Before I get to that question per se, here is the situation:
I gave a close friend my old Pentium 4 years ago to close friend of mine who lives on a limited disability income. It's been a work horse but at 10 years old, it's dying, so I need to get him a new one -- but something simple and cheap (under USD $400):
He only uses it for Net surfing, email and such. No multimedia editing, etc. - at most maybe some word-processing at some point. Even a dual-core isn't that important.
What I've seen out there on the Net is those compact mini and slim computers in the price range -- but it seems wiser to get a standard/regular size PC for it's more user-friendly in terms of cards, peripherals, replacing parts, etc. (I'm his tech guy, too.)
I built my last computer myself and the Pentium 4 was a local off-brand so I've never dealt with pre-installed operating systems on Dells, Compaq, etc. -- the latter being the simplest way to get such a basic computer.
So here is why I wish to know if one can clean-install an OS on such prefabs:
For various reasons, we want to stick to XP and upgrade to Win7 a few years from now. So let's say I find a great deal on a Dell, Compaq or other name-brand and it has Win7. I want to be able to wipe the drive and install his XP Home.
So:
Q: Would such a pre-fab computer let me do that -- or does Microsoft have some proprietary deal with such companies whereby that only the Dell or Compaq or whatever bundled OS will work on that particular machine? I.e. the OS disk that comes with the computer is the only one that will work with that particular system?
Basic logic tells me that I should be able to install any drive with whatever OS I want on one of these but maybe there is some mobo or bios thing that doesn't allow one to that.
Thanks for your input.
I gave a close friend my old Pentium 4 years ago to close friend of mine who lives on a limited disability income. It's been a work horse but at 10 years old, it's dying, so I need to get him a new one -- but something simple and cheap (under USD $400):
He only uses it for Net surfing, email and such. No multimedia editing, etc. - at most maybe some word-processing at some point. Even a dual-core isn't that important.
What I've seen out there on the Net is those compact mini and slim computers in the price range -- but it seems wiser to get a standard/regular size PC for it's more user-friendly in terms of cards, peripherals, replacing parts, etc. (I'm his tech guy, too.)
I built my last computer myself and the Pentium 4 was a local off-brand so I've never dealt with pre-installed operating systems on Dells, Compaq, etc. -- the latter being the simplest way to get such a basic computer.
So here is why I wish to know if one can clean-install an OS on such prefabs:
For various reasons, we want to stick to XP and upgrade to Win7 a few years from now. So let's say I find a great deal on a Dell, Compaq or other name-brand and it has Win7. I want to be able to wipe the drive and install his XP Home.
So:
Q: Would such a pre-fab computer let me do that -- or does Microsoft have some proprietary deal with such companies whereby that only the Dell or Compaq or whatever bundled OS will work on that particular machine? I.e. the OS disk that comes with the computer is the only one that will work with that particular system?
Basic logic tells me that I should be able to install any drive with whatever OS I want on one of these but maybe there is some mobo or bios thing that doesn't allow one to that.
Thanks for your input.