Win XP Pro or Win 98?

[mistral]

I use Win 98. I plan upgrade my hardware (PIII 866MHz 127MB RAM, 20GB HDD)
and extend memory to 512MB (2 x 256). Then reformat HDD and install Win XP
Pro. Will Win XP Professional work perfectly on such configuration? Or
better keep Win 98 on such PC?

mistral

 

[DL]

It will probably work, but its the rest of your hardware you need to ensure
has winxp drivers avilable, before you try.
The hd is tiny, you wont have much free space
Winxp Pro is a bit OTT for such a puny sys, why not Home?

 

[Malke]

I use Win 98. I plan upgrade my hardware (PIII 866MHz 127MB RAM, 20GB HDD)
and extend memory to 512MB (2 x 256). Then reformat HDD and install Win XP
Pro. Will Win XP Professional work perfectly on such configuration? Or
better keep Win 98 on such PC?

There is no way for anyone to answer whether XP will work "perfectly" on
that machine. If you upgrade the RAM to 512MB, it won't be a speed demon
but will be adequate for web surfing, word processing, etc.

There is an XP Upgrade Advisor and you should run that first. Also check to
make sure your hardware is supported with XP drivers and important software
you run will work with XP.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/advisor.asp

Malke

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Winxp Pro is a bit OTT for such a puny sys, why not Home?

What difference would it make? The WinXP Home and WinXP Pro versions
are _identical_ when it comes to hardware requirements, performance,
stability, and device driver and software application compatibility.



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrum Russell

 

[anhhung]

I use Win 98. I plan upgrade my hardware (PIII 866MHz 127MB RAM, 20GB HDD)
and extend memory to 512MB (2 x 256). Then reformat HDD and install Win XP
Pro. Will Win XP Professional work perfectly on such configuration? Or
better keep Win 98 on such PC?

mistra

Mine is PIII933Mhz with 256MB and it runs quite satisfactorily without
putting too many antivirus and stuff on it. However, you wont feel good
when playing games for sure.

 

[Charlie Tame]

I use Win 98. I plan upgrade my hardware (PIII 866MHz 127MB RAM, 20GB HDD)
and extend memory to 512MB (2 x 256). Then reformat HDD and install Win XP
Pro. Will Win XP Professional work perfectly on such configuration? Or
better keep Win 98 on such PC?

It should work, be prepared to hunt for sound drivers so note chip numbers
etc while you have the case apart. Video may be a similar problem but sound
cards seem to be the worst. Memory upgrade is essential, that is the one
thing that will help considerably.

Other comments are correct, it will not be great for games and for running
many things at once, but it should be stable and reliable. As for the
differences between home and pro with pro you have more options to run
services so if you are interested in studying things like that it makes no
sense to get home, especially if you plan later to increase your network.
The machine you have for example would make a good web server for such
experimentation.

Charlie

 

[NoStop]

What difference would it make? The WinXP Home and WinXP Pro versions
are _identical_ when it comes to hardware requirements, performance,
stability, and device driver and software application compatibility.

And let's not forget insecurity.

--
WGA is the best thing that has happened for Linux in a while.

The ULTIMATE Windoze Fanboy:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2370205018226686613

Is this a modern day equivalent of a Nazi youth rally?:

http://www.ntk.net/media/developers.mpg

A 3D Linux Desktop (video) ...

View Some Common Linux Desktops ...
http://shots.osdir.com/

 

[mistral]

It should work, be prepared to hunt for sound drivers so note chip numbers
etc while you have the case apart. Video may be a similar problem but sound
cards seem to be the worst. Memory upgrade is essential, that is the one
thing that will help considerably.

Other comments are correct, it will not be great for games and for running
many things at once, but it should be stable and reliable. As for the
differences between home and pro with pro you have more options to run
services so if you are interested in studying things like that it makes no
sense to get home, especially if you plan later to increase your network.
The machine you have for example would make a good web server for such
experimentation.

Charlie

I plan extend memory only, I bought 512MB memory. Video and sound is
integrated on motherboard. I do not plan upgrade anything else(motherboard
or network card), since there is more sense to buy new PC, not dawdle with
old pc. I just have WinXP Pro that dusty somewhere without job. MS does
not provide trusting information about win XP system requirements, so i just
want know other people experience of using winXP on such machines..
What sound drivers I need?

mistral

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I use Win 98. I plan upgrade my hardware (PIII 866MHz 127MB RAM, 20GB
HDD) and extend memory to 512MB (2 x 256). Then reformat HDD and
install Win XP Pro. Will Win XP Professional work perfectly on such
configuration? Or better keep Win 98 on such PC?

Whether it will work *perfectly* depends on much more than any such
specifications. It depends on *all* the hardware components you have, their
specs, their brands, and models, their condition, their drivers, etc. As a
single example, Windows XP is far fussier about RAM than Windows 98 was, and
RAM (I'm talking about quality here, not the amount) that was fine for
Windows 98 may work sporadically or not at all in Windows XP.

However, if you are asking whether a PIII-866 with 512MB of RAM and a 20GB
HD is adequate for Windows XP, the answer is yes for most people. The hard
drive is on the small side, but that depends on how much you put on it. The
processor is far from state of art, but should be adequate if your needs
aren't too great. 512MB is enough RAM (more than enough for many people) for
common business applications, but if you run particularly demanding apps
like Photoshop, you may find that adding more RAM would give you a decided
performance improvement.

