Windows7 is it worth it on old computer

DotA

DotA

DotA

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Hey my parents want to upgrade their old computer to windows 7, the thing is its got a duek2.26 ghz proceser, the computer has no dedicated graphics. also it uses ddr ram which i know i need 2gb of so i would have to get more of has its only got 512mb. Is it worth upgrading it for them and will windows 7 work?
 
hmm i would orefer to build a new system for them but they dont want one. would windows run on 2gb of ddr ram.
 
2GB it'll run no problem. Minimum requirement is 1GB, so they'll need to upgrade either way if you want to run Windows 7.

Is there any reason they want windows 7? (other than it looks pretty :p)
 
i installed win7 ult on a very old machine ...and it just ran and ran .....ok so it wasnt a gaming machine .....but it still worked ....the biggest headache was finding drivers for old hardware
 
Alex74 it was a old work computer that we changes to a workgroup, it didint like that as it was still in domain and so now we cant log into it so we thought we might as well get it to windows 7 as i can get a copy for £20.
 
Hi Mate,

There is no doubt that windows 7 will be harder on the hardware than windows XP. The rig doesn't sound so outdated that spending a small amount on hardware wont give acceptable performance for internet and office use.

I would look at getting a second hand cheap gpu and more memory to speed things up a bit and help give a better experience; I would spend say £50(ish), on say 2gb of 2700/3200 DDR (£20-25) and the rest on a dedicated gpu.

The requirements to run aero on 7 are pretty low so you dont need to go mad on the graphics card (assuming your parents aren’t gamers). Something as old as an agp 9500 pro or an Nvidia 6 series card is perfectly capable of running aero.

Also remember that like vista, windows 7 is pretty big on disk so if their hard drive is any smaller than 60-80gb you will fill it up incredibly quickly.
 
The Hard drive is 60gb but the computer is going to be mostly used for a small amount of music about 6gigs, using the internet and writing documents.
 
VinceB1 said:
Hi Mate,

There is no doubt that windows 7 will be harder on the hardware than windows XP. The rig doesn't sound so outdated that spending a small amount on hardware wont give acceptable performance for internet and office use.

I would look at getting a second hand cheap gpu and more memory to speed things up a bit and help give a better experience; I would spend say £50(ish), on say 2gb of 2700/3200 DDR (£20-25) and the rest on a dedicated gpu.

The requirements to run aero on 7 are pretty low so you dont need to go mad on the graphics card (assuming your parents aren’t gamers). Something as old as an agp 9500 pro or an Nvidia 6 series card is perfectly capable of running aero.

Also remember that like vista, windows 7 is pretty big on disk so if their hard drive is any smaller than 60-80gb you will fill it up incredibly quickly.
Click to expand...

So good, he posted it twice
 
I'd say it is, I bought a new rig from ocuk last september and gave my old celeron pc to my brother, it was extremely slow with XP on, installed the Win 7 32 bit version and it was much much faster, originally it used to take up around 10 mins to completely load up and now its done in 2 mins, which is quite fast considering the processor. It has 2 GB DDR2 RAM, but they don't cost much anyways, and it runs flawlessly, I say go for it!
 
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Check that the MB can take a upgrade of 2Gb of RAM.

Load Win 7 Premium 32 bit version and it will do everything that your parents need.

Sounds like Aero working or not will not be missed one way or the other.

ATB
 
Hello DotA,
Did you try the "upgrade advisor" located at the link below?
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/upgrade-advisor.aspx

The Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor will determine if your current computer configuration will be compatible with Windows 7.

Another resource to verify compatibility is available at the Microsoft Windows 7 Compatibility Center located at the following link: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/default.aspx

Also, please note that when migrating from Windows XP to Windows 7 you will not have an "in place upgrade" option. You will however have the option to select "custom" install when prompted. The Windows 7 install process will then copy all of your data in "My Documents" over to a Windows.old folder within Windows 7 itself. All applications and documents stored in other locations will have to be reinstalled / transferred manually.

For more information on the Windows 7 Upgrade, please go here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Installing-and-reinstalling-Windows-7

For additional assistance with the migration of Windows XP to Windows 7, please go here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/ee150430.aspx

John
Microsoft Windows Client Team
 
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