New
#21
Dude, I bet you haven't read what we are saying, not really.
1. Why do you have to upgrade to Windows 7? You don't.
1a. But they will stop supporting it! So what? I'm using Windows 2000 on my old Dell - works like a charm.
2. Why do you need a powerful computer to edit a basic spreadsheet? You don't.
3. Home networking more complex in Windows 7? I don't think so, but I guess you're entitled to your opinion. Myself, I could never get it working in XP. But that's me. You seem to have it under control.
4. Linux is faster that Windows on your hardware? That's of course possible, but let me ask you, what did you do with Linux? Did you use Photoshop? No. Did you use Excel? No. Did you use Acrobat (Pro, not reader)? I'm not sure that exists under Linux either. I am sure that there are no games. so what's faster? Firefox? That's subjective in my opinion. Granted, ext4 and even ext3 are supposed to be superior to NTFS. But my experience with ancient hardware - my old Dell - is that copying files to a USB drive in Ubuntu was so slow, I had no patience to wait for it to finish.
Conclusion: To each his own.
Question: Can we help you with anything or you just wanted a pat on the shoulder?