Upgrade to Windows 7 or buy new laptop?

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  1. Posts : 2
    XP Media Centre Edition
       #1

    Upgrade to Windows 7 or buy new laptop?


    Hi,

    I'm hoping you may be able to offer some advice. I'm think about upgrading to Windows 7 in the next 6 months or so and I'm not sure whether I'd be better off upgrading my current laptop (spec below) or save the money and put that towards a new laptop.

    I use my laptop for work and while I wouldn't say I demand a great deal from it I do use programs such as Photoshop and Dreamweaver and it seems to handle these fine. Basic spec details below so your thoughts would be interesting.

    Toshiba Qosmio F20
    1.5gb RAM
    Intel Pentium M 1.6gz processor (798mhz)
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 22,814
    W 7 64-bit Ultimate
       #2

    Hello Hobby6, welcome to Seven Forums!


    The price of laptops has come way down lately, it may be worth a new one.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 10,200
    MS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit
       #3

    I thoroughly agree. You should look at the present laptop prices.

    the system you have will work but you will not be anywhere as near pleased as you would be if you got a new laptop which of course would give you Win 7 at the same time.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 17,796
    Windows 10, Home Clean Install
       #4

    I think there is only one person that can answer the question and that is you.
    The two previous posters have noted that the price of computer has come down, and I agree. If you can afford a computer with significantly better specs than the one you have, I would say go for it. If your budget is tight and you can get by, why not wait. Use what you have spend the 125 or so dollars for Windows 7 and use it until the next OS is introduced. You will have the most up to date OS, with a new computer without a strain on your budget. We both know than by the time Windows 8 is introduced the computer that you buy today will already be outdated.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 2
    XP Media Centre Edition
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Thanks for all your thoughts.

    I live in the UK and having looked around to get a laptop that is a step up and worth buying (eg 2gz processor or more and 4gb ram) the prices seem to be around £500 which is obviously a considerable difference to the £60 I can pick up the upgrade for (Id be upgrading from XP.)

    Considering this, how have you found Windows 7 in terms of its demands on your system, is it demanding more resources or managing them better? (regardless of whether you upgraded from XP or Vista) as if I feel my laptop will run as well or better than it does now with XP, I think the upgrade maybe the path I go down.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 17,796
    Windows 10, Home Clean Install
       #6

    Its not as demanding as Vista. I do not know about XP. I can tell you this, you will like the OS. I had Vista for about a year and installed Windows 7, when it was released and I am glad that I did. I was lukcy, got it at a pre order rate $50.00 (about 30 pounds). Make sure that you buy the upgrade version, you can do a clean install, even with the upgrade.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 22,814
    W 7 64-bit Ultimate
       #7

    If you're using XP now I would not try an upgrade, too many problems; do as Rich says and do a clean install with an upgrade Windows 7; have a look at the tutorial at the link below.

    Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 5,941
    Linux CENTOS 7 / various Windows OS'es and servers
       #8

    Hi there
    ask the question THE OTHER WAY ROUND.

    1) What do you do NOW with your current laptop.

    2) What do you WANT to do with your laptop that you can't do with your existing one.

    3) Is the laptop too slow -- unless you spend a LOT of money laptops running Internet or simple office apps are all much the same speed .

    Your current Laptop will run W7 JUST FINE.

    If you need a desktop type replacement for your laptop then get a new one -- but unless you are going to spend HOURS doing photoshop on your existing laptop I'd keep it and upgrade to Windows 7.

    Instead of spending around 700 EUR / 680 GBP on a new laptop -- you could get a REALLY GOOD FAST desktop for that money - probably with 4 - 6 GB RAM insatlled as well.

    Hold your money for a while -- but if you ARE going to buy a new computer in the UK -- buy it before the VAT goes up -- whoever wins the forthcoming election (rumoured to be around May 6th or so) the VAT is BOUND to increase to possibly a totally mind boggling and wallet busting 20%.

    Cheers
    jimbo
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 1,939
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit Steve Ballmer Signature Edition
       #9

    I agree with what many have said here regarding lappy prices dropping, but jimbo brings up some great points...

    If all you do is surf the net and create simple documents an OS upgrade may be all you need. But yes, that upgrade to Win7 would require you to back up all your user created data to some other media.

    If you do much more than that or your lappy is basically used as a portable desktop, then today's multicore CPU's and huge quantities of RAM are the way to go... not to mention the benefit of moving to 64bit OS found in many laptops today.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 1,360
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #10

    This is an important point, before updating to Windows 7 check out your laptop drivers, make sure that Toshiba is offering Windows 7 versions for your machine.
      My Computer


 
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