Dell :: 1537-laptop

I've bought a Dell 1537 laptop. It is a P8400, 3GB, 250GB, GMA4500MHD, TrueLife 1280x800.

I have some problems with it, and since I'm new to the world of laptops, I thought you might help me out.

I was very dissapointed when I discovered that it has no support for WinXP.
I've installed Vista SP1 Business, but I still miss my trusty XP.
I've seen that there are some XP drivers on samsware, but I wouldn't install them unless I was assured that they are as good as the latest ones from Dell.
(I've installed the latest ones, and flashed the BIOS to A08)

Here are some of my problems:
1)There is a constant noise, from the moment I start the laptop, it sounds like the fan, but I think it's from the HDD(Hitachi HTS543225L9A300). Why would the fan kick in it the cpu has the room temp? I've heard the fan, but when the CPU touched 50C.
Is there any chance I could get rid off this noise?
Also can I lower the noise of the HDD when it writes?

2)Sometimes I also hear a high pitched noise, I think it's that CPU whine problem. Is there a solution for it?

3)I've removed the IDT drivers, and let Vista install its own, the sound improved a lot, but there still is some sort of a resonance, at medium to high levels. Anyone else had this problem?

4)Can I adjust the size of the memory shared for the video card?

5)I have the impression that the image is not that smooth(I can see the pixels quite clear, and rounded letters/objects seem "pixelated"), and that I have to take a bit of distance from the LCD, to improve it(I'm using the native resolution, the dpi is set to the lowest level, 96dpi if I remember correctly).
Any advices?
(The colours are OK, but the angles are awful.)

6)Can I hide the partition that came with the laptop? Dunno for sure, what's on it, I assume it is MediaDirect.

7)Is there any chance I could use an external eSATA hdd and boot OS from it?