Laptop upgrade to Win 7

[Antares 531]

I have an HP Compaq Presario C 500 laptop computer that came with
Windows Vista Home Basic installed. This has been upgraded to SP2. It
has a Intel Celeron M CPU 430 @ 1.73 GHz

I am contemplating buying a 3-pack of Windows 7 to install on my
desktop, my wife's desktop and my laptop computers. I'm not sure this
laptop will handle Windows 7, though.

It has 512 MB of RAM and 68.9 GB of hard disk space with 47.4 GB free,
presently. This is set up as a 32 bit O.S. I will probably do a clean
install and delete all files from this hard drive, after backing the
important stuff up onto a flash drive or CD.

Should I set this up as a 64 bit O.S. or is that beyond the limits for
a computer like this?

Am I likely to run into any problems if I go for a clean install. That
is, will my "upgrade" intentions be honored once the original O.S. has
been wiped off and the hard drive re-formatted? How do I work around
this. I do have the Product Key (a sticker on the bottom of the
laptop) but will I need a CD or other such in order to do a complete
fresh install?

 

[1PW]

I have an HP Compaq Presario C 500 laptop computer that came with
Windows Vista Home Basic installed. This has been upgraded to SP2. It
has a Intel Celeron M CPU 430 @ 1.73 GHz

I am contemplating buying a 3-pack of Windows 7 to install on my
desktop, my wife's desktop and my laptop computers. I'm not sure this
laptop will handle Windows 7, though.

It has 512 MB of RAM and 68.9 GB of hard disk space with 47.4 GB free,
presently. This is set up as a 32 bit O.S. I will probably do a clean
install and delete all files from this hard drive, after backing the
important stuff up onto a flash drive or CD.

Should I set this up as a 64 bit O.S. or is that beyond the limits for
a computer like this?

Am I likely to run into any problems if I go for a clean install. That
is, will my "upgrade" intentions be honored once the original O.S. has
been wiped off and the hard drive re-formatted? How do I work around
this. I do have the Product Key (a sticker on the bottom of the
laptop) but will I need a CD or other such in order to do a complete
fresh install?

<http://windows.microsoft.com/systemrequirements>

<http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloads/upgrade-advisor>

<http://preview.tinyurl.com/5cxjvr>

 

[Paul]

I have an HP Compaq Presario C 500 laptop computer that came with
Windows Vista Home Basic installed. This has been upgraded to SP2. It
has a Intel Celeron M CPU 430 @ 1.73 GHz

I am contemplating buying a 3-pack of Windows 7 to install on my
desktop, my wife's desktop and my laptop computers. I'm not sure this
laptop will handle Windows 7, though.

It has 512 MB of RAM and 68.9 GB of hard disk space with 47.4 GB free,
presently. This is set up as a 32 bit O.S. I will probably do a clean
install and delete all files from this hard drive, after backing the
important stuff up onto a flash drive or CD.

Should I set this up as a 64 bit O.S. or is that beyond the limits for
a computer like this?

Am I likely to run into any problems if I go for a clean install. That
is, will my "upgrade" intentions be honored once the original O.S. has
been wiped off and the hard drive re-formatted? How do I work around
this. I do have the Product Key (a sticker on the bottom of the
laptop) but will I need a CD or other such in order to do a complete
fresh install?

Your processor is 32 bit, so no 64 bit OS for you. A processor with
64 bit support is required for a 64 bit OS.

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=27150&processor=430&spec-codes=SL92F,SL9KV

The 430 also does not support virtualization mode (VT-x), so you can't use
the Windows XP Mode of Windows 7. (Even people with Core2 processors
have to be careful, as only the expensive processors have VT-x enabled.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7

"A new version of Virtual PC, Windows Virtual PC Beta is available for
Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions. It allows
multiple Windows environments, including Windows XP Mode, to run on
the same machine, requiring the use of Intel VT-x or AMD-V."

You might check and see, if both 32 bit and 64 bit options are
available with the same product SKU, so that you can install
either version as needed from your three-pack.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Malke]

I have an HP Compaq Presario C 500 laptop computer that came with
Windows Vista Home Basic installed. This has been upgraded to SP2. It
has a Intel Celeron M CPU 430 @ 1.73 GHz

I am contemplating buying a 3-pack of Windows 7 to install on my
desktop, my wife's desktop and my laptop computers. I'm not sure this
laptop will handle Windows 7, though.

