upgrade from xp to 7 to improve ram usage?

I am using a school laptop running winxp that has 2 GB ram. But it still uses 1 GB of the page file in addition to the physical ram. I heard that windows 7 has "better" performance that xp.

I was wondering if upgrading to vista and then 7 would help reduce ram usage. I suspect it is the educational crapware loaded on the laptop that is hogging the ram with background processes and the like, but I don't see how it can take up an entire 2 GB ram + 1 GB page file. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

kirov said:

I was wondering if upgrading to vista and then 7 would help reduce ram usage.

If you compare XP and 7 both at fresh install, 7 uses quite a bit more memory.

If your XP is extremely bloated and you've never done any maintenance, you will probably see a nice performance improvement by moving to 7.

7 has superior memory management. We all were impressed by this during the beta testing phase of the OS.

This doesn't mean I disagree with sup3rsprt. His post is correct too.

The memory management is better I suppose but I'm still not sure how that benefits me in the real world. So far all I can see about this memory management is that it makes Windows 7 look like a memory hog to anyone who doesn't know what's going on.

sup3rsprt said:

kirov said:

I was wondering if upgrading to vista and then 7 would help reduce ram usage.

If you compare XP and 7 both at fresh install, 7 uses quite a bit more memory.

If your XP is extremely bloated and you've never done any maintenance, you will probably see a nice performance improvement by moving to 7.

Thanks, I plan on dual-booting into 7 since I still have to use xp once in awhile. Any tips on reducing OS bloat in xp? And 7 for that matter once I start installing stuff?

Windows 7 does use more memory....but the key word was omitted. It uses more memory....effectively.

If you compare the two side by side, it is very easy to see the difference between the two, once you've given SuperFetch enough time to learn your habits and frequently used applications. When you put the system under a load, you'll notice that XP bogs down, while Windows 7 continues to remain snappy and responsive. It isn't a trick or a gimmick, and it doesn't take much to see how this benefit helps out. All you need to do is compare two similar systems, with the same apps installed.

As for tips, dual-booting is so....stale, in my opinion. Load up Windows 7, virtualize XP, and enjoy a smooth, responsive system, that still gives you access to XP in the rare event you'll need it.

kirov said:

I am using a school laptop running winxp that has 2 GB ram. But it still uses 1 GB of the page file in addition to the physical ram. I heard that windows 7 has "better" performance that xp.

I was wondering if upgrading to vista and then 7 would help reduce ram usage. I suspect it is the educational crapware loaded on the laptop that is hogging the ram with background processes and the like, but I don't see how it can take up an entire 2 GB ram + 1 GB page file. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Nope you wouldn't. The absolute minimum for win 7 32bit is 1 gig. the page file is HD space used when you run out of memory.Certainly if you clean install you are going to be more efficient but that means re-installing all your apps

Hope this helps

Ken

DeaconFrost said:

Windows 7 does use more memory....but the key word was omitted. It uses more memory....effectively.

If you compare the two side by side, it is very easy to see the difference between the two, once you've given SuperFetch enough time to learn your habits and frequently used applications. When you put the system under a load, you'll notice that XP bogs down, while Windows 7 continues to remain snappy and responsive. It isn't a trick or a gimmick, and it doesn't take much to see how this benefit helps out. All you need to do is compare two similar systems, with the same apps installed.

As for tips, dual-booting is so....stale, in my opinion. Load up Windows 7, virtualize XP, and enjoy a smooth, responsive system, that still gives you access to XP in the rare event you'll need it.

This helps a lot, thanks. I don't think virtualizing xp will work though. XP is so bloated it uses 2 1/2 GB of ram when idle. Does anyone know how do reduce xp's bloat? That would be nice.

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kirov said:

Nope you wouldn't. The absolute minimum for win 7 32bit is 1 gig. the page file is HD space used when you run out of memory.Certainly if you clean install you are going to be more efficient but that means re-installing all your apps

Hope this helps

Ken

So your saying I shouldn't install win 7? Maybe your misinterpreted me, the laptop has 2 gb ram but xp bloat takes 3 gb hence the page file usage.

If your install of XP is using that much memory, then you must have some malware or many, many third party apps running in the background.

Kirov

I think your xp is so peppered with apps, etc that the only way to get either xp or win 7 to work is going to be a clean install. I orginally was running win 7 in 2 gig or ram and quite nicely.

So you have to make your decision and go with it. XP or win 7?


Ken