as long as you have all the CDs and !@#$%^&*, i'd say go to XP... the only reason i stay with vista, is because of the pre-installed security suite and school software that i came pre-installed. once i get the money, im going to buy another computer (not sure lap or desk) to install all my fun stuff on, and use this one for school.... and for some reason, when i WANT my computer to use memory when loading, it seems to only remain at 50%-75% of utilization... which is re!@#$%^&*ed.. i have those 2 GBs in there for a reason...