It has 512 MB of RAM and 68.9 GB of hard disk space with 47.4 GB free,
presently. This is set up as a 32 bit O.S. I will probably do a clean
install and delete all files from this hard drive, after backing the
important stuff up onto a flash drive or CD.

Should I set this up as a 64 bit O.S. or is that beyond the limits for
a computer like this?

Am I likely to run into any problems if I go for a clean install. That
is, will my "upgrade" intentions be honored once the original O.S. has
been wiped off and the hard drive re-formatted? How do I work around
this. I do have the Product Key (a sticker on the bottom of the
laptop) but will I need a CD or other such in order to do a complete
fresh install?

Just to add to the good advice you already got - you have way too little
RAM. I can't believe you're even able to run Vista Basic with only 512MB of
RAM. You want to up it to at least 2GB. With that slow processor the machine
will never be a speed demon but assuming there are drivers for Win7 it
should be acceptable for web surfing, email, office programs, etc.

In order to use an upgrade version of Win7, you'll need to start the
installation from within a working Vista. Then choose the Custom install to
get a clean install. If you buy the full version, then upgrading doesn't
come into the picture and you can just boot from the Win7 DVD, delete your
old Vista partitions, create a new one, and install.

Make sure that laptop will have drivers for Win7 first.

Malke

 

[ANONYMOUS]

If you have any machines older than 3 years old, you are strongly
advised not to even try doing anything to them because Windows 7
requires a minimum of 1 GB for 32 bit but you will need at least 4GB to
do any meaningful work. I recommend 8GB to be really productive.

The only way is to buy a new machine for Win 7 to install otherwise
stick with XP and Vista until SP1 comes out to fix some the bugs and to
introduce some more! By that time you will have the lottery and so you
can buy new machines with Windows 7 in pristine condition. Then you
will need to ask what exactly do you do with the new OS? What was wrong
with XP or VISTA apart from MS not making any more money?

 

[Antares 531]

I have an HP Compaq Presario C 500 laptop computer that came with
Windows Vista Home Basic installed. This has been upgraded to SP2. It
has a Intel Celeron M CPU 430 @ 1.73 GHz

I am contemplating buying a 3-pack of Windows 7 to install on my
desktop, my wife's desktop and my laptop computers. I'm not sure this
laptop will handle Windows 7, though.

It has 512 MB of RAM and 68.9 GB of hard disk space with 47.4 GB free,
presently. This is set up as a 32 bit O.S. I will probably do a clean
install and delete all files from this hard drive, after backing the
important stuff up onto a flash drive or CD.

Should I set this up as a 64 bit O.S. or is that beyond the limits for
a computer like this?

Am I likely to run into any problems if I go for a clean install. That
is, will my "upgrade" intentions be honored once the original O.S. has
been wiped off and the hard drive re-formatted? How do I work around
this. I do have the Product Key (a sticker on the bottom of the
laptop) but will I need a CD or other such in order to do a complete
fresh install?

Thanks to all who responded. The situation looks rather grim, so I
guess I'll just get along with Vista until I have to buy a new laptop
computer. I don't think it would be practical or economically prudent
to upgrade my old laptop with more RAM and a faster CPU, so I'll just
knuckle under and live with it.

Gordon

 

[Malke]

If you have any machines older than 3 years old, you are strongly
advised not to even try doing anything to them because Windows 7
requires a minimum of 1 GB for 32 bit but you will need at least 4GB to
do any meaningful work. I recommend 8GB to be really productive.

The only way is to buy a new machine for Win 7 to install otherwise
stick with XP and Vista until SP1 comes out to fix some the bugs and to
introduce some more! By that time you will have the lottery and so you
can buy new machines with Windows 7 in pristine condition. Then you
will need to ask what exactly do you do with the new OS? What was wrong
with XP or VISTA apart from MS not making any more money?

I'm sorry but I completely disagree with you.

