Are you thinking about upgrading your computer to windows 7?
If you are, here's something to consider. Going from Vista to Windows 7 should be fairly simple. However, if you're going from XP to windows 7, it's most likely on an older system like ours. I recently picked up the 3 pack upgrade for windows 7 so I could upgrade both the older desktop and the wife's newer laptop which was running vista. The vista install went fine with no problems.
The problem came when I installed 7 onto the older dell desktop which was running xp. I soon found out that the older dells like mine have a standard built in video graphics card which aren't sufficient to handle 7. I was able to install 7 onto the desktop but could only run the lowest setting resolution on my display setting which would make all the graphics appear huge....I mean really huge. I was forced to go out and pick up a new PCI graphics card last week to upgrade the desktop in order to run windows 7 properly. I finally got around to installing it tonight and it now works as it should.
Be carefull when selecting a new graphics card. There are different versions you can get depending on which slots your computer is equiped with. Mine was a PCI slot which is white. There are PCI express slots along with other versions. I know the PCI express slot is bigger and orange in color.
A helpful hint for those of you looking to do this upgrade. Take the cover off your hard drive and take a picture to bring with you when you go to select your new video card. I took a few with my cell camera and was able to show the saleman exactly what I had for a system and we went off of that when we selected which card would best suit my system.
Now, is it worth it? I think so. I've been running windows 7 on the new laptop for a month now and really like it. It has allot of nice features. There are other threads here about the features of windows 7 so I won't go into to much detail on that. If you are considering making the jump to 7 from an xp system, I think it's worth the extra $$$ for a new graphics card to go along with it.
Now, the nvidia graphics card I picked up said on the package that it was designed to upgrade systems running xp or older to vista. It said nothing about windows 7. But it works fine.
One more thing to consider when upgrading an older system like mine to windows 7 from XP is that you should be prepared to do a full backup of all your important documents/photos/songs/whatever along with all your programs before doing the install as it will whipe your system clean before installing windows 7. I was able to get away with only a partial backup on the wife's laptop as it kept all the extra programs she had installed but not the documents etc...
I will tell you that this system is now running strong and should be good for a few more years now. It has never given us a seconds problem in the past. We just figured it was time for an upgrade and saw no real reason to scrap a good system when it still runs like the day we bought it 7 yrs ago.
If you are, here's something to consider. Going from Vista to Windows 7 should be fairly simple. However, if you're going from XP to windows 7, it's most likely on an older system like ours. I recently picked up the 3 pack upgrade for windows 7 so I could upgrade both the older desktop and the wife's newer laptop which was running vista. The vista install went fine with no problems.
The problem came when I installed 7 onto the older dell desktop which was running xp. I soon found out that the older dells like mine have a standard built in video graphics card which aren't sufficient to handle 7. I was able to install 7 onto the desktop but could only run the lowest setting resolution on my display setting which would make all the graphics appear huge....I mean really huge. I was forced to go out and pick up a new PCI graphics card last week to upgrade the desktop in order to run windows 7 properly. I finally got around to installing it tonight and it now works as it should.
Be carefull when selecting a new graphics card. There are different versions you can get depending on which slots your computer is equiped with. Mine was a PCI slot which is white. There are PCI express slots along with other versions. I know the PCI express slot is bigger and orange in color.
A helpful hint for those of you looking to do this upgrade. Take the cover off your hard drive and take a picture to bring with you when you go to select your new video card. I took a few with my cell camera and was able to show the saleman exactly what I had for a system and we went off of that when we selected which card would best suit my system.
Now, is it worth it? I think so. I've been running windows 7 on the new laptop for a month now and really like it. It has allot of nice features. There are other threads here about the features of windows 7 so I won't go into to much detail on that. If you are considering making the jump to 7 from an xp system, I think it's worth the extra $$$ for a new graphics card to go along with it.
Now, the nvidia graphics card I picked up said on the package that it was designed to upgrade systems running xp or older to vista. It said nothing about windows 7. But it works fine.
One more thing to consider when upgrading an older system like mine to windows 7 from XP is that you should be prepared to do a full backup of all your important documents/photos/songs/whatever along with all your programs before doing the install as it will whipe your system clean before installing windows 7. I was able to get away with only a partial backup on the wife's laptop as it kept all the extra programs she had installed but not the documents etc...
I will tell you that this system is now running strong and should be good for a few more years now. It has never given us a seconds problem in the past. We just figured it was time for an upgrade and saw no real reason to scrap a good system when it still runs like the day we bought it 7 yrs ago.
