I just ordered a Dell laptop. I plan on re-imaging it with XP Pro instead of home which it comes with.

I have seen friends laptops that have a touchpad program, or monitor that runs in the task bar.

I am assuming that this utility is not really needed...

Am I correct?

Or should I install it somehow post imaging?

Yeah you don't need it unless the hardware depends on that software (obviously), after you get everything set up go into mouse properties in the control panel and you can configure the touchpad there. Just set up the tappoing for clicking, etc. Should work fine without the program though.

btw: http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-eaf2b11922-a75fe50b39

You don't need it, but the software will be on your Drivers and Utilities CD if you want it.

Thanks!

I'm getting a mini bluetooth mouse regardless...

Thermaltake XWing

Cool! How much is that setting you back? I might want one for my craptop.

About $70. I have bluetooth internal on my laptop, so I get a USB adapter for my PC.

Heres the specs of my new toy:
-Inspiron 8600
-Pentium® M Processor,1.6 GHz, 15.4 UltraSharpTM Wide Screen SXGA+,
-Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition (to be reimaged)
-512MB,333MHz 2 DIMM
-64MB DDR NVIDIA® GeForceTM FX Go5200 AGP 4X Graphics NV64MB
-60GB Hard Drive
-AC adapter -90w, 19.5v
-Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem INTNIC [430-0493]
-24X CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive with Sonic RecordNow
-Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200 Internal Wireless (802.11 b/g, 54Mbps)
-72 WHr Primary Battery
-3 Year Limited Warranty plus 3 Year Mail-In Service
-Graphite Swirl QuickSnapTM Cover
-DellTM TrueMobileTM 300 Bluetooth Internal Card TM300I [430-0407]

my laptop (compaq) came with xpHome preinstalled, the touchpad drivers can be downloaded from dell.com (as it's oem provided) or from the company that made the touchpad

however, when i formatted and went to put xpPro on the system, it failed miserably, hardware conflicts all over the place, so i went back to xpHome

Well...you did get a Compaq...

i kno ...

FWIW, we use lots of Dell laptops here at work, and re imaging them with a normal OS install is never a problem. Dell's driver CDs are set up to handle doing this, which is a real bonus and time saver.

I dont want to start a new post for this, and since we're discussing laptops...

Is there a good way to synchronize certain things between a PC and a laptop...besides manually transfering files and stuff...

I hate touch pads, because I do a lot of photoshoping, it is hard to do with a touch pad.

That's what Briefcase in Windows is for, but I've never used it. The help in WinXP makes it seem pretty simple.

Briefcase only really works with existing files (so I'm told).

hey dkreifus I dont mean to brag but heres the specs on my new toy
Inspiron 9100
15.4 UltraSharpTM Wide Screen SXGA+
2.8 ghz P4 with HT
128MB DDR ATI Mobility radeon 9700 AGP 8X
512mb ram 333mhz 2 dimms
60 gb 7200 rpm hd
150w 19.5v ac adapter
90wh primary battery
xp pro
intergrated 10/100 lan and 802.11 b/g, 54Mbps wireless
24X CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive

on the down side it wieghs 9 lbs and has about 75 min of battery life
oh and the battery has a subwoofer in it. which I though was pretty frickin weird