We have carried the solution to installing XP over Vista in last month's QnA section. It was the Question of the month. You should be able to get your answer. You might need to integrate your hard drive controller drives if the laptop is really new and the drivers aren't available on XP's installation CD. The problem with drivers usually happens with the SATA controller and you'll notice it the moment you boot into the XP CD. Your drives will not be detected in case that happens. You can use software called Nlite