Last night, a friend told me that I'm getting a new laptop (as a gift) for the Dec. 25 holiday. Because it is a gift, and I don't want to come across as greedy or anything, I'll gleefully accept the HP (brand), which is what I have now (and is on its last days).

I've read that some people have had major headaches working with Vista, and others? Little to no problems.

What I'm wondering is: Since I hold a license or PID for XP O/S (raw/clean installation CDs), would I mess up a new 'puter if run into too many conflicts with software apps. I need and I overwrite Vista? (by installing XP)?