Upgrade to Win 10 on Dell Inspiron One 2320

Hi,

I would really, really love some input on how to best proceed here. I have a Dell Inspiron One 2320 with Windows 7 Home 64-bit. With the end of life for windows 7 around the corner, I wanted to upgrade to Windows 10. With the tool CPU-Z I was able to see that the CPU instructions had what I needed to upgrade to Windows 10 (SSE2, EM64T, VT-x). However when I called Dell to confirm if I can upgrade, I was told not to move ahead. So I'm not sure how to proceed. I could use some input here how best to proceed. Another options was to consider upgrading to Windows 8 if Win 10 was iffy as the upgrade checker seemed for most part advise me that the system is upgradeable.

Here are the general specs for the Dell Inspiron One 2320 I wish to upgrade:

Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Core i5 2400S @ 2.50GHz 58 °C
Sandy Bridge 32nm Technology
RAM
6.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 665MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
Dell Inc. 050NT9 (CPU 1)
Graphics
23" AIO (1600x900@60Hz)
Intel HD Graphics (Dell)
1024MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M (Dell) 49 °C
Storage
931GB Seagate ST1000NM0033-9ZM173 ATA Device (SATA) 37 °C
931GB Western Digital WD My Passport 259F USB Device (USB (SATA)) 31 °C
29GB SanDisk Ultra USB Device (USB)
Optical Drives
MATSHITA DVD+-RW UJ8C1 ATA Device
Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio

Thank you.

Could you just give me a heads up on creating a new partition? Sorry, usually just use existing partitions. Sure I can figure out but if you don't mind, please set me on the path...


Re windows 8 compatible checker, said 4 not compatible, which shouldn't be a problem.. Here was the actual results


For you to review
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/gtrai/Downloads/Windows%208%20compatibility/Windows%208_1%20Upgrade%20Assistant_files/defaultPlugins.png[/IMG] Install an app to play DVDs
You may need to install an app to play DVDs in Windows 8.1.
More info
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/gtrai/Downloads/Windows%208%20compatibility/Windows%208_1%20Upgrade%20Assistant_files/defaultPlugins.png[/IMG] Secure Boot isn't compatible with your PC
Your PC's firmware doesn't support Secure Boot so you won't be able to use it in Windows 8.1.
More info
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/gtrai/Downloads/Windows%208%20compatibility/Windows%208_1%20Upgrade%20Assistant_files/defaultPlugins.png[/IMG] The touchscreen on this PC wasn't designed for Windows 8.1
You can use this touchscreen with Windows 8.1 but it won't be as responsive and gestures won't be as precise as a touchscreen designed for Windows 8.1.
More info
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/gtrai/Downloads/Windows%208%20compatibility/Windows%208_1%20Upgrade%20Assistant_files/defaultApp.png[/IMG] Lexmark Series Printer
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/gtrai/Downloads/Windows%208%20compatibility/Windows%208_1%20Upgrade%20Assistant_files/warning.png[/IMG] Reinstall this app in Windows 8.1

Compatible
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/gtrai/Downloads/Windows%208%20compatibility/Windows%208_1%20Upgrade%20Assistant_files/classicon_%7B4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318%7D.png[/IMG] Dell Wireless 1702 802.11b/g/n
Atheros Communications Inc.
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/gtrai/Downloads/Windows%208%20compatibility/Windows%208_1%20Upgrade%20Assistant_files/classicon_%7B4D36E96F-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318%7D.png[/IMG] HID-compliant mouse
Microsoft
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/gtrai/Downloads/Windows%208%20compatibility/Windows%208_1%20Upgrade%20Assistant_files/classicon_%7B6BDD1FC6-810F-11D0-BEC7-08002BE2092F%7D.png[/IMG] Integrated Webcam
Microsoft
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/gtrai/Downloads/Windows%208%20compatibility/Windows%208_1%20Upgrade%20Assistant_files/classicon_%7B4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318%7D.png[/IMG] Intel(R) HD Graphics
Intel Corporation
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/gtrai/Downloads/Windows%208%20compatibility/Windows%208_1%20Upgrade%20Assistant_files/classicon_%7B4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318%7D.png[/IMG] NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M
NVIDIA
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/gtrai/Downloads/Windows%208%20compatibility/Windows%208_1%20Upgrade%20Assistant_files/classicon_%7B4D36E96C-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318%7D.png[/IMG] Realtek High Definition Audio
Realtek
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/gtrai/Downloads/Windows%208%20compatibility/Windows%208_1%20Upgrade%20Assistant_files/classicon_%7B4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318%7D.png[/IMG] Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
Realtek
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/gtrai/Downloads/Windows%208%20compatibility/Windows%208_1%20Upgrade%20Assistant_files/classicon_%7B36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000%7D.png[/IMG] USB Mass Storage Device
Compatible USB storage device

Thank you very much! If you don't mind, I'd like your opinion on this piont. The other idea is to install Windows 10, and if possible, if there are issues, reinstall or roll back to Windows 7. If you know anything about that point, I'd sure appreciate your input. Otherwise thank you for your timely responses.

