software compatability

[raaandy]

I have a gateway pc that came with microsoft xp pro software.  I just got an older Dell laptop and would like to reformat the drive and install my xp software that I got from Gateway on it.  Can I do this?  The disks have Gateway printed on them.  The operating system disk also says "To be used with a new Gateway PC".    Any help would be appreciated.

[patio]

Probably not...
OEM XP CD's are normally tied to the machine they shipped with and will not install properly on another machine...even if both machines are the same brand sometimes.
You may want to consider another OS for the laptop depending on the components such as Win2K or even a flavor of Linux such as Ubuntu.