You won't be able to install the driver if it is made for XP. check that the driver is for vista before downloading. Vista is pretty good at installing Drivers for most things so you could try uninstalling it in Device Manager from the right-click context menu, telling windows to delete driver files, then rebooting... Vista should then install the correct drivers by itself.
Unless you have another identical laptop you can test it in, the only alternative is to buy another and test. eBay will be your friend here.