Windows 7 is the next Operating System release from Microsoft. I’m using it on my working laptop since Microsoft made available Windows 7 beta for download, and so far I have nothing but praise about the OS. I’m pretty sure the official public release will be much better than the beta version. so, you might be wondering what are the requirements to run Windows 7 with full features? is it a hog resource like Vista? not quite. I installed Windows Vista on this the same laptop and I had to uninstall it because it was too slow and not compatible with many essential applications I use at work. I haven’t had any compatibility issue with Windows 7, and Windows 7 is much quicker than Vista or XP, or so it seems. the hardware on my laptop is as follow:
The video card is Mobile Intel(R) 945 Express Chipset Family which supports the DX9 graphics for the aero candy look stuff. I have a CD/DVD RW which is required for the installation of windows 7 DVD.
as you can see, my hardware is not very powerful, in fact this laptop is more than 2 years old, laptops today are built with better hardware to support the new OSs resource demand. but what’s the minimum requirements to run Windows 7? the official requirements for Windows 7 are:
- 1GHz processor (32- or 64-bit)
- 1GB of memory
- 16GB of available disk space
- Support for DX9 graphics with 128MB of memory (for the Aero interface)
- A DVD-R/W drive
These are basically the minimum requirements to run Windows vista, but I believe you should be able to run Windows 7 on less powerful hardware. probably you won’t be able to run the sleek look on Windows aero, but windows should perform just fine on:
- 1 GHz processor
- 512 MB of Memory
- 15GB of Hard drive space – if you disable the system protection and system restore on the computer you should be able to run windows 7 on a smaller hard drive.
well, the only big difference there is memory, I believe Windows 7 can be ran comfortably with 512 MB of memory.
what do you think?
thanx for da post…
i have almost the same config as u mentioned…
nw my doubt is how do i "find out how much graphics memory is in use in windows 7"
anyways i have 1gig of RAM + intel 945 express chipset family integrated graphics.
my rating is 3.2 (got dat for aero experience) … so can i continue using the aero theme on windows 7 without any problems?
thanx in advance
I am so worried about minimum requirement. My computer is 4 year old and I still get good speed on XP. I think I only going to miss Aero interface otherwise my system meet minimum requirement. I will definitely report here after installing the Windows7 RC version to help others.
People dont worry im testing 7 on alot of computers and even the little notebooks you can get i have two in the house and they run perfect. also im running it on one thats 5 years old a 64 bit amd 2600+ everything working well better than vista easy and xp iv just forgotten about. Dont forget alot of problems will be solved by using direct x 9 instead of 10 will help older computers and 7 also uses less system resources id say go for it what have you got to loose. if you dont want to do anything to the os your using now get an old hard drive and try it with that. You can easily just connect the old one up and use that for a while.
hi, i have vista premium installed on my hp notebook(pavillion dv6502) .
processor is AMD turion 64*2 mobile 1.8 ghz and RAM 1gb. Display adapter NVIDIA GeForce/nForce 630M.
does my notebook meet minimum requirements for windows 7 if yes than how could i arrange various drivers because i faced network drivers problem when i installed XP on a partition.
PLZ Suggest ASAP
Hi ravi, yes your laptop seems to be capable of running Windows 7, even though 1 GB of memory might be low, I have seen windows 7 running just find on low hardware computers, so you should be fine.
regarding the drivers, windows 7 does a pretty good job finding the proper drivers for your hardware that I believe you won't need to install any driver by yourself. when I installed Windows 7 on my Dell XPS 1012 laptop, it found all the drivers for it.
give it a try, and see the results, you should be fine.
I have a Dell Dimension 3100( bought in 2006)currently running win XP x86 home edition. I ran the win 7 upgrade advisor and everything came back compatable exept the graphics card( which I will upgrade asap!) after that I want to know if I can upgrade over xp or do I have to do a clean install? I've been on so many help forums, some say you can upgrade others say no. This seems to be the only site that is consistantand helpful, PLS HELP SOOOOO FRUSTRATED!!
