The most minimalist spec that runs XP?

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by jag1967, Jan 25, 2005.

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  1. jag1967

    jag1967 Registered Member

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    Hi All

    I've inherited an oldish sony vaio laptop with the following spec:

    Pentium III 650 mhz
    64mb sdram
    10G hd

    My desktop runs Windows XP pro and so does my pc at work, so I'm seeking compatability
    Just wondering whether it would be possible to run xp on this laptop, or will it crash or just be unusably slow. I'll mainly be doing word-proc and surfing - nothing really intensive.

    thanks
    jag

    EDIT: Ooops, I realized this ain't exactly a security qu, hope its ok to post on this forum
     
  2. ronjor

    ronjor Global Moderator

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    jag1967

    You would need more ram. And a 10 gig hard drive is smallish for XP.
    My Windows system directory size is 2.34 gigs at the moment.
    Plus, you would have to buy a new vesion of XP due to activation requirements.
    Might be simpler just to keep using the operating system that came on that laptop.

    http://www.pcpitstop.com/xpready/xptests.asp
     
  3. jag1967

    jag1967 Registered Member

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    Thanks for the quick reply Ron

    From my work, I actually have an activiation free copy of xp which I can legally install on any machine I own.
    The laptops currently got W98 on it which I suppose I can reluctantly live with, but rather unstable & I don't have reinstall disks for it

    jag
     
  4. ronjor

    ronjor Global Moderator

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    jag1967

    It is YOUR laptop jag. :D Give us a report if you install XP.
     
  5. NOD32 user

    NOD32 user Registered Member

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    A standard install of Windows XP SP2 will run on a laptop with a PII 266, 64MB RAM (2MB shared into video), 6GB HDD. Very stable, but LOTS of swapfile activity and hence quite sluggish. With your spec you might find it runs quite acceptably for your needs especially if your able to trim your install down a bit. Make sure you've got access to all the drivers you need first - unless you do a complete backup of what you've got there'll be no going back since you haven't got the disks. If you're stuck often a 2000 driver will work quite well with XP if thats all you can get. Either that or try an upgrade install from your current 98 version first if you like. I'm pretty sure last time I did an upgrade it didn't run as well as a clean install, but sometimes you can bypass needing to find a missing driver that way.
    Either way just dont expect it to get up and go like a V8 supercar :)
    And more RAM would definately make a BIG difference if your able to upgrade it.

    The absolute minimum spec for installation to complete if I correctly remember is a Pentium 200 (that way its definately got MMX) and 64MB RAM. After it installs you can take out a bit more RAM but its already under optimum at 64MB so you'd have to be hard up for it to not leave it. M$ recommend 128MB I think? anybody know?
     
    Last edited: Jan 26, 2005
  6. Blackcat

    Blackcat Registered Member

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    You should be able to run most software adequately, if you increase your memory, preferably up to at least 256 RAM.

    Anything less, and you will notice a 'sluggish' response and will not be able to run many programs on access, particularly security software.

    Just do not buy the extra RAM from Sony!!
     
  7. jag1967

    jag1967 Registered Member

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    Thanks again for all the advice

    I found out from my work, they also had copies of W2000 pro, so loaded it up instead.

    Seems ok. Slowish as expected. But xp-lite helped. I checked on the machine and it's actually got a 30gb hd.

    The 64k memory is the issue. Being stingy at the moment and see how it goes.

    Are memory manager type s/w any good?

    cheers
    jag
     
  8. nadirah

    nadirah Registered Member

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    Well, mine is a new computer, I've got pentium 4, 256MB ram, hoping to upgrade to 1GB.
    Free space on HDD currently: 69.4GB :cool:
    MAXIMUM HDD Size: 80.0GB
     
  9. nateklomp

    nateklomp Guest

    I'm running XPSP2 on a Toshiba Satellite Pro 470CDT.

    Specs:
    200MHz Pentium MMX w/64MB RAM, 2MB C&T (Intel) Graphics.

    Cheers!
     
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