XP query

Not an issue as such. But I am thinking of getting a new laptop soon. Anyway I have a Netbook with Windows XP at the moment. Would there be a way to uninstall XP from my Netbook, and install it alongside Windows 8, on the laptop for free.

No. The XP on your netbook will be an OEM version and will only work on the original hardware. It can actually be quite difficult to install XP on modern equipment; it's really not a good idea to keep using such an ancient OS, particularly if you connect to the Internet.

Yes, I did it from an article in the magazine PC Answers Issue 140 of Dec 2004 entitled 'Combine Service Pack 2 and other updates into your Windows XP CD'. I'm sure you can find similar by Googling 'Slipstreaming XP'.

You can find an OEM Product key in the file OOBEINFO.INI.

You will probably find this is not possible because if you buy a new laptop it will use AHCI and UEFI SecureBoot technologies, amongst other things, both of which a normal installation of Windows XP will not be able to cope with.

You would be better getting a Windows 8 Pro machine and installing the Hyper-V feature and running Windows XP in that, but again, license considerations mentioned in other posts.