Upgrade Old Laptop

[merkat106]

I have a 4-5 yr/old HP laptop that currently runs XP Pro. It is stable, but I was thinking about upgrading. I have 2GB ram and a 250GB hard drive installed.
Product Specifications HP Pavilion zv6130us Notebook PC - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

I am looking at how well it would perform, NOT if it could run the OS. Windows Upgrade Advisor says it could support 7. And I don't want to upgrade because it is cool or nice, but if an upgrade can increase performance.

My questions:

Should I upgrade the OS? Seven or Vista or leave it alone.

 

[Ztruker]

There is no way Windows 7 (and definitely not Vista) is going to run better than XP on that laptop. If you really get the bug, make sure you have a full image backup of your current XP before starting. That way getting back to XP is easy.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello merkat106.



That PC should do good with Windows 7, I personally, have no problem with Vista but if I were you I'd go straight to Windows 7; XP is a dying dinosaur, move on.

 

[Kari]

There is no way Windows 7 (and definitely not Vista) is going to run better than XP on that laptop. If you really get the bug, make sure you have a full image backup of your current XP before starting. That way getting back to XP is easy.

^^^ BS!

If you have upgraded RAM from original 512 megs to 2 gig as you told, and HD from 80 to 250, you are going to see a clear improvement if upgraded to Seven.

Pavilion laptops run Seven really well. You might have to download network, display and chipset drivers from respective manufacturers sites.

Go for it, come back if you have more questions.

Kari

 

[pbureau]

I upgraded a HP NX9420 from Xp to Win 7 myself, and the install was flawless, I did also jump from 32 bits to 64 bits, and that lappy was used only from projection uses because it was too slow on xp for much else, and now.. its back in the train of being used daily because the efficiency has much increased.

Nx9420, 4gb Ram, no changes in hardware.

I would recommend it, always make a full data backup and or image back up before you make the jump.

 

[CyberZeus]

I suggest Windows Seven too.

 

[mitchell65]

I would go for Win 7. I see you have a high spec PC running 7 already so your learning corve will be neglible. Just one point, if you run a printer or scanner off the laptop at the moment (under XP) and it is not one that you have connected to your other PC just check for drivers for Win 7 64bit! Otherwise go for it!

 

[fishnbanjo]

While not an HP laptop I installed Windows 7 Pro 32 on a 5 y/o plus DELL XPS 3.4GHz Extreme CPU with 2 Gb RAM and a 60Gb drive and it murders the performance of XP Pro which had been pretty good. I have since upgraded the drive to a 160Gb and it has been like getting a new PC.

 

[nokken]

I installed the RC on an old Dell Inspiron 8600 (Summer 2004) that had been running Windows XP Pro back in June.

• Pentium M 2.0Ghz (Dothan) 400Mhz FSB
• 2GB DDR333 (Upgrade from original 512MB)
• 250GB WD Scorpio (ATA/100) (Upgrade from original 40GB)
• 128MB Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo

Everything seemed to work OK - but Aero Glass had a noticeable slow-down every time I dragged a window.
I think that may have to do with the drivers for the Radeon more than anything.

 

[Luckystar]

Was there really much need for Vista in the Poll.

Sorry, made me giggle, especially when no-one else has currently voted.

Lucky

 

[Brian6121990]

Was there really much need for Vista in the Poll.

Sorry, made me giggle, especially when no-one else has currently voted.

Lucky

I wonder who was the person who voted Vista? Hmmmmmmmmmmm. LOL:devil2:

 

[PeteC]

The OP's notebook certainly can run well enough under Win 7...whether "better" (faster?) may be a question, but it will run well enough.

The question is why upgrade it? Unless you need to run something that will not run under XP Pro, there is pretty much no "bang for the buck" upgrading from XP Pro to win 7 in an older computer.

