Compatibility Issues

[dJ0013]

Hello.

My aunt just gave us a very old laptop. Its an IBM thinkpad and runs on
Windows 98. I'd just like to know if Windows XP Home can run on this or not.

The most important ones that i can think of which need to be mentioned are:
18.6GB hard disk capacity
OS is Windows 98
Processor is Pentium 3
128MB ram

If you need more specs please tell me.

Thanks.

 

[TaurArian]

dJ0013 wrote:
:: Hello.
::
:: My aunt just gave us a very old laptop. Its an IBM thinkpad and runs
:: on Windows 98. I'd just like to know if Windows XP Home can run on
:: this or not.
::
:: The most important ones that i can think of which need to be
:: mentioned are:
:: 18.6GB hard disk capacity
:: OS is Windows 98
:: Processor is Pentium 3
:: 128MB ram
::
:: If you need more specs please tell me.
::
:: Thanks.


http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314865
System requirements for Windows XP operating systems

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/xpupgdissues.html
Win 98/Me/2000 to XP Upgrade Issues


--

TaurArian [MVP] 2005-2009 - Update Services
http://taurarian.mvps.org
======================================
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
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[Lil' Dave]

Hello.

My aunt just gave us a very old laptop. Its an IBM thinkpad and runs on
Windows 98. I'd just like to know if Windows XP Home can run on this or
not.

The most important ones that i can think of which need to be mentioned
are:
18.6GB hard disk capacity
OS is Windows 98
Processor is Pentium 3
128MB ram

If you need more specs please tell me.

Thanks.

When someone responds with minimum MS hardware specs for running XP, this
does not include any other 3rd party software within XP. Am quite sure that
you, or anyone else for that matter, does not just runs the operating system
and nothing else.

 

[Noel Paton]

Hello.

My aunt just gave us a very old laptop. Its an IBM thinkpad and runs on
Windows 98. I'd just like to know if Windows XP Home can run on this or
not.

The most important ones that i can think of which need to be mentioned
are:
18.6GB hard disk capacity
OS is Windows 98
Processor is Pentium 3
128MB ram

If you need more specs please tell me.

Thanks.

with only 128MB RAM, XP will run like a dyspeptic slug - don't bother.
OTOH, if you can acquire spare RAM to bring it up to 512MB, it should run
OK, albeit somewhat slowly - assuming the drivers are available.
You don't specify what speed the CPU is - I wouldn't want to run XP in
anything less than a 600MHz processor (I used to run reasonably happily on a
400MHz PII, but with the greater complexity of modern software, it'd be
prohibitively slow nowadays)

HTH

 

[Big_Al]

Lil' Dave said this on 2/10/2009 5:02 AM:

When someone responds with minimum MS hardware specs for running XP, this
does not include any other 3rd party software within XP. Am quite sure that
you, or anyone else for that matter, does not just runs the operating system
and nothing else.

Don't go too far out on that limb. My sister has no idea what to do
with a PC other than IE, both browsing or yahoo mail, and the built in
card games. Beyond that, the box has no purpose. So there are a few
people. Probably mostly the older generation that got into it later in
life. I'm not sure she even sees or has Office.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Hello.

My aunt just gave us a very old laptop. Its an IBM thinkpad and runs on
Windows 98. I'd just like to know if Windows XP Home can run on this or not.

The most important ones that i can think of which need to be mentioned are:
18.6GB hard disk capacity
OS is Windows 98
Processor is Pentium 3
128MB ram

If you need more specs please tell me.

*Can* it run on that? Yes, probably, if all the hardware drivers you
need exist.

Should you run XP on it? Definitely not. 128MB of RAM is much too
little for anything near acceptable performance. You don't say how
fast the P3 processor is, but that's probably very slow for XP too.
Moreover the hard drive is tiny.

If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't consider running XP without doing
several substantial upgrades to it. And when you look at the price of
those upgrades, you will very likely see that it would be a much
better deal to buy a new laptop. So I would either use it as it is,
sell it, or junk it. If you want a laptop running XP, buy a new
inexpensive one.

 

[Mark Adams]

Hello.

My aunt just gave us a very old laptop. Its an IBM thinkpad and runs on
Windows 98. I'd just like to know if Windows XP Home can run on this or not.

The most important ones that i can think of which need to be mentioned are:
18.6GB hard disk capacity
OS is Windows 98
Processor is Pentium 3
128MB ram

If you need more specs please tell me.

Thanks.

Go to IBM's website and check for the availability of drivers for that
model. If IBM provides XP drivers, then they think the machine can reasonably
run XP. If there are no drivers, then it's a done deal; no XP. If there are
drivers, you should install the maximum amount of ram the machine can take.
If it can only take 256 MB, keep 98 on it.