the same software package from my home computer and install it on the new laptop? I can only use one computer at a time anyway, just curious if that was legal?

Secondly, can you have 2 versions of Office installed on the same computer (vista OEM, and also put XP on there for other uses)? Anyone able to answer that?

I do a lot of Access database programming for work and was wondering what would be a good "minimum" platform to get for a laptop with that usage? I dont want to go too small, but dont want to spend a ton of money either. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks

[Nick Kuhn]

Probably not, the discs that come with a manufacturer computer are usually brand specific and only work with certain BIOS. If you have a retail package XP then yes you can use it, although having two computers using the same key could cause a problem with Windows Validation.

On office I don't think so. Unless you partitioned and dual booted, which would be downright silly.

Any Centrino 2 platform should work nicely.

[morpho]

most current business class laptops come with a "widows vista to xp upgrade" the only problem is your looking at mid to high priced laptops

[upnorth]

Quote:

All the new stuff (looking at a Dell) comes with Vista installed. In order to be compatible with my work files I need the office 2000/XP installed

You can run most anything on Vista that you ran on XP.

Depending on the licensing for Office you can install it elsewhere. If is OEM licensing it is strictly for the PC that is came with, if not you can install it elsewhere. It should say on the CD package. The hitch is if you can legally only install it on one PC.

The lower end PC/laptops now days are still pretty high powered compared to a few years ago. Main thing that I would look at is RAM. With Vista I would look at a minimum of 2 Gig of RAM and if you can find a reasonable package with 4 go for it.

[BobT]

I second that, upnorth.

I upgraded from Windows98SE. While I did run into some minor issues with my old software being compatable with Vista, I was able to work around them rather easily. Not much different than when XP first hit the market. Some older software wasn't compatable for a time. Most of those software packages now have Vista compatable upgrades available and I should think that most software is that way.

Bob

[Whoaru99]

Afaik, to be fully kosher with the EULA you need to have a separate license for each Microsoft product install.

Their newer activiation systems are making it much more troublesome to install the same software on more than one computer. Some of the installs take a snapshot of your hardware and somehow use that with the key. So, the next time you install the software on a different computer, it finds the old record and says "a major hardware change has been detected, please call xxx-xxx-xxxx for activation assistance", or something like that.

If it's OEM software (say Dell) and you're trying to get it activated now on a HP, for example, they'll probably say no way. If it's retail software, you'll probably have to convince them the other machine has gone to the big computer warehouse in the sky in order to get an updated license key that will activate on the new machine.

[MuleShack]

Quote:

All the new stuff (looking at a Dell) comes with Vista installed. In order to be compatible with my work files I need the office 2000/XP installed

You can run most anything on Vista that you ran on XP.

SO your saying that If i got a laptop that has Windows Vista on it, I could essentially remove the 2007 office software and put on Office 2000 or XP and still run it effectively?

[upnorth]

You should be able to buy it with no MS office at all.

[morpho]

i think you guys are forgetting that most corporate i.t. departments don't support vista on there network.. With xp it took 3-4 years to become mainstream. As far as office you should be able to uninstall it from your old machine and add it to the new one "legally"

[MuleShack]

The laptop is primarily going to be used so i can work out side of work and when i'm not at the home computer. (IE: like staying a weekend in the wheelhouse or just being mobile.)

If i would buy something new It seems like it has to come with Windows Vista on it.

Even if i get no Office software when purchasing the machine, i could buy the Office 2002/XP software bundle for a little over $130 now.

The question is, can the office 2002 product be ran using the Vista operating system?

My other "assumption" here is that you cannot take an access 2002 file and bring it into an access 2007 program and design it and then put it back as a 2002 program. Is that correct or can they go back and forth? My only experience was going from 97 into the 2000/2002 where the files had to be converted. Any experience on this angle?

If the files are not interchangeable, i might look at finding a slightly used one to cover the cost of the added software.

[jwhjr]

My other "assumption" here is that you cannot take an access 2002 file and bring it into an access 2007 program and design it and then put it back as a 2002 program. Is that correct or can they go back and forth? My only experience was going from 97 into the 2000/2002 where the files had to be converted. Any experience on this angle?

We're currently piloting Office 2007 at work and I have it on one of my machines. All of our Access databases are in 2002-2003 format and there have been no issues opening or modifying the 2002-2003 databases in Access 2007. The only thing you would have to keep in mind or look out for is if you have any references in the 2002 version that aren't compatible with the 2007. In our case we didn't have an issue.

[jwhjr]

To add to my post there is XP Pro on both machines.

[PerchJerker]

MuleShack - I picked up a HP business laptop that was downgraded from Vista to XP, the machine is loaded up pretty well and was about $500. I got it from Systemhouse, they're my business partner and deal with computers, networking, home theatre, etc. I've been really happy with it, sounds like it might be just the thing you're looking for too.