BTW, I am saying this as one who has upgraded a 2 1/2 year old HP Pavillion notebook from Vista to Win 7. Contrary to all the hoopla, as a properly maintained Vista SP2 machine, Windows 7 mildly...VERY MILDLY, runs a tad crisper...no big night and day difference. Now, I DO like Windows 7, very much so, but was it "worth" upgrading to from Vista? Truthfully, No! I do not regret it, as I simply wanted to do it, but I am also being honest in that there was no compelling reason to upgrade aside of having wanted to do so...

P.S. This was a "clean" upgrade from Vista 32 bit Home Premium to Win 7 64 bit Home Premium, so there was no "hang-over" from the old OS.

 

[Phone Man]

I have a similar laptop (zv6270us). Only difference I saw was the CPU. I updated to Windows 7 64bit RC as a trial and had a few driver problems but found fixes. There are no 64bit drivers for Sound, Card Reader and Modem. I was able to find compatible 64bit Vista drives that worked. Had to do a minor hack on the sound driver but it worked. I went back to XP when RC expired but since I am now using Win 7 64bit on my new Desktop I plan to update the Laptop. Makes it easier to keep them both the same. I went with 64bit and it seemed to have more zip. I think the Win 7 64bit is a more mature OS and can take advantage of the CPU.

Jim

 

[merkat106]

Thanks everyone

Decided to both keep XP and install 7 (32bit). XP on the 250GB drive & 7 on the original, but still good, 80GB drive. Easy enough to pop the drive in and out on the laptop. Sticking with the 32bit for driver availability, low ram and older app compatibility.

 

[Kari]

In my opinion you have made right decisions.

With a bit older rig and only 2 gigs of RAM, you would not benefit from 64-bit Windows. For the same reasons, virtualization (XP Mode etc.) would not work so well so to maintain app compatibility, dual boot system is better.

Good luck, don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions regarding installation.

Kari

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Thanks everyone

Decided to both keep XP and install 7 (32bit). XP on the 250GB drive & 7 on the original, but still good, 80GB drive. Easy enough to pop the drive in and out on the laptop. Sticking with the 32bit for driver availability, low ram and older app compatibility.

Here's an excellent tutorial, at the link below.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html?ltr=D

 

[merkat106]

Thanks everyone

Decided to both keep XP and install 7 (32bit). XP on the 250GB drive & 7 on the original, but still good, 80GB drive. Easy enough to pop the drive in and out on the laptop. Sticking with the 32bit for driver availability, low ram and older app compatibility.

Didn't want to dual boot the laptop. My desktop is a multi-boot machine and I wished to keep the laptop with one os per drive.

Installed 7 x86 on the older hard drive. Drivers weren't too hard to find and performance (with Aero) rivals that of many of my newer dual core computers even though the performance index rated the old laptop 2.6 (graphics).
Installation didn't take nearly as long as I expected either.

I will keep XP on the newer drive for old time sake

 

[Darryl Licht]

I have a 4-5 yr/old HP laptop that currently runs XP Pro. It is stable, but I was thinking about upgrading. I have 2GB ram and a 250GB hard drive installed.
Product Specifications HP Pavilion zv6130us Notebook PC - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

I am looking at how well it would perform, NOT if it could run the OS. Windows Upgrade Advisor says it could support 7. And I don't want to upgrade because it is cool or nice, but if an upgrade can increase performance.

My questions:

Should I upgrade the OS? Seven or Vista or leave it alone.

Unless you like an outdated OS thats been patched upon for 9 years, or a dud of an OS that hogs resources and is qwirkey with hardware....

GO WITH 7!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jasin]

2 gigs of ram is plenty for windows7. The processor is more than fast enough too.

http://windows.microsoft.com/systemrequirements

 

[jasin]

Was there really much need for Vista in the Poll.

Sorry, made me giggle, especially when no-one else has currently voted.

Lucky

I wonder who was the person who voted Vista? Hmmmmmmmmmmm. LOL:devil2:

Brian6121990, You.