Mum given old laptop, what version of Windows and how to get the most from it?

I'd suggest you have at least 1GB or more, I only have 1 GB on my laptop and it runs both windows 7 and xp very well.
 
linux mint , just installed it on the mother in laws pc , her first one and has never used a pc before , she's getting on fine both it , looks and acts the same as windows xp and it just works! unlike xp which was on the box before , problems with drivers.. no probs with linux .
 
Staffy said:
NoXp isn't the same as it was in 2002 if I recall the minimum spec then was 512, yes it would run with less. With all the updates for the many bugs and security issues it isn't the same beast (I still run it).
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The minimum spec for WinXP wasn't anywhere remotely close to 512MB, iirc it was more like 64MB with 128MB recommended. Enthusiasts like us on the forums and gamers had 512MB back then but in terms of what MS suggested for general use you'd be surprised how low they used to go :)

That said, you are correct in that when running SP3 with all updates etc, modern browsers/apps etc it needs a lot more. I'd say 768MB is a good number to aim for nowadays, my mother-in-law has 512MB with a little bit shared for video and it can be quite clunky. In the OP's case this would mean buying a secondhand 512MB stick and replacing the 128MB stick with that.
 
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Pop in a 1Gb of RAM and stick on Windows 7. It's what I done with my old crappy laptop. Makes a massive difference.
 
Most linux distributions would likely give similar experience to xp. As already said more memory would be a massive help. If you have a model number we can probably find out what memory it can handle. Will probably be upgradable with a DDR1 SO-DIMM.

As it is it will struggle with websites using flash, but basic ones should be ok.
 
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