[upnorth]

i think you guys are forgetting that most corporate i.t. departments don't support vista on there network.. With xp it took 3-4 years to become mainstream. As far as office you should be able to uninstall it from your old machine and add it to the new one "legally"

We don't support Vista unless a home user has it that needs some help and then we do it begrudgingly. We are still holding on to the hope that Vista will go the way of ME. And the real killer is our software vendors will not support applications installed on it, so if there is a problem we are stuck.

Office 2007 ain't any better, I have been demoing it on my laptop at work for close to 6 months and I still wind up hunting for ways to do what I want to do.

[theoilman]

Most (if not all) the Office 2007 family of programs will open the older versions and will also 'save as' the older versions.

I don't have Access, but Excel, Word and PowerPoint 2007 will definitely open and save as the older version. 2002 or 2003 version will not open a 2007 saved version though.

However once Outlook and Business Contact Manager data files are converted to the 2007 format I don't think they can be changed back to the older versions.

[MuleShack]

MuleShack - I picked up a HP business laptop that was downgraded from Vista to XP, the machine is loaded up pretty well and was about $500. I got it from Systemhouse, they're my business partner and deal with computers, networking, home theatre, etc. I've been really happy with it, sounds like it might be just the thing you're looking for too.

Yea, after putting a little more thought into it, i'm going to find a refurbished machine with the XP on it. Currently i have no use for the 2007 product and "work" is not switching any time soon. So saving some money might be the better choice and still get something that is fully functional for my use.

Thanks.

[PierBridge]

Office 2007 is a whole new learning experience in itself!

XP for life!

[delcecchi]

you could try open office or ibm symphony which are pretty much office compatible open source software. and free.

[BobT]

It seems there are a lot of you that relate Office2007 with XP. These are two totally different software packages.

As with any new upgrade, it can take some time to get comfortable with them. It's just been too long since the last upgrade and everyone got too comfortable with XP and Office 2003.

Change with the times or be left behind I guess.

There are a lot of features in both Vista and Office2007 that I like now that I've become more familiar with them. Like a good beer, they grow on you.

Bob

[LMITOUT]

Try AutoCad 2009 once. It has the "ribbons" and fly-out menus like Office 2007 and then some.

[upnorth]

They had something simple and easy to navigate, then they had to go mess around with a good thing.

[BobT]

I felt the same way at first, upnorth, but I'm coming around. We still use XP and Office2003 at work and now I find myself looking for features that don't exist. Go figure!

Bob

[upnorth]

We have about 450 MS office users up here, we aren't even considering rolling it out. Way too much difference to try and get that many users trained on using it. We may have to eventually, but not until we are literally forced to make the change.

[BobT]

Sounds like the choice our IT group has made as well. It is quite a change compared to past transitions.

Bob

[Borch]

I'm contemplating getting a laptop partly for work and partly for personal stuff.

All the new stuff (looking at a Dell) comes with Vista installed. In order to be compatible with my work files I need the office 2000/XP installed.

Can I use the same software package from my home computer and install it on the new laptop? I can only use one computer at a time anyway, just curious if that was legal?

Secondly, can you have 2 versions of Office installed on the same computer (vista OEM, and also put XP on there for other uses)? Anyone able to answer that?

I do a lot of Access database programming for work and was wondering what would be a good "minimum" platform to get for a laptop with that usage? I dont want to go too small, but dont want to spend a ton of money either. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks

Muleshack,

If you order on-line you can down grade to "XP" for and additional $150 on the inspiron laptops. If you want to run and XPS or Studio talk to a representative on the phone and they'll likely be more than willing to do the same on those units.

All the Microsoft liscense cover their previous versions. So if you have an liscense for Office 2007 you can legally run a copy of Office XP even with the 2007 liscense. It does not work the other way however. You can only have the software on as many computers as you have liscenses for even if you're only using one at a time. You can either buy user liscenses from Microsoft or go buy another box of the product. If you look around you can often pick these up at a lower price.

To be honest I shy away from the minimum requirement threshold for running programs. When you hang at or near that programs begin to run quirky as other programs running in the background also use computer resources depending on your setup.

Good Luck!

[Whoaru99]

Office 2007 ain't any better, I have been demoing it on my laptop at work for close to 6 months and I still wind up hunting for ways to do what I want to do.

No kidding. I bought Office Enterprise 2007 through HUP (home use program) for $20.

Put it on my computer and tried to use it for a couple days...it was so different that I didn't want to screw around trying to figure out how to do stuff all over again. I uninstalled it and put Office Pro 2003 back on.

Now, the new computers out at work are coming with Office 2007 so I suppose it's just a matter of time.