Upgrade to Windows 7 home premium or any other

[juniorgeek]

i have windows 7 starter and 2 GB of RAM
i am wondering what change (in terms of speed and performance of my netbook) will it bring if any when i upgrade to windows 7 home edition or etc?
cause i dont want the overall speed to be any slower..
what i mean is
if i upgrade to a whole windows version, there'll be more work to do and plus there'll be more software i would be installing like microsoft office 2013 (2010 is currently installed, 2013 does not run on starter)
so, more work, lesser speed... right?
the overall performance would be slower than before....
already sometimes the RAM usage out of 2GB is 1.96GB when a little more work is being done at a time
like using the browser with more tabs and stuff..
(not always is it that high)
just wondering if the windows was full, then the RAM usage would be more, resulting in lesser speed and performance

the question is
Is the theory above true or there are differences? Can i upgrade and be happy?
And what about upgrading to windows 8? -> the start button on my netbook has the windows 8 logo
its a new netbook


Acer Netbook - 2GB RAM, Intel Celeron Processor

 

[VistaKing]

Hi junior

Take a look at the link below . It might help you with your decision making

:ar: Difference Between Windows 7 Starter and Home Premium

 

[juniorgeek]

Thanks Vistaking,

I read it, sure gave me the differences.
But what about the speed and performance of the netbook? Will it be slower or remain the same?

 

[VistaKing]

It might be slower . Cause aero will slow it down . You could also see if you could upgrade your ram to 4GB .

 

[NoelDP]

You can always switch Aero off
Essentially, there's nothing in the higher editions to make anything run slower (apart from Aero- and only then if the GPU is a shared/slow one), but you get the ability to run more and 'better' programs.

Mostly, any slowdown you see is more likely to be because you're running more, than because the machine has slowed.

 

[Night Hawk]

The most you can actuall accomplish with a netbook since that is limited to start with is perhaps an OS change as well as reducing some of the active processes as has been suggested. Last fall I bought someone a smartbook as a gift with the embedded CE 6.0 form of 7 on it and have regretted it since! These type of devices are good for checking mail and browsing but don't expect any performance leaps since any would be hard to come by.

The main reason it was equipped with the Starter edition and not Home Premium had to do with size and reduced number of features to suit the limitations typically seen with a netbook or other tablet, smartbook type device. The Starter edition is the more or less stripped down edition of 7 the manufacturer knew would work while knowing the higher edtiions simply wouldn't perform like they would on a laptop or desktop.

Now for upping the memory installed that will depend mostly on the make and model with many only seeing one memory slot while others have slots. The specs will show the largest size module you will be able to use. With 2gb installed that would suggest a pair of 1gb modules in a pair of slots and most likely won't take 2gb modules. A good read about this from 2010 can be seen at Memory Upgrades for your Netbook

 

[juniorgeek]

Thank you Night Hawk,

Two last questions

1- what if i install windows 8? its specs say that windows 8 needs half the amount of things i already have...
2 - if i want to return to windows 7 starter, how do i do it?

Thanks again.
Junior geek

 

[Night Hawk]

Well the first thing is to look at what came preinstalled on it namely the Starter edition which is basically a stripped down but not embedded form of 7 as well as whether or not 8 drivers are even available for it. Most likely you wouldn't find any for 8 since that doesn't seem to have a Starter type edition at all! In fact only two are sold retail on media being 8 and 8 Pro not Pro PLUS! or the Enterprise edition.

When 7 first came along after Vista which saw a Basic edition MS renamed that to Starter for 7 releasing mostly to developing countries as the stripped down less weighty OS which is the ideal choice when any OEM looks for which OS to go on something like a netbook or other that allows the owner/user to still replace one OS with another.

You won't find a product sticker on the netbook most likely as you would with a notebook or laptop model however since there is no optical where you would use a recovery disk. Once you dump the preinstalled 7 you will then possibly have a need for a totally separate product key when going to make up a usb installation key if not able to use a usb optical drive.

I haven't actually had one here to toy around with to see if those have anything more then the serial and model numbers on them however only having taken a fast look at few on display while one retail outlet was still open. Most of the time I simply walk right past them since I already bought a 7 laptop for someone I occasionally look after while also maintaining two 7 desktops. (and then a few other pcs added to the list which tend to get malwares, etc. )

 

[juniorgeek]

hmm... i see

but there is something - "windows 8 RT", it is for some computers like tablets and etc..
and there is a key, a sticker underneath my netbook which has a serial number similar in looks to any windows serial key.. (it says - product key)
and why i had the idea of installing was because another person pointed out that the start button on my netbook has the logo of windows 8 - therefore it is made to have windows 8 or atleast is capable of doing so...

and is there anyway you know of on how to come back to win 7 starter after installing win 8..?

thanks

 

[NoelDP]

There is a world of difference between 'Windows 8 ready' and having Windows 8 installed.
The Key on the COA sticker is only valid for the version and edition of the OS stated on the sticker - and for no other.
You cannot install any other Windows OS without purchasing a suitable license for it.

"Windows 8 RT" cannot be installed on 'normal' PC's - it's limited to installation on ARM architecture machines, which in turn cannot run normal Windows 8, or Windows 7.

 

[Layback Bear]

juniorgeek you say you have a netbook but I can't find which one you have in your post.
Then you say you have 2 gigs of ram and you are using 1.96 gig of ram now.
You also say you would like to install Windows Office.
That boat is not going to float in my opinion.
A netbook is a tinker toy for using on the net for social media and email. It was never designed to do work and in my opinion upgrading the netbook if you could would be a wast of money and time.
Use you netbook for what it was designed for and enjoy it.

 

[Night Hawk]

I have to agree with Layback Bear for the most part since they are limited devices while simply custom installing different editions was the idea when they were first out for the 7 Starter or Home Premium editions at best. The key there if found is just like any other OEM key as LB pointed out as far as only being good for what came preinstalled. You wouldn't replace one OS for another without the separate key already being available for the next OS.

As far as simply trying ro run just anything you want like you would on a gaming laptop or full desktop the expression of "Forget it!" is what the end result would be. Just getting into a smartbook with the embedded CE 6.0 form of 7 is even worse where IE is stripped down making it almost impossible to log into secure sites! You wouldn't run Photoshop or anything else like CAD on this catagoy of device either.

They are not much more in the long term but a smartphone with the usb port and option to replace one OS for another while still having all the main limitations. When first taking a look at the netbooks when first out I couldn't see spending $300 on one while for a few bucks more you could have a basic laptop with 2b and a 120gb drive to put any OS on provided drivers were available and run some good apps at the same time. I ended up buying a 7 laptop for someone instead which sees constant use!