Minimum hardware for Win 7 and Office 10

[Goshute]

I'm at a decision point: upgrade my aging laptop v. buy new.

With a little judicious purchasing, and thanks to employee discounts, I can put Win 7 and Office 10 on the box for $100, and take the hard drive from 72 Gb usable to 300Gb usable for another $100.

The processor is a 2.13 GHz Pentium M single core (Dothan), and I'm presently at the max possible memory of 2 Gb.

With the expanded hard drive and assuming 32 bit installation, am I going to have reasonable performance?

[John Gray]

I hope it isn't Office 10 (= Office 2002 aka Office XP) but Office 2010!

"Reasonable performance" depends on what you're wanting to do with the laptop, and how many programs you're going to be running simultaneously. It's a fairly old CPU chip, so that's probably where any slowness will come from.

Have you tried the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor on it? That will give the best view.

[StuartR]

How many years old is this laptop? In my experience laptops tend to start failing catastrophically after 4 to 5 years and they rarely last more than 7.

How much would a reasonable spec laptop cost you? If you have to spend $200 to get this old one to a barely usable state then it might be better to spend the $600 to get something that will last a few years (I am guessing at the cost and could be out by a lot)

[Goshute]

Thanks John, I indeed mean Office 2010. I don't multitask heavily in terms of CPU work on the machine - I usually have no more than FF and one MS Office 2003 app running.

The Win 7 Advisor did not tell me much more than I can't use Aero and I'd need to upgrade a number of drivers.

Stuart, it's a Dell XPS M140 purchased it new April 2006, so it's getting near 5 years old. The battery has been replaced. I see no signs of catastrophic failure at present, but famous last words. (I've seen laptops last twelve years.)

[JoeP]

I think your current processor would be just OK with Win7. Graphics would probably be the big issue. If you budget can stand it I believe you'd be better off replacing the system. For about $500 USD you can get an Intel core i3 processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB HD, 15.6 inch HD display (720P), 64-bit Win7 home premium, and a few more goodies.

Joe

[Goshute]

Thanks all for the advice, and it causes me to change tack. If I get the larger hard drive (at $100, it's almost a consumable), skip Win 7, and install Office 2010 on XP, will I be an unhappy camper? (I already own an uninstalled copy of Office 2010 through a work purchase program. $12US.)

[JoeP]

That should be an OK combination. As usual, it depends on your usage. The more apps running the less you'll like it. I don't think that Office 2010 itself is going add much stress to the system.

Joe

[StuartR]

That sounds like a wiser plan to me.

[Goshute]

Thanks, guys. Considering the present drive has seen nearly 5 years use, and various programs have come and gone to and from it, would you recommend I image the present one and drop the image on the new drive then install Office 2010, or take my time and do a slow and steady fresh reinstall, with all the XP SPs and KB updates that will require. Or something in between. (I've never replaced a boot drive on a Windows 2000+ PC, it will be a first for me.)

[JoeP]

I'd do an image of the current system just to be safe anyway. Then I'd just update Office. I've never felt the need to reinstall XP just to reinstall it. Others will surely disagree.

I've read of quite a few people that have gotten reasonable performance on older systems with Win7. Since you are getting a new HD and have a copy of Win7 why not install 32-bit Win7 and play with it for a short period? If the performance is OK then you just need to install apps & get all your data moved.

Joe

[viking33]

Thanks, guys. Considering the present drive has seen nearly 5 years use, and various programs have come and gone to and from it, would you recommend I image the present one and drop the image on the new drive then install Office 2010, or take my time and do a slow and steady fresh reinstall, with all the XP SPs and KB updates that will require. Or something in between. (I've never replaced a boot drive on a Windows 2000+ PC, it will be a first for me.)

OR.. you could set up a dual boot drive and have both available to use.
( you would have plenty of room to do it )
Either way, I'd image the old setup first, if for nothing more than peace of mind.