Do New Dell PC’s ship with Windows Vista SP1 pre-installed
The clock is ticking on the availability of new Dell hardware shipping with Windows XP.
June 18th 2008 is the last day you can order new equipment from Dell that ships with XP pre-installed.
The best page on Dell.com that delves into this issue is this one (Link).
So if Windows XP’s shipping days are numbered does that mean Dell now ship new hardware with Windows Vista SP1?
I had a look at the Operating System configuration section of new hardware to find out. Note the number of options you see depends on the machine you choose. In the picture below I chose a business class Precision Workstation.
That’s sort of vague. The only mention of SP1 is in relation to a Downgrade to XP.
So I did a little deeper and I find this post of the Direct 2 Dell site.
This post from www.direct2dell.com
So it seems the transition period has started, but only just.
Tip: If you are ordering a new machine with Windows Vista ideally you want one with Vista SP1 pre-installed.
If Dell has an official announcement about the shipping availability of Windows Vista SP1 on their product range then please put a link to it in the comments section.