In my opinion, Win 7 is still the best OS as it is stable. Win 10 upgrades itself every 6 months and with the upgrades comes a lot of bugs and problems. When M$ fixes the bugs it comes a new upgrade with a of of bugs and problems.
End of M$ support only means that you won't receive new "updates". It will work the way it does today. No reason to downgrade to win 10.

So, if you want to try Win 10, buy a small SSD 128G (will cost around US$25), replace the Win 7 HDD and do a fresh Win 10 install. If you have Win 7 home or HP, install win 10 Home; if you have Win 7 Pro or ultimate, install Win 10 Pro. When asked, insert the Win 7 key on the COA sticker (look under the laptop or inside the battery compartment).

If you want to do a huge upgrade to your laptop:
Buy a 120G SSD (~US$ 25) and a HDD caddy (~US$ 5) to install / replace the ODD. Do a clean install on the SSD and move (Using Kari tutorial) C:/Users from the SSD to D:/Users on the HDD. You will have the speed of a SSD and the space of a HDD at low cost.

Last week a friend brought me a laptop that was taking almost 4 minutes to boot.
I've installed the SSD in the HDD place and installed the HDD on a caddy in the ODD place.

With the SSD it's now taking 30 sec to boot.

120G should be more than enough to install windows and programs if you move the users folder from the SSD (C:\Users) to the HDD (D:\Users).
Use Kari tutorial. I can guide you as I've done it many times
relocate-users.zip


Crucial BX500 120GB

sorry for delay in replying. Thanks for your feedback. This is not a laptop. It's an all in one machine from dell so not familiar with opening it up or changing hard drives which I've only done on a desktop. So a bit beyond my learning curve though I'm always up for a challenge. At this time, I just want to give them 2-3 more years on their current machine with secuirty updates still coming to their pc. So either they continue to just run Windows 7, as you gave good feedback for, which is where I'm leaning.



Instead of Windows 10 I wanted to upgrade them now to 8.1 so they can have security updates until Win 8 end of life in 2023 but it seems Dell says that model PC can not be upgradd to 8.1. I am just not 100% SURE if that is true or accurate. Would just have liked to hear back from somebody who actually upgraded this model Dell.



Thanks for your feedback.

gtrainer said:

This is not a laptop. It's an all in one machine from dell so not familiar with opening it up or changing hard drives which I've only done on a desktop. So a bit beyond my learning curve though I'm always up for a challenge.

Dell's User Manual is here. From a quick glance, it looks to be easier to work on than most laptops. Pop the back cover off and you have ready access to the hard drive and both memory slots. If you've had experience working on desktops, you should be fine.

gtrainer said:

Instead of Windows 10 I wanted to upgrade them now to 8.1 so they can have security updates until Win 8 end of life in 2023 but it seems Dell says that model PC can not be upgradd to 8.1. I am just not 100% SURE if that is true or accurate.

Dell has Win 8 drivers available for the 2320, so I'd say the claim that it can't be upgraded is hogwash.

Note that you'll have to supply your own Win 8/8.1 product key if you go that route. I don't think your Win 7 product key will work to activate a Win 8/8.1 install. Win 8/8.1 product keys are hard to come by these days, so it'd be more than I'd want to tackle just to eke out a couple more years of support.

Since it can take Win 8, it should be able to take 10 as well, if you wanted. At present, you can still download Win 10 for free, and unlike 8, 10 should activate with your Win 7 product key. I agree with Megahertz07 that Win 10 has it's own idiosyncrasies that are show-stoppers for some, but if you wanted to give it a try it should cost you no more than some time and a spare hard drive to test with.

There are plenty of forum threads around about how to make 10 look and behave (mostly) like 7, so if it's 7's End-Of-Support you're worried about (which is not the same as EOL), I think a customized 10 makes more sense than 8.1.

As for the four incompatibilities in your post #3, they're all inconsequential:

• Win 8/8.1/10 don't have the old Windows Media Player, so you'll have to download/install a third-party player. No big deal.
  
  
• The 2320 evidently doesn't support Secure Boot -- and by extension, I assume not UEFI-boot, either. But 8/8.1/10 will still install just fine in MBR mode, so Secure Boot is irrelevant. Not a problem as long as your hard drive is less than 2TB.
  
  
• The touchscreen will probably still work, but not as smoothly as the newer generation of touchscreens. However, it should work as well as it already has with Win 7, so it's not like the user experience will be degraded from what you're used to. IAC, if you don't even use the touchscreen, everything should work just fine with a mouse.
  
  
• The compatibility checker is merely saying Windows doesn't have the Lexmark driver built-in. At worst, you'd have to get a new printer, but chances are Lexmark already has a 8/10 driver and you just need to find it and install it.

Go for it. My Dell Ispiron Zino HD 400 is older, lower spec than yours and I was able to install Windows 10 Pro X64.



Please note that I did a clean install, not an upgrade. I made an image of the Windows 7 Home X64 OS that it came with then wiped the HD and installed Windows 10.

You can disable the auto updates (I did) and the telemetry in Windows 10. It picked up all the drivers for the system so no question marks in device manager. The only snag I ran into was the built-in Dell WLAN 1397 Mini card couldn't get a good connection from my router (it worked fine in Windows 7). I ended up getting a USB WiFi dongle that came with its own Windows 10 drivers and I was all set.

If it doesn't work right you can simply restore the Windows 7 image you made.