BTW, I plan to run win 7 home prem. nothing specail. THX in advance
@Melanie
If you ran the Windows Advisor then I should say you are golden! [] However,you need to do a CLEAN INSTALL; this is my professional opinion because there is NO WAY to save your settings. The OS are just too different. IF you had VISTA then you could do the upgrade with no problems. BUT! I would still recommend a CLEAN INSTALL because I have never seen an upgrade last as long as a clean install does. There have been times where you needed to re-install the OS anyway. But I ALWAYS RECOMMEND that when a person wants to upgrade their OS to a newer version that they get the FULL VERSION (which does the clean install, FYI
, anyway. I, personally,mind you, NEVER liked the idea of using just the upgrade version of any operating system (OS) because an upgrade does not act in the same way as a full version does. If for some strange reason in the future you needed to do a clean install and you just had (purchased only) the upgrade OS instead of the full version OS then you would be FORCED to install Windows XP or higher AND THEN install the UPGRADE version of the Win7 OS. This is the way Microsoft describes it in their forums.
So to recap:
YES YOU CAN USE THE UPGRADE (from XP (and higher)) OF THE WINDOWS 7 OS . . . . .
BUT . . .
In my experience I would get the FULL VERSION and do a CLEAN INSTALL versus the upgrade option any day of the week! []
By the way, You CAN use a FULL VERSION to do an upgrade install, but why bother.
Also, the main differences between the three "flavors" of Windows 7 Home, Professional and Ultimate are as follows:
Home Edition: Improved Desktop, speed, small network integration, etc.
Professional AND Ultimate Editions: In addition to above: Can run what is called "XP Mode" which is about a 500MB download from Microsoft's site, of a "virtual" XP OS that runs in a Window UNDER Windows 7. Both also have a Domain Join feature an automatic backup feature for home and business.
Windows 7 PROFESSIONAL: Has one major difference between itself and Professional: and that would the BitLocker(tm) program which is basically like TrueCrypt. It gives you that extra security that you can encrypt your hard drives with a password so that they cannot be copied even if the hard drives get pulled from the system onto another computer without your password. (The final is that you can switch between 35 languages; big deal!
I hope this helps you, Melanie and all the rest of you wondering what to do!
Cheers! Good Luck
Spirit Wolfe
I am concerned about it. you guys are mentioning 2-5 year old computers. My laptop is almost 7 years old, and works amazing with xp, concerned I can't say the same when I get 7.
I'm using an hp pavilion zv5000
3.0ghz Pentium 3
2 gigs of memory
128mb video (best at its time)
windows xp
with xp and some tweeks, this runs faster then any of my roommates or friends lap tops. Can play world of warcraft without error or lag, as well as counterstrike source.
Clearly it can't play games as great as newer laptops, but for almost all other tasks its response time is nearly instant. I think it's due to xp.
your website is too slow in accessing searches
I have a system configuration of
Intel Pentium 4 processor of 3.06 Ghz
Asus Motherboard of P5GC/MX1333
2048 Gb Ram
Nvidia Geeforce 8400 512Mb Graphic card
160Gb hard disk [hard disk is very old]
Will this configuration be enough for running a 32-bit windows 7 OS , And will Adobe photoshop CS4/CS3 and Lightroom 3 run smoothly or do I need to upgrade anything ?
Used to install win 7 OS with below specs and its run smoothly. no problemo:-
Pentium 4
512Mb Ram
20Gb Hdd
Unless you are planning to run Windows without a proper anti-virus and applications such as MS Office, it is idiotic to say the least to run Windows 7 on a computer with only 512MB RAM.
Also worth considering is which version of Windows 7 you plan to run and what you are trying to achieve.
Any serious computer user would not even attempt to run Windows 7 on a machine with 512MB RAM. Yes, it is possible but your machine will initially if not eventually spend more time swapping memory to page file than doing anything useful. Even Windows XP struggles with 512MB RAM, even with the home edition. Don't be fooled into believing Windows 7 is any different. If anything, Windows 7 requires more hardware resources.
Besides all that, Windows 7 has very little extra to offer. In my opinion it is more about sparkle, eyecandy, (b(l)ing) than any thing else. Personally I have to say that for over 8 years of developments, not considering Vista which can be seen as nothing less than a Windows 7 Beta, very little significant has changed. I have yet to find something that can be done with Windows 7 that cannot be achieved with Windows XP (I am not talking about software that specifically targets Windows 7, i.e. games).
