The answer I was given in the shop is that while XP will work OK in these conditions as an operating system many of the peripherals will not work as the machine is tailored for W7.
I don't understand that.
I thought that as long as you have the correct drivers for the peripherals and operating system you select when you boot up (under a dual boot system), then they should work.
I won't be offended if someone wants to tells me why this is incorrect.
I have a lot of XP programs incompatable with W7
If everything ran well under XP or Vista then I can't see the point in changing.
Or am I missing something?
I've dual booted several operating systems and I've had no major problems.
I'm sticking with XP/XP because Win 7 doesn't support my soundcard, and XP does everything I need.

'Hat.