The idea of reinstalling Windows on a laptop like this would probably not be a good idea, because (stating generally), if the HDD is not big enough to support the operating system decently, may I ask what kind of state the RAM is in? If you need to upgrade the RAM, the older the machine, the higher the price climbs, and if it's too old, you won't even be able to buy new RAM. May I state on the behalf of Windows, that XP requires 128mb RAM to run. This is a lie. XP REQUIRES 256mb RAM, otherwise you can boot, and view a desktop, but then you're out of RAM. Would you mind posting up the full specs of your machine, because sometimes Dell's are customized before purchase, so it may not be at factory specs.