many companies still sell xp laptops, here is a search at tigerdirect for laptops with xp XP Pro Laptops buy.com also has quite a few. just search for new laptops with windows xp and you will find them. Some that come up will be the new small netbooks so if you do not want those you will just have to wade through them to get the full size laptops. be cautious because some places do sell refurbished models but they are always labeled as such. below is the search link from buy.com another option is to go to a company like cyberpowerpc and configure your own pc and have them build it for you with exactly what you want on it, they do offer xp. Welcome to Cyberpowerpc.com Here is a link that might be useful: buy.com

You might unplug the vga, then try to bootup in safe mode by tapping the F8 key on boot. It's a long shot, but just may get a minimal display screen where you could go back in and change the display settings. I use s-video from my pc to tv, so don't have any experience with the vga setup to tv. Never had a screen go black from any of the settings.

There's nothing wrong with Vista and I think you should look a little deeper for your problem. I went with my girlfriend last week and she purchased a Toshiba Satellite laptop with Vista Home Basic Edition, 2GB RAM, 200GB Hard drive. First thing I did was remove Norton 360 through control panal/uninstall and then install AVG Anti-Virus. She wanted Photoshop installed, no problem. Next was Microsoft Office 2007, started installing and bam computer shuts down completely. I think heat, you know that they are always warm on the bottom, but no as long as there is a little clearance on the bottom for air, they'll run for hours and days on end. Decided to uninstall the trial of the preinstalled Student Microsoft Office thinking there was a conflict with the Pro version I was trying to install, went to control panel/uninstall and tried to remove the student version, bam again computer shuts down completely. Did a search on the internet for vista shuts down and the best info I could find was that it's programs running in the background causing conflicts. I remembered the Norton Removal Tool and downloaded, ran and removed all traces. Went to msconfig and took a look at the programs running at startup and thus running in the background, installed CCleaner ccsetup209_slim.exe, my preferred tool (Tools/Startup) for disabling startup and unnecessary programs from running in the background. After that Microsoft Office installed perfect and the machine has never shutdown again. Next time I have the laptop, all the bundled software is coming off, who needs it. So what I'm saying is that there is a conflict with a program that's running in the background and whatever you're doing at the time the machine shuts down. Duel boot is fine, you'll need an XP disk, $100 or less. Make a separate partition to install it on. Really very simple, less than an hour if you know what your doing. With a duel boot, you're given the choice or either booting into XP or Vista or set one as the default. I have both, doesn't matter which I use, both perform equally. First thing I'd do is remove all the bundled software that came with the machine that you don't need, especially Norton that comes preinstalled with the Toshiba Satellite and get a good Anti-Virus program. You should also have Vista Service Pack 1 installed by now.

>>>> "All of the various computer sellers (Apple especially) would like you to think that the value of the system you are purchasing reflects not only the hardware but the pre-installed software as well. It is a fallacy to fall into this trap. You're much better off considering each "ifree and pre-installed" software title a liability in so much as you will have to take time and trouble to get the #&$^� off your system." Bought or started up an OEM/MSWin Pc lately? Boot up a new Dell sometimes and just take a quick look at what comes that you didn't ask for..... Otherwise, having run PC's (Win DOS-XP-SP2/Linux/the Open & Free BSD's) and Macs (MacOS5(?) thru the sons OSX.4) and being a committed (maybe commitable?) Linux user who likes to play with FreeBSD and has a nice new copy of Solaris X86 to play with.............. Well, were someone ask me should they get a MacOS machine or a WinPC or a Linux box...AND ESPECIALLY if the person asking is primarily interested in "consumer/personal" type IT ie: browsing, email, music, photo's, email, schoolwork I would have to say get the Mac....Nothing simpler easier or more "user friendly" As for total system quality and value..... We still have a IIe, a Performa 5200, an original IMac with OS9 and OSX, a red IMac, and a white IMac, all of which still work. All of them. And the son has that G4 PowerBook that I (and the S.o. too) lust over. Though my limited personal experience with APPL tech support is quite limited, I have none but positive exepiences with them, but know others who have a less than stellar opinion of the same....BUT the online help via forums, FAQs and tutorials and etc. that's available to/for MAC users is IMNSHO, second to none, it's at least as good and useful as for Linux. I have a 32 pound i386 Compaq "portable" too, It sill works, but is no longer useful for much more than anchoring a small canoe in a stiil body of water. The Performa5200 (only reason we bought it was because we were getting it almost for free) running OS7.5 is still my very favorite mchine, that 32mb of RAm and that ("newly installed" LOL) 56K modem just don't seem as fast and robust as they used too....... Damn, I must be getting old..... Next I want a Cell Processor based PS3 machine (Anybody wanna sell me one real cheap?) to turn into my own personal Linux based super-computer, unless/until C.P. motherboards and processors start becoming commercially available at a somewhat resonable cost. HAGD..........I headed out to check out the rose bushes and take the dogs off in the woods over an hour ago, but haven't left yet. I am going now though, gotta beat that rain you know.....