Using an Internet security suite to protect yourself against over a million threats out there, you would be foolish to say the least if you think you can get away with a poor or no anti-virus. All the significant ones I know which aim at protecting you against the internet use at least about 512MB RAM. If you only have that much, how do you think you are going to get anything done.
My personal opinion is that unless you can upgrade to more than 2GB RAM, don't even consider it unless you only want to type a letter in which case a Windows 7 purchase defeats the purpose. If you have 2GB RAM, think about purchasing a FPP (Full Package Product). This should allow you to transfer the license to a new PC or Laptop.
Look at the different Windows 7 packages out their and consider what you want to do with it (For the next 5 years i.e.). If bling is what you want, maybe you should consider Linux with KDE 4 as desktop manager. It is free and can do most of what Windows 7 does + a lot extra which Windows 7 can't do. Personally I would recommend something like OpenSUSE Linux (My own choice of Linux) but you get many different flavors (i.e. Fedora, Kubuntu, Ubuntu, Mint etc). KDE is developing at a staggering pace and taking into consideration virtualization technologies like Linux KVM, Oracle Virtualbox, Parallels, VMWARE, etc. I would not be surprised if in the next couple of years Linux takes over a big share of the Windows market. It already stared happening last year and as Linux becomes bigger, it will just become more difficult for Microsoft to sell their products. Companies like Google are posing a serious threat. I am not a Linux fanatic but having started to use it over 5 years ago, I find myself using it more and more every day and have seen and used its capabilities on a daily basis. Personally I use it 75% + of the time. I do have Windows 7 Ultimate FPP (Bought separately), Pro and Home Edition (On Laptops) and in my opinion, their is nothing special about Windows 7. Without add-ons, Windows 7 has very little to offer. Every time a new KDE desktop is released, my eyes lit up as was the case if the days of DOS, Windows 3.1 and Windows 95. In my eyes, NT based systems have been a big problem. Windows XP fixed the problems of Windows 2000, Millennium and 98 and Windows 7 tried to fix the problems of Windows XP while trying to add something new to make the product sell. If you have a 64 bit machine, which can upgrade to 4, 8, 12 or even 16GB RAM, I can recommend Windows 7 but if you have less, think twice and if so, buy a Full Package Product which can be transferred to a new PC or consider saving up for a new PC. The FPP package versions come with 32bit and 64bit Windows which is also important. If you buy a new PC, you must think about running 64bit. There are simple to many limitations in 32 bit operating systems and software.
Tim I also have a HP DV5000 laptop and it took the Windows 7 operating system fine, rating is 1.0, the Aero Peek doesn't work, but the system works fine and it's less vulnerable to viruses. I plan on an upgrade the video which will solve the the Aero Peek issue but for now I'm happy.
VG you will have no problems with Windows 7 32-bit on your system, your rating should be between 3 and 4. This feature, updated for Windows 7, rates the performance of key hardware components such as the CPU, disk drive, and graphics card. The PC is then given a score between 1.0 and 7.9.
Win7 system is really much faster than XP, but there is an easy way to speed up your XP, tuneup360.
what’s tuneup360??
plese send the mimimum requirements of windows 7.
Guys can ma Dell gx60 pentium 4 2.4ghz
40Gb hdd
512RAM
64Mb video memory run Windows 7 32bit?? please help me out
Can my Dell Latitute D610 be able to run Windows 7 efficiently?
No, Latitude d610 is too old to run Windows 7.. the video card most likely does not support Aero, and the processor and memory are just too low to run a huge OS like windows 7.
windows 7 is the most easy freindly interface windows don’t worry use it .
windows 7 is most easy and user freindly windows .
my pc is esys wzard and mother board is intel atom ,1gb ram,160HDsk.can windows 7 run it praperly?
windows 7 is user friendly windows, but Xp is support more softwares and easy speed up..
i have
1 GB ram,
40GB HDD
INTEL PENTIUM 4 ,2.40GHz
can i run win 7 in my pc.
someone help me out please.
contact me with amritsuman1996@gmail.com
apakah intel atom inside bisa diubah ke windows 7?
I have Pentium 3, which has-
Intel 1GHz procesor,
512 MB RAM,
64MB AGP (nVidia GeForce 4 mx 4000)
Can I run WINDOWS 7 on my pc? Please send me a email on my mail adress.
