Windows 7 on my old laptop

camp.cool007

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About a week ago, I downloaded the Windows 7 Evaluation from Microsoft. I have a Compaq Presario 3015 Laptop. I have Windows XP Service Pack 3, 2.39 GHz processor, 524MB of ram, a 56GB hard drive, no 2.0 usb drives, exc. (My mind escapes me for any other specs, but contact me if you'd like to know more).

I installed Vista when it first came out, and it was awful. It had extremely slow boot speeds, hardly any of my programs/hardware were compatible with it, it was difficult to do pretty much anything, well, you all know the rest. After a few weeks I decided screw vista and switched back to xp.

When the thought of installing Win 7 on my laptop occured, I almost didn't do it. Vista was terrible, Win 7 would be a nightmare, right? This time around I did a dual boot instead of installing over xp like I did when I installed vista. A) because the evaluation version is unreliable after March 2010 and B) more importantly, my computer couldn't even handle vista, how could it handle Win 7?

My first time booting up Win 7 was amazing! It actually didn't take a full half hour, and it was very quick loading the startup programs. I was really impressed with all the new features (Maybe not new, but pretty cool). The task bar looks really good, there are multiple themes to chose, and everything is easily accessible.

Since this was an evaluation, I didn't figure many of my programs would work. But I was wrong again. Almost each one I installed went through the installation process with no problems. I have a pc card network card, and the latest possible operating system that supported it was xp, but I plugged it in, and the new hardware thing popped up and installed it right away.

I did however, have one program that refused to work. I started looking for the program compatibility wizard, when a window opened that wanted to automatically fix the program. Why not? So I allowed it and sure enough, it ran it with all of the correct settings.

The control panel is redone, but it is so much easier to access advanced options.

Since this is evaluation, not many people have tried to mess with it. So my offer to you is that if you want me to test advanced features to check if they still work, let me know. I've tested basic features, but nothing too extreme.
 
As anonymous tech said I hope this is an old machine not your primary, but being back on topic windows 7 is amazing though
 
I dont know about anyone else but I will not even try to install Windows 7 (or any level of Vista) on a machine with less than 1 gig of ram. Seriously people, half a gig of ram is needed just to get the damn thing to come alive. A gig of ram costs a few dollars and nobody should be installing any windows O/S today with anything less than that.
 
Are you sure that's not 512MB RAM, 60GB HD, and you're absolutely sure no USB 2.0 ports? Please excuse me for commenting but are you a tech?:confused:


Sorry, 512MB ram, I was exhausted when I was typing this last night. Yes there is no 2.0 USB ports, my hard drive is 56GB.

I dont know about anyone else but I will not even try to install Windows 7 (or any level of Vista) on a machine with less than 1 gig of ram. Seriously people, half a gig of ram is needed just to get the damn thing to come alive. A gig of ram costs a few dollars and nobody should be installing any windows O/S today with anything less than that.

You're right, but I'm dirt cheap and like to try stuff with the bare minimum, just to see if it works.

Anyway...
 
to be frank, I tested win7 on a low end machine I have just to see what it would do. It's works really well. Very stable. I want to know what to be able to tell customers when the time comes. And yes, if they have less than 1 gig of RAM I would highly recommend the upgrade. But it's good to know that it will run respectably on 512MB.

-Rance
 
And yes, if they have less than 1 gig of RAM I would highly recommend the upgrade. But it's good to know that it will run respectably on 512MB.

-Rance

Yeah, but thats on a virgin install. Once you add in the normal startup and mem resident apps plus an antivirus you are slow as molasses.
 
Yeah, but thats on a virgin install. Once you add in the normal startup and mem resident apps plus an antivirus you are slow as molasses.

Might be true but it's already better than Vista. You need 1 GB of RAM just to get the OS to work it seems. Then an additional 1 GB for your apps and AV. lol
 
Windows 7 Wonders

So are you saying that it is worth to install Windows 7? I believe that if I'm going to "test drive" a OS that is just going to show me a few things here and there, I rather not do it. I love technology and new gadgets and software, but in this case Windows XP will be really hard to replace. I have not tried to install Windows Vista on my computer, and i don't think Windows 7 will make it neither. So far I heard that it is "stripped version of Vista that loads faster." I rather re-install Ubuntu 8 if that's the case (speed).


Good luck.
 
It was a virgin install, but I am using it on an almost daily basis. I have Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 running on it, and am using quickbooks 2009 on it as well. Also have played around with using media center on it to my TV from a remote storage. I can run all that fine. Yes, I will admit that it doesn't have 6 months of registry clog in it yet, but it is very, very usable. I will say that the aero glass interface is turned off because I don't have any graphics acceleration in this machine.

I think my point is I wouldn't say there's no use installing it on a lower end machine. I'm getting a very good idea of the OS's capabilities on more limited hardware. I wouldn't even try this with Vista.

-Rance
 
Windows XP & Windows 7

You're going to have to get it if you plan to support customers. XP is going to be like Windows 98 within a couple of years.

That is another story, yet you are 100% right about it. Furthermore, I would wait until the very last minute to try/get it. Remember what happened with Vista early release? Wasn't it supposed to be best? It was a complete flop!

Glad to hear different opinios about the subject!
 
Remember what happened with Vista early release? Wasn't it supposed to be best? It was a complete flop!

Even though it was a flop, probably 40% of my busines is Vista. As a computer repair business owner, I don't see getting Windows 7 as optional.
 
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Even though it was a flop, probably 40% of my busines is Vista. As a computer repair business owner, I don't see getting Windows 7 as optional.

You are 100% correct. Whenever a new operating system comes around such as Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP I try to be apart of the beta program. Not because I want to be cool and have it first, but because like it or not it is what you will be dealing with in the very near future. I want to know the in's & out's of an OS before my client even knows what it is. That way once the problems start rolling in I know what I am doing, and don't look like a fool.

I am surprised @ ppl saying they don't even bother with it, how do you plan to support it?
 
Windows 7 is NOT an Option

Even though it was a flop, probably 40% of my business is Vista. As a computer repair business owner, I don't see getting Windows 7 as optional.

Hey there, you are 100% right. What I have been trying to say is that I would not install it in my own primary computer. I would, however, get it for my laptop which is running Vista at this moment. I mean, come on, I work with computers too and I know whether I like it or not, Windows 7 will be here with us soon!
 
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