Minimum Hardware Config for W7?

Hi.
I just wanted to know what the minimum hardware config should be to run W7 (without aero, etc.).
I have this really really really old notebook-
Pentium 4 (2.2 ghz)
256mb ddr ram !!!!!

I may be hoping for too much, but will it run?
I wont have my xps (in sig below) for 2 weeks and this was lying around. So i was wondering.
Oh.. or should i go Linux?

Thnx.

 

Win 7 won't run with 256 MB RAM.

 

Can you stick more RAM into it?

 

At least 1GB of RAM and at least 20GB free HDD space to install the OS and you should be good to go.

 

Not necessarily, 7 works with 512 MB of RAM too but a 1 GB RAM stick is only like 10 bucks these days so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

Have you tested 7 with 512MB yourself to see its useability?

 

Since it's DDR RAM it might be more like $40 or $50... I upgraded the RAM in our old desktop about a year ago and it was at least $40 for a 1 GB stick of DDR RAM

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=340971

 

^^^ That is very interesting...with a Celeron to boot...I personally wouldn't take the chance...I don't think anyone should. Be safe with 1GB.

Edit: I must admit i've been tempted to install 7 on a 512MB computer before (being an Enthusiast) but just never got around to doing it. So to the OP, if 512MB is your max then i'd say upgrade to it and give it a shot. Don't expect it to be smooth though. I sure wasn't!

 

Hmm.. I was off doing doing some research. 256mb just wont cut it!

I may get my hands on a 512mb ddr ram stick soon, so i'll install W7 on it anyway and see. Even xp now is sooo slow!!! I cant believe there's a sticker on the notebook saying, 'Designed for XP'!!!!!!

I will definitely keep you'll updated. It seems there have been ppl who installed W7 on a 256ram system, but with horrible performance. But it still works though.
If that doesn't work, well, i guess its linux then.
cheers!

 

Oh.. i also wanted to ask abt the cpu. i know a P4 wont be as fast as a core 2 duo, but do u think it would TOO slow to run W7? (i dont knw if i'm asking too much) i just want to run smoothly. and when i say smooth, i mean i dont have to wait 20mins to just open firefox, and it doesn't hang for 5 mins everytime i open any other application.

 

Well from the link chipmoney sent that person was using a Celeron cpu, whereas you are on a Pentium 4; And IMO a P4 owns a Celeron any day of the week so you should be fine.

 

Hmm. Thanx.

 

Ok.
I installed W7 RC on this PC (P4 2.2Ghz, 256MB RAM, 60GB HDD) yest night. Installation took quite a bit of time; abt 75 mins, maybe a bit more. I had to install with a patched winsetup.dll (thank u google!).


Everythings pretty smooth. Had some trouble with my PCMCIA card but i managed to fix it. No other problem on initial startup. Only, startup takes abt 1min 40 secs approx.

Now, i thought it would be slower compared to XP, but i was wrong. Application load time is definitely more responsive than in XP pro SP3. RAM usage is abt the same as XP; abt 60% total ram is consumed. Now this is withought real-time AV, altough i have Avira running with real-time protection off. I have DefenseWall HIPS up-and-running.

RAM gets eaten up when i open up a browser (Chrome, Opera, Firefox, IE). Found that Opera uses least RAM, with 6 tabs open at the same time. Off course i can open up any other RAM-intensive (does that make sense?) application while i have 6 browser tabs open, coz everything slows down like crazy (but foobar and utorrent were running in the background perfectly with 6 tabs open). At the most i can have opera, vlc(with a video playing), skype and utorrent running together. File transfer during web-browsing slows down a bit; But is way faster compared to XP. I have to also mention that the Memory Defrag tool in Glary's Utilities, is very useful. So whenever RAM usuage reaches like say 80%, i can bring it down to 60% with opera and foobar running in the background.

I love W7. I never thought i could run it this smooth in a notebook with this low a config, to my satisfaction (although i'm giving this notebook to my cousin). Well, yes, it definitely runs WAY WAY faster in my XPS, but i'm still impressed. I would've never guess that it would run faster/smoother than XP.

If you wanna know anything else, lemme know.

Cheers!

Edit: Ok i just notced my first problem! Cpu usage is constantly idling at 20-24%. Can't seem to find out why. Here's a snapshot. Any idea why?

 

Wow. talk about a rash, mostly incorrect statement.

It all depends on which core and socket type the Celeron is. There is only one generation of Celeron for which this might be true multiplied by the three chipset families and then clock/fsb speed.

 

Well like my statement that's your opinion...but in my own experience that's how I see it.

So if i'm incorrect you are too because i'm merely speaking off of personal experience. So we both wrong eh?

 

I don't understand how Windows 7 can be faster than XP on your current setup. I am a 100% windows 7 supporter but I have to say if you have a properlly setup XP it will be much faster with the afore mentioned specifications. anyway, whatever makes u happy.

Win 7 rocks with 4 GB RAM FTW + Core2Duo 6 MB cache

 

I have tweaked XP to the most of my knowledge. The same tweaked OS runs blazing fast on my XPS (obviously!). I'm not saying it was horribly slow. I'm just saying that i got a better performance from windows 7 (application startup, etc.), on this system.

 

Difference being Intels published performance numbers vs your 'opinion'.

 

If Intel says jump would you jump just because they say so, or ask how high?

Dude, i'm speaking off of my personal experience. Now go find something worthwhile to do please.

 

Come on guys, the netburst cpus were all over the map. AMD was cleaning Intels clock in the desktop space and Intel was trying a lot of chip variants to slow down their market share loss.

Intel marketed P4 cpus as Celerons and vice-versa. Pipelines, caches, fsb, etc, were all changed seemingly at random to place one chip above or below the other.

 

You can just limit your memory using the system configuration utility (type 'msconfig' in Run) under "boot/advanced options". No need to put it on an actual 512MB machine. Or do a virtual machine, of course that isn't really indicative of performance.

 

I'm not quite sure i understand. Could you explain more?

Cheers!

 

A friend showed this to me today...
http://www.techspot.com/news/35164-windows-7-installed-on-a-pentium-iibased-pc.html

I installed W7 on my old desktop with a Pentium 4 2.8GHz and 512mb RAM and it runs fine.
I wasn't surprised because I was running Vista Ultimate on it no problems at all before I installed W7.

 

512 ddr2 or ddr?

 

512 ddr.