I ran all the Windows 7 betas and RC on an old (older than 3 years for sure)
Dell 400SC entry-level server with a 2.8 P4 and 1.5GB of RAM. The video card
is a very basic Nvidia GeForce that does support Aero. Performance was just
fine for everything except heavy 3D gaming. I used the same machine for the
Vista beta all the way through Vista RTM and I was impressed at how much
more responsive the box was with Win7 on the same hardware.

I now have Win7 RTM Ultimate 64 on a Dell Vostro 400 with a quad core (don't
remember the exact specs offhand but it's fast), 4GB of RAM, and an Nvidia
Geforce 8800. My son *does* do heavy gaming and so far Win7 has taken
everything he's thrown at it without missing a beat and with no sweat.

There is absolutely no need for 8GB of RAM unless one is doing professional-
level video editing, Photoshop, or AutoCAD types of programs. For someone
who just wants to read email, do office programs, surf the web, 2GB will be
perfectly fine. Most new machines are coming with 3 or 4GB of memory anyway
and the user I've just described will be completely satisfied with the
performance with those specs.

I think that in the OP's case he should up the RAM to 2GB to get decent
performance out of Vista - which is much more of a memory hog than Win7 is -
and leave Vista on his Compaq. That's a very low-end laptop and there is no
point in going to Win7 on it.

Malke

 

[VanguardLH]

I am contemplating buying a 3-pack of Windows 7

Besides the marketing mantra of "newer is better" drilled into you since
you were old enough to understand speech, what is the REAL reason you
need to migrate to Windows 7? What can you not do now with whatever OS
you have that Windows 7 will marvelously open up for you? What is it
about a current working computer that you feel compelled to destroy and
convert into a less stable platform that has a non-existent released
version history?

to install on my desktop,

1st license.

my wife's desktop

2nd license.

and my laptop computers.

Computers. Plural so 2, or more.

That's 3rd and 4th licenses, or more. You've already exceeded your 3
licenses.

Intel Celeron M CPU 430 @ 1.73 GHz

Missing a L1 cache. Slow CPU. No only is it a crippled Pentium but it
is also a Mobile version.

Doesn't support VT-x instructions so you cannot use the Windows XP
compatibility mode (VirtualPC) included in Windows 7 to run older apps
that run on XP but not on 7.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_vi...alization_Technology_for_x86_.28Intel_VT-x.29

Are you sure that every application you have in its current version will
function correctly under Windows 7 (i.e., without having to use its
Windows XP compatibility mode)?

512 MB of RAM

Undersized even for Windows Vista even if the Aero interface is disabled
(to save anywhere from 41+ to 105 MB of memory). This size RAM is even
more undersized for Windows 7.

Read: http://windows.microsoft.com/systemrequirements

Those are the *minimum* specs which results in a crappy performing
platform. Of course, if all you do is e-mail and word processing (no
games, no video editing, no scientific math computations) then you might
be okay - but then you would be okay using Windows 95 for those tasks.

Download and run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor to see just how it ranks
your host (the one you mentioned and the other 3, or more, that you
didn't identify by their specs):

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/upgrade-advisor.aspx

Should I set this up as a 64 bit O.S.

You don't have a 64-bit CPU (on the 1 computer you mentioned out of the
possible 4 computers on which you intend to pirate one of the 3
licenses).

 

[JS]

Good choice, if the laptop is acceptable with Vista
then save that extra Windows 7 license for later use.

 

[David B.]

Poor and obviously uneducated advise

--


--

If you have any machines older than 3 years old, you are strongly advised
not to even try doing anything to them because Windows 7 requires a
minimum of 1 GB for 32 bit but you will need at least 4GB to do any
meaningful work. I recommend 8GB to be really productive.

The only way is to buy a new machine for Win 7 to install otherwise stick
with XP and Vista until SP1 comes out to fix some the bugs and to
introduce some more! By that time you will have the lottery and so you
can buy new machines with Windows 7 in pristine condition. Then you will
need to ask what exactly do you do with the new OS? What was wrong with
XP or VISTA apart from MS not making any more money?

 

[Michael Dobony]

If you have any machines older than 3 years old, you are strongly
advised not to even try doing anything to them because Windows 7
requires a minimum of 1 GB for 32 bit but you will need at least 4GB to
do any meaningful work. I recommend 8GB to be really productive.

