I'm looking at upgrading my system which is currently using Windows 98. I'm looking at many different bits of hardware which end in XP. Does this mean that it will only work with Windows XP, or will it work with any system?I've been told it will work with windows 98, and it only means Xtra Power, is this true??CheersWill

A lot of hardware that has XP on it has nothing to do with Win XP; just a coincidence. :) I would think that just about all new hardeware will work with Win XP.

Hardware can only work with a specific operating system (OS) if their are drivers written for that purpose. Windows XP is a fairly new operating system and though Microsft did a fairly good job of writing drivers for a lot of hardware, it would be impossible for them to write drivers for every piece of hardware in existence. If the hardware you are looking at says it is compatible with XP it means drivers have been written for it. In most cases it is safe to assume that it is compatible with most versions of windows though it would be smart to check the box. It usually specifies on the side in small print which OS's it is compatible with. If you can't find out there, find the web page of the company and look it up online. If the company doesn't have a web page (some don't) I would not recommend buying the hardware. After all, what kind of computer company deserves to be in business if they aren't even on the internet. Also you will find keeping a list of web pages of your hardware manufactures is a good idea as they often release new and improved drivers every few months."I've been told it will work with windows 98, and it only means Xtra Power, is this true??" I do believe that line came from AMD when trying to advertise their XP line of CPU's. For instance they had the 1800 XP CPU which ran at 1530mhz but they said it was comaprable to an intel cpu running at 1800mhz based on different banchmarks. They were trying to get the general public away from viewing cpu's based on mhz and ghz and more based on application speed. FIY, you can run the amd xp cpu's with just about any standard pc operating system, ie... Windows 3.1, Windows ME, Windows NT, Windows XP, Linux, BEOS, etc, etc...

>A lot of hardware that has XP on it has nothing to do with >Win XP; just a coincidence. :) I would think that just about >all new hardeware will work with Win XP. Actually... There's no coincidence here whatsoever. Any hardware manufacturer that puts an "XP" designation on their products is intentionally trying to make the association between their product and Windows XP in the consumer's mind. An XP designation doesn't imply that it was "designed specifically for Windows XP", but the marketing department at said companies sure would like you to think so :)Max Cowgill

Cheers for the information guys, i can now start looking around at my pc upgrade :DWill