Can you buy a fast laptop now w/WindowsXP? If not, why not?

This is why we installed XP ourselves. You can still buy XP and then again you could move one of your licenses over.

Then again it would have been cheaper to use XP MODE but in our case we pickle the system for use later.
Bob

Your best bet would be Dell's Latitude line, but this far along, I wouldn't get my hopes up.

There are a multitude of reasons why, ranging from Microsoft not selling XP to OEMs anymore to hardware makers not wanting to spend the money to create an XP driver when Microsoft is very nearly done phasing it out completely.

Basically, Microsoft have stopped supplying XP to the system builders and will not issue EULAs for new machines.

You may find the odd one still in a "Mom and Pop" style computer store but most major retailers have removed them and the retail XP software from their shelves. Peripheral and component manufactures have also largely stopped producing drivers for new devices for XP - just a sensible commercial decision.

You may find an older fast machine (say a Core 2 Quad or suchlike that did support XP in the manufacturers refurb lists and you can certainly still buy original restore disk for XP, so that may be another approach.

Microsoft's preferred solution, as Bob says, is to use XP mode on Windows 7 and on a reasonably fast machine, it should perform well and it is free.

Good luck!

Windows XP is dying. And, in Mid-2014, it hits "end of Life". And, in addition to the above comments, that's why it's so hard to buy a new XP computer. But, to clarify:

The trick is to buy a new PC with W 7 Professional or W 7 Ultimate, because Microsoft offers "Virtual PC and XP Mode" as free downloads. And, these downloads are all you really need to solve your 'XP compatibility problems'. W 7 Home Premium, or lower, won't even run XP mode.

TIP: Whenever Microsoft offers 'something for nothing that IS useful', grab it, and here's the link:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/

If you were talking desktop, I would suggest building your own. It's a little easier to find new motherboards with XP drivers available than trying to find new machines that do. I recently managed to build a current machine with Windows 98 support for the same reason (old software that works with 98 that would cost nearly a half-year's worth of salary to replace).