Ok to upgrade from Vista to Windows 7 with these specs?

If the laptop has these specs, is it ok to upgrade to Windows 7 (this is the Sony AW model):

Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T9800 (2.93GHz)
Memory : 4GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx2)
Hard Drive : 640GB (320GBx2) RAID SATA Hard Drive (7200 rpm)
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT W/ 512MB dedicated VRAM

Will it also be able to plays Sims 3? e

Unfortunately it's a very old model, but it's the only model that fits my requirement (17+" inch screen, full 1080p, blu-ray drive, and Windows 7). Thanks.

 

YES. In fact it will perform better with Windows 7 than Vista. Upgrade NOW! By upgrade I mean to a fresh install, not upgrade your current installation of the Vista OS.

 

The specifications are absolutely fine with Windows 7, make sure you opt for the 64 bit version so that you can take advantage of the 4GB RAM.

 

Pretty much anything that can run Vista can also run Windows 7. You're well above the required specs, and as long as you don't have a sound card for which there are no modern drivers, the above should be fine.
The question is why you want to go from Vista to W7. Apart from the Aero interface, and a few minor tweaks, the two can be considered pretty much the same OS.

 

Windows 7 has been hyped as faster, but all tests I have seen show that Vista and Windows 7 perform at the same speed, with a slight and almost negligible edge in the favour of Vista.
Windows 7 can be considered Vista SP2, with Aero and fewer server-like functions out-of-the-box (less aggressive caching and indexing, for example). Of course, that makes it more responsive, especially right after a boot, but it doesn't increase the speed.

 

I want to upgrade because Windows 7 has those cute widgets. No one seems to like Vista. If I do clean install of Windows 7, do I have to completely uninstall Windows Vista some way first? Sorry I have never upgraded a Windows system before.

 

As long as you go 32-bit to 32-bit, or 64-bit to 64-bit, you can upgrade in-place. Otherwise, the install procedure gives you the option to reformat and repartition the hard drive.

Unless you have more than 4 GB RAM, or run 64-bit Photoshop or other apps that have 64-bit versions that run substantially faster, there's little to gain from going from 32-bit to 64-bit. Yes, you can use all of the 4 GB of RAM instead of just 3 GB of it, but the OS itself, and every 64-bit program on it will use more memory, so with 4 GB, you won't gain much.

 

The difference is minor for the most part, yes, but W7 does boot and shutdown faster, and on a laptop enter and exit sleep faster and more reliably (I've been running all x64 since Vista). Vista's awful UAC control surely slows you down more if you left it on its default

For the record I never hated Vista like the vast majority. I did not experience any performance issues many complained about. Maybe it's because my computers are always current I dumped XP for my person computers as soon as Vista was released.

7 is better than Vista. I definitely encourage the OP to upgrade.

 

Thanks everyone for your help. Now my question is, is it better to buy the upgrade software or should I buy the full Windows 7 software and do a clean install? The model of the laptop I will have is VGN-AW290.

 

If Vista is pre-installed on your system then you can just get the upgrade version as it would be cheaper than obtaining the full version. You can choose to perform either a Upgrade (depending on the version of Windows you have) or a Clean Install with the upgrade version of Windows 7.

You can view more information on the procedures from the Microsoft website - link.