HP 6200N vs Dell Vostro

I am in the market for a new desktop for the home, I am down to 2
models, I see the HP Pavillion 6200N is a good performer, It only draw
back for us is Windows Vista, the Dell Vostro is a nice package not up
to the specs as the HP but it comes with Windows XP Pro, and this is
what we want in out next computer Windows XP Pro, I have a question on
the HP Pavillion 6200N, can I format the drive and install Win XP
without hurting the performance, or can I add a second hard drive and
install WIn XP on it and boot up from either hard drive and choose which
ver of Windows at boot up.

thanks
Chet


PS I am also open for opinions if there is a computer with the specs as
the HP Pavillion 6200N that comes with Win XP for around the same price,
the HP Pavillion 6200N is selling for $584.00 at Best Buys.

 

Yes.
For a dual boot set-up using the Vista boot loader you have to install XP
first and then install Vista on a second bootable partition. It is one of
the few things that works well with Vista but comes with the usual Vista
gotcha: the Vista boot loader is impossible to uninstall, if you decide to
delete Vista, without formatting the hard drive.
I do not know if this is possible with the restore discs that come with HPs.
However, rather than having to remember which hard drive to choose you can
get a commercial product, that will install itself in the boot sector and
allow you to choose which OS to boot to automatically after a pause.