Newbie here and just general question

I'm going from XP to Windows 7 Professional 64bit. Just wondering what I can expect when I finally get my notebook from Dell. The CPU is the I5 - 2.4 - 3.32 and the HDD is 500 gb, with 1 GB on the video card and 6 GB of RAM. What I plan on doing with this machine is the following:
#1: Start programming for Andriod (simple stuff)
#2: Not hosting, but building a web site for my wife about horses (go figure hu?)
#3: Transferring movies from VHS to DVD

The one concern that I have is, I have windows XP with office 97. Will there be a problem running this on my windows 7 computer. My wife's computer is Vista 64Bit and it runs on it just fine.

Will there be a problem doing any of the above stuff? What other stuff will be made available to me once I do get windows 7?

Office 2000 and below are incompatible with win7 and you may run into unexpected difficulties. If you plan to do any kind of serious work, get Office 2010. Look for the cheaper Home & student edition.

As for the rest, that machine will do most everything for you other than making a sandwich or pouring beer.

Charbroil57 said:

I have MS Office 2007 installed on my Win 7 x64 and have never had a problem wiht it.

Ditto. I did get in on the free upgrade to 2010, and while there are differences, performance and reliabilty are exactly the same. Up to that point, I was running Word 2000 without any issues at all (other than closing the search window took a few seconds).

James

gosh it will not make a sandwich for me? What about a cup of coffee? What good will this be to me then? Thanks for the info. My other question that I wanted to post on here was this:

My adriod phone (Vibrant) will not pick up (wifi) my xp computer,but it will pick up my wifes computer which is Vista. I guess because of the DLNA that is built into the system. I'm sure Windows 7 has it as well. Now comes the question, how can I watch TV through my computer to my Vibrant? I have Dish Sat for TV and comcast for internet. Any clues on how to do this?

timlab1955 said:

...Now comes the question, how can I watch TV through my computer to my Vibrant? I have Dish Sat for TV and comcast for internet. Any clues on how to do this?

windows 7computer to Vibrant - Google Search

You might also check in any existing Dish, comcast or Vibrant forums.

An excellent site that may help:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=26

James

Can't seem to find what I'm looking for on this one.

First, if the phone isn't picking up wifi, that shouldn't have anything to do with the other computers. If it sees the other computers, then the Vibrant should see your wifi access point/router as well.

On to two other points. If you are working with a lot of video, you may regret getting a laptop. Aside from typically smaller HDDs, they can't match the speeds of the desktop variety. You may have stuttering issues, depending on some other factors, like what you are doing with the video, etc. You may also not find the required ports on a laptop.

As for Office...97? Really? It's 2010 now. You can find Office 2003 for next to nothing on eBay, and you'd at least be within a decade of the current platform. If my only option was Office 97, I'd go one of two routes. I'd either switch to Open Office (not a fan myself) or use the free Office Live versions, which also give you 25 GB of free storage.

I never do understand why people are using such old Office suites, when something newer is available for free online.

Just one more question and I should be ready for my new notebook. Beside running old Office, is it worth putting the add on for XP (32Bit)? If so, is there any notes on it on how and where to get it? Thanks