xp or win 7 for old P4

RobTi · 14 May 2012 at 19:25

Hi need to install either of the above on parents pc (acer aspire sa85) which has a P4 @3.2 and 2Gb ram what would you suggest.

It will be used for browsing and occasional printing and cd burning.
thanks
Robert

Duke · 14 May 2012 at 19:50

I've used a few systems with a P4 and Windows 7 with 2GB and it was fine. The HD would be the only item I would change if possible though as the disks were old and holding it back the most.

theheyes · 14 May 2012 at 20:13

Win 7

cats_five · 14 May 2012 at 20:26

I would go with W7 as well, unless you can't find drivers for it.

Nightglow · 14 May 2012 at 20:27

W7 64

XP has had it's day in my opinion.

RobTi · 15 May 2012 at 09:44

Nightglow said:
W7 64

XP has had it's day in my opinion.

Can't run 64 on this, is it not 32 on a P4.

Thanks for all the help 7 it is

Robert

marmalade · 15 May 2012 at 14:21

Nightglow · 15 May 2012 at 15:06

RobTi: If it's a early P4 then it's 32 bit, later ones could use 64 bit but, a long time since I used a P4.

Sefirosu · 15 May 2012 at 15:14

As an old XP fan, XP is **** and dead.

But having read OP

go with XP if it's cheaper or you already have it.

Stoner81 · 15 May 2012 at 15:20

W7 should run fine on it.

Stoner81.

Emphacy · 15 May 2012 at 15:27

If anything I think I'd put ubuntu on it, but since you only have XP or 7 then go for Windows 7 - could get slow after a while though.

Ben Cole · 15 May 2012 at 19:08

labcoattech · 15 May 2012 at 22:09

Ubuntu, this also stops anyone installing virus ridden software, you don't need to install anti-virus.

Should run a lot faster then windows xp / 7

Duke · 16 May 2012 at 08:37

Yeah Linux would just be ideal for his parents. I bet he would enjoy spending ages explaining why everything is different to them.

KIA · 16 May 2012 at 10:25

labcoattech said:
Ubuntu, this also stops anyone installing virus ridden software, you don't need to install anti-virus.

Not true. Flash & Java drive-by attacks exist for Linux. At least the latest version of Flash for Windows offers automatic seamless updates by default. The same can't be said for most mainstream Linux distros.

Go Win7 32bit.

jre · 18 May 2012 at 07:22

End of support for xp ends in Apr 2014. No more security updates afterwards.