To put this into perspective, my wife ran Windows XP on a PII-400 with 256MB
and a 10GB hard drive for several years. It ran fine, although slowly.
However, she used the computer for little besides E-mail, some light word
processing, and an occasional game of solitaire, and it met her needs just
fine. The point is that we all use our computers differently, and have
different perceptions of what we consider adequate speed, so a hardware
configuration that's adequate for one person may be unbearably slow for the
next.

 

[mistral]

There is no way for anyone to answer whether XP will work "perfectly" on
that machine. If you upgrade the RAM to 512MB, it won't be a speed demon
but will be adequate for web surfing, word processing, etc.

There is an XP Upgrade Advisor and you should run that first. Also check to
make sure your hardware is supported with XP drivers and important software
you run will work with XP.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/advisor.asp

Malke
--
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic"

 

[Bruce Chambers]

How to check my hardware is supported with XP drivers?

Mistral

This information will be found at the PC's manufacturer's web site, and
on Microsoft's Windows Catalog:
(http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hcl/default.mspx)

Microsft also provides a tool that can assist you in evaluating the
compatibility of your system:

Windows XP Upgrade Advisor
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/upgrading/advisor.mspx


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrum Russell

 

[mistral]

Whether it will work *perfectly* depends on much more than any such
specifications. It depends on *all* the hardware components you have, their
specs, their brands, and models, their condition, their drivers, etc. As a
single example, Windows XP is far fussier about RAM than Windows 98 was, and
RAM (I'm talking about quality here, not the amount) that was fine for
Windows 98 may work sporadically or not at all in Windows XP.

However, if you are asking whether a PIII-866 with 512MB of RAM and a 20GB
HD is adequate for Windows XP, the answer is yes for most people. The hard
drive is on the small side, but that depends on how much you put on it. The
processor is far from state of art, but should be adequate if your needs
aren't too great. 512MB is enough RAM (more than enough for many people) for
common business applications, but if you run particularly demanding apps
like Photoshop, you may find that adding more RAM would give you a decided
performance improvement.

To put this into perspective, my wife ran Windows XP on a PII-400 with 256MB
and a 10GB hard drive for several years. It ran fine, although slowly.
However, she used the computer for little besides E-mail, some light word
processing, and an occasional game of solitaire, and it met her needs just
fine. The point is that we all use our computers differently, and have
different perceptions of what we consider adequate speed, so a hardware
configuration that's adequate for one person may be unbearably slow for the
next.

thank you for reasoning, Ken. Now situation is much more clear.

Mistral

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

thank you for reasoning, Ken. Now situation is much more clear.

Great, glad to hear it. You're welcome and glad to help.

 

[Dan]

I use Win 98. I plan upgrade my hardware (PIII 866MHz 127MB RAM, 20GB HDD)
and extend memory to 512MB (2 x 256). Then reformat HDD and install Win XP
Pro. Will Win XP Professional work perfectly on such configuration? Or
better keep Win 98 on such PC?

mistral

Windows 98 will work fine with 512 mb's of ram so I would stick with
Windows 98. I would just make sure that you have a decent
bi-directional firewall, antivirus program and an anti-spyware program
to help protect Windows 98. If you end up getting a new computer then
you will acquire XP or if it is next then most likely you will end up
with Windows Vista.

 

[mistral]

Windows 98 will work fine with 512 mb's of ram so I would stick with
Windows 98. I would just make sure that you have a decent
bi-directional firewall, antivirus program and an anti-spyware program
to help protect Windows 98. If you end up getting a new computer then
you will acquire XP or if it is next then most likely you will end up
with Windows Vista.

I am not sure about firewall. I used software firewall AtGuard. However,
antivirus and Ad-aware(anti-spy).
Should I have a hardware firewall(router)? I have no static IP.

mistral

 

[Gordon]

The hd is tiny, you wont have much free space

Rubbish - I've got XP SP2 on a 10GB partition with 2GB free - and that
includes Office 2003.......

 

[mistral]

Rubbish - I've got XP SP2 on a 10GB partition with 2GB free - and that
includes Office 2003.......

I need install Office XP or 2003 or this machine, plus Corel Draw(if
possible), plus few applications(not very big), plus have near 2-3GB free
space for music storage. Finally, PC must not be slow.

 

[Charlie Tame]

I need install Office XP or 2003 or this machine, plus Corel Draw(if
possible), plus few applications(not very big), plus have near 2-3GB free
space for music storage. Finally, PC must not be slow.

You didn't say that at first did you? If you want to run graphics processing
packages you are wasting time and money and would be better to buy a cheap
Dell or something. No operating system is going to make the CPU faster, and
that is basically what you need to be that ambitious.

 

[mistral]

You didn't say that at first did you? If you want to run graphics
processing packages you are wasting time and money and would be better to
buy a cheap Dell or something. No operating system is going to make the
CPU faster, and that is basically what you need to be that ambitious.

The default programs I need is Office XP or 2003, plus few programs I
mentioned. I can manage without Corel Draw pack.

 

[-Alias-]

I use Win 98. I plan upgrade my hardware (PIII 866MHz 127MB RAM, 20GB HDD)
and extend memory to 512MB (2 x 256). Then reformat HDD and install Win XP
Pro. Will Win XP Professional work perfectly on such configuration? Or
better keep Win 98 on such PC?

mistral

I have an AMD 800 Mhz, 512MB PC-100 RAM and 80GB HD and it works just
fine with XP Pro. You might want to consider getting a new hard drive,
although 20GB is more than enough room if you're not into videos and
other large files.

Alias