DELL vostro 1510

Hi all,
I have got admission into Chitkara institute of inf. and tech. (comuter science and engineering) AND LAPTOPS ARE MANDATORY FOR EVERY STUDENT there ..... The institute has tied up with DELL and booking is on for the DELL Vostro 1510... THE operating system they are providing is WINDOWS Vista.... .The laptops have the following configuration(attached image).... ...All of this is available in Rs. 43000/-
So my problems are...
1. Is vista better than XP PRO(which i have been using for three years....
i mean can I run softwares downloaded from the net on it....especially the TRACKMANIA NATIONS game..?
2. Actually they say the institute will provide licensed software needed for studies in engineering(like C++, VB , .NET etc.).....they say that if i 'll buy any laptop from outside, then i'll have to buy softwares from the market which will cost about Rs. 30000 more...
3. CAN I ALSO INSTALL WINDOWS XP pro ON that notebook along with the provided vista?

ANother main thing is that they are giving 3 YEAR ON SITE warranty...
What shud i do.....?
Plz. help

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The Dell Vostro 1510 is a great machine especially now that you are getting it with a THREE YEAR ON SITE Warranty.

Currently DELL offers Vista Downgrade Rights. This allows users who purchase Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate to keep using Windows XP Professional for as long as needed. With this option Dell supplies you with both the XP PRO as well as the VISTA disks. You can change to whichever OS whenever you like.

Thanks for the reply......So i think i shud go for what is being provided.....BUT plz. tell can i also install XP PRO simultaneously with the readily installed VISTA...I mean i have read sumthing like "dual boot".

Yes, you can go for what is provided!

No there is no dual boot. There will be just ONE operating system on your laptop at any given time. You can opt for XP Pro initially and then later on (if you want you can install the VISTA OS. You can read more about this at Dell - Windows XP Availability