The only way is to buy a new machine for Win 7 to install otherwise
stick with XP and Vista until SP1 comes out to fix some the bugs and to
introduce some more! By that time you will have the lottery and so you
can buy new machines with Windows 7 in pristine condition. Then you
will need to ask what exactly do you do with the new OS? What was wrong
with XP or VISTA apart from MS not making any more money?

What was wrong with Vista? How about phantom resets. How about phantom
lockups. How about taking longer to shut down than XP shuts down and
restarts on the same machine? How about not recognizing Windows-bundled
apps that Vista doesn't recognize as legitimate Windows apps? Need I go
on?

 

[Michael Dobony]

Thanks to all who responded. The situation looks rather grim, so I
guess I'll just get along with Vista until I have to buy a new laptop
computer. I don't think it would be practical or economically prudent
to upgrade my old laptop with more RAM and a faster CPU, so I'll just
knuckle under and live with it.

Gordon

Or you could upgrade to XP, like I did. I left the Vista partition and have
had to go back to Vista for a few hours since Christmas 2008. XP is MUCH
more stable and MUCH faster. I would still look at bringing the RAM to the
maximum your computer will support.

 

[David B.]

By definition, moving from Vista to XP is a downgrade, not an upgrade.

 

[Bob I]

What was wrong with Vista? How about phantom resets. How about phantom
lockups. How about taking longer to shut down than XP shuts down and
restarts on the same machine? How about not recognizing Windows-bundled
apps that Vista doesn't recognize as legitimate Windows apps? Need I go
on?

That's interesting, the Vista we have experiences none of those issues,
but then I purchased a PC with sufficient capabilities and it was
pre-installed. I suspect you need to sort that hardware out.

 

[Daave]

Depends on who is doing the defining...

By definition, moving from Vista to XP is a downgrade, not an upgrade.

 

[Michael W. Ryder]

That's interesting, the Vista we have experiences none of those issues,
but then I purchased a PC with sufficient capabilities and it was
pre-installed. I suspect you need to sort that hardware out.

Not every program plays nice with Vista. For an example Neverwinter
Nights will lock up or crash at random under Vista which it never did
under XP. Since my computer is a clean install of Vista Home Premium
running on a P5Q Turbo motherboard and a E8400 CPU with 4 GB of memory
this is Not a hardware issue. If you look at the forums you will see
the same problem for everyone. Even running the program in XP
compatibility mode will not fix the program. To get Dungeon Siege
Legends of Arrana to run I had to get a hacked version as the copy
protection will Not work with Vista under any settings.

 

[Bob I]

Not every program plays nice with Vista. For an example Neverwinter
Nights will lock up or crash at random under Vista which it never did
under XP. Since my computer is a clean install of Vista Home Premium
running on a P5Q Turbo motherboard and a E8400 CPU with 4 GB of memory
this is Not a hardware issue. If you look at the forums you will see
the same problem for everyone. Even running the program in XP
compatibility mode will not fix the program. To get Dungeon Siege
Legends of Arrana to run I had to get a hacked version as the copy
protection will Not work with Vista under any settings.

What you are describing is applicable to EVERY version of Windows that
has ever been released! If the program wasn't designed taking into
consideration the Version of Windows you are attempting to run it on,
then problems may arise. Contact the vendor for a patch or update to the
program.

 

[ANONYMOUS]

I'm sorry but I completely disagree with you.

I never expect a member of the pig society to agree with me because they
generally don't do any meaningful work. they are either unemployed or
doing some casual work whenever somebody feels sorry for them and so
offers them a short-term job. Otherwise nobody in their right mind
would allow a pig society member to go near their system. PERIOD.

 

[ANONYMOUS]

What is your advise then? Monkey business?

 

[ANONYMOUS]

What was wrong with Vista? How about phantom resets. How about phantom
lockups. How about taking longer to shut down than XP shuts down and
restarts on the same machine? How about not recognizing Windows-bundled
apps that Vista doesn't recognize as legitimate Windows apps? Need I go
on?

You clearly have very limited knowledge of OS and how they work on
systems? Have you thought of coming to my class where I can educate you
on the way you should install your OS?