Hi Farhad,
No, you cannot run windows 7 on that computer. The processor is too slow and it does not have enough memory. Sorry.
guys please help me out… I’ve got a pentium 4 processor, 2.5GB of ddr2 ram, 80GB of hdd and a 512MB graphics card!!
will my pc be able to run windows 7 home premium?
During install photoshop cs4 my pc is restart automatically and setup is not completd……. anyone please help me!!!!!!!
my is laptop.with 1gb ram,1.89GHZ,intel pentium mobile processor.can i run windows 7 ultimate on my laptop.what is directX 9 & graphic card.send reply now itself,pls,plss
it should work on a computer with 512mb ram but u could have slight problems
I have wipro desktop with intel 945 MSI M.board,Celeran D with 1.63 GHz Speed,1.5 GB DDR2 RAM,80 GB hard disk,Pls Help How can i run window 7,It run Vista beautfully.
guys i do have 39gb hdd and 244mb ram…can i run windows 7???
hi all
this is ali here,
RAM 512 MB
HD..160 GB
Processor 3.3 ghz..
system name IBM 0F161C6FE7D
i am using win 7, internet is connected but i am unable to access internet , getting the error msg that
you are not authorized. or HTTP error……….so plz help me, how to get access internet…
I Think we all know now.
7 is PANTS unless you got 2 cores, and 2 gig of ram.
CPU SCORE 3? snoresville.It takes 5 seconds to open
control panel!
so downgrade to xp or invest in hardware, you risla cheapskates!
laptops make me puke.
I have had failed 3 yr old sony vaio’s stolen from my tool cupboard,
before i could even strip them for spares for my Dad to ebay.
Get a real pc you risla shirt handlers
hi, my laptop is dell inspiron 1420 featured with intel core 2 duo t5800 2 ghz processor and 2 gb ram installed..bt my windows7 experience index is just 2.2 due to the processor subscore. i expect it should be around 3 something. is there smething wrong with my processor? help me guys if you knw to fix..thx
Can I run win7 on my computer(pretty old)?
1.7GHz
512MB of RAM
32GB Disk space
Maybe I can install it if I would buy like 1 or 2GB of RAM?
yes, you will need at least 1 GB to run Windows 7 comfortably. also make sure your Video card supports Windows 7 as well.. otherwise you won’t get the Aero effects, and transparency on the OS..
cheers,
Nelson.
thanks for that now i get much easier to use ma computer by installing win7
hi guys i have a acer aspire 5610
op win7 ultimate 32 bit procesor genuine intel(R) cpu T2250 @ 1.73GHz 4 gb ram and 200 gb hard grafic card mobile intel(R) 945 expres chipset family but all games wichy i instal not work it say abut my grafic video card not compatible whit mobile intel(R) 945 expres chipset family what i can do?pls help:( i instaled crysiss 2 and not work..:(
Hi there
i unfortunately use the Xp Sp3 until now
ram 512
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU3.00GHz , 512 MB RAM
I want to install Windows 7 but i need some advice about it.
Can I use the windows 7 or not ?!
Hello Friends
My Config are as-
1.6 GHz processor (32bit)
1GB of RAM
80GB HDD 7.48GB System partition space and whole available disk space is more than 20 GB
Support for DX9 graphics with 128MB of memory (for the Aero interface)
A DVD-R/W drive
I am facing problem of SM Bus controller in xp sp2
Can i use windows 7 for above cofigeration????
Windows 7 is much quicker than Vista or XP.
Windows 7 is much quicker than Vista or XP.
yes your should have no problem playing WOW on your computer with that video card it might seen a little washed out but you can still play.
If 7 is faster than xp I will eat my Rig!
3dmark05 cpu score ;7 is 11% higher than vista. xp pro sp3 is 13% ish faster than 7.
your xp install musta bin fulla registry errors.
better to re install s/ware from the day than put newer bigger programs on an old pc.
Shit, I know gamers with big old dx9 gpu’s who still run xp on newish gear cos there kids
play games on the family HD 1080p tv. They dont know anything about tessellation,
They dont care..
They like playin in 1080p tho, and dad need not purchase 7
or a new gpu for his office work. xp retail codes can be moved onto new hardware.
suck it up microsoft, you made the rules.The graphics unit in a ps3 is GIRLY PANTS compared to 2nd hand £50 gtx260, and the pc games are optimised for it..
Do some reading, Son.