Windows 7 drivers HP Laptop ... Advice Needed Please

[MESA Boogie]

from what I understand from HP, they don't plan on releasing Windows 7 drivers for my laptop which is under 2 years old ... I have run the Windows 7 upgrade advisor and my laptop meets all the requirements ... on the report it has been suggested that after installing windows 7 that I go to the windows update site and download drivers for the following devices to make them compatible :

HP Remote Control HID Device
Conexant High Definition SmartAudio 221
NVIDIA MCP67M
Ricoh Memory Stick Host Controller
Ricoh xD-Picture Card Controller
Ricoh SD/MMC Host Controller

here is a link for the vista drivers for my laptop.. would the above devices be compatible using the drivers for vista from the HP website...

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/s...652149&lang=en

my question is, should I do what the windows 7 upgrade advisor is telling me or should I try the vista drivers ... in my other post about upgrading it was said that most vista drivers will work with windows 7 ... and I have always heard that it is better to go with the manufacturers drivers as opposed to windows drivers ... but, the upgrade advisor is saying that I need to download the windows drivers to make the devices above COMPATIBLE ... my instinct is telling me to do what the upgrade advisor is suggesting, but I would like confirmation from the experts on this forum ...my plan is to install the Windows 7 RC first to see how things go before purchasing a retail copy of Windows 7 ...
thankyou for your help, its appreciated ....

[SpywareDr]

... should I do what the windows 7 upgrade advisor is telling me ... go to the windows update site and download drivers for the following devices ...

I would, simply because it usually works.

[SuperSparks]

Windows 7 has been specifically designed to be able to use Vista drivers, so you won't have any problems in any case. In fact on most hardware makers' sites, they seem to be offering the identical drivers for both Win7 & Vista. Clearly if HP understood the situation they could just rebadge their existing Vista drivers, but that's what they are like about drivers. I'll never buy another of their products after they refused to write Vista drivers for an extremely expensive, top-of-the-range scanner that was 18 months old

[MESA Boogie]

SpywareDR and SuperSparks - THANKYOU ... I usually don't purchase HP products and I'm still wondering why I did ... its a real let down to find out that they aren't supporting it for Windows 7, its not as if its ancient ... its nice to know that windows 7 will use Vista drivers ... the laptop runs great with Vista, I haven't had any major issues ... I will install the Windows 7 RC on it, work out all the bugs and see what happens .... should I try the Vista drivers first or just go to the Windows 7 update site and snag them from there... SpywareDR says to go to windows update and SuperSparks says the vista ones should work, so therefore I'M CONFUSED

[SuperSparks]

It shouldn't matter either way really, but I'd go with the Doc's suggestion first, it's always best to get the latest drivers if you can, and specifically written Win 7 ones may be tweaked a little bit even though Vista ones work. Be aware though, that drivers from Windows Update can cause trouble, something that has been a problem for years. On my brand new rig that I've just finished building, I decided to download the NIC driver from Windows Update and it wiped my network card altogether The same driver downloaded from Gigabyte worked perfectly. I still recommend downloading from the hardware maker's site wherever possible.

[MESA Boogie]

thanks SuperSparks .... you have me confused ... you say to go with what SpywareDr says, but then you say that you always recommend the hardware manufacturers drivers .... its the drivers for the hardware listed in my original post that I'm concerned about ... on the windows 7 upgrade report it did say to make these devices COMPATIBLE .... maybe I should go ahead and try the windows drivers first and then if theres a problem do the vista ones .... the report did say that there might be a problem with HP QUICK PLAY buttons, which I have never used, so I guess that doesn't matter, if they work great, if not, it doesn't really matter ... I'm just looking for all the advice and help I can get before doing this and ending up with a nightmare, which with my luck can easily happen ... as mentioned my plan is to try the RC first, see how things go, and then do the real thing ...

[Train]

The windows online drivers are normally older out of date ones.
But with my antique that has Win 7 on it, they are working OK.

[MESA Boogie]

thanks Train ... I'm only considering the windows update drivers since the report says in order to make the devices compatible with windows 7

[SuperSparks]

What I am saying is to download any drivers direct from the hardware maker's website rather than from Windows Update. WU has a long history of providing troublesome drivers, and is best used as a last resort.

[MESA Boogie]

Thankyou ... I will take the vista drivers from HP's website since they are the ones for the laptop and if I have any problems I will then use the drivers from windows update ... I have been putting this off all day, now I guess its time to get down to work ... will let you know how things work out ....