Slowest PC to run Windows 7

[flipbit]

What is the oldest computer that Windows 7 will run on? If I put this on an old P266 MMX would it run, because Windows XP would work on it. It has 128 MB ram and a 18GB hard drive.

 

[clifford_cooley]

Hi Flipbit - Welcome to the site :ciao:

It has been my experience that Windows 7 will need at least 512MB memory. It is preferred to have 1024MB memory or more.
12GB Hard Drive space which does not leave much space for data out of your 18GB

I have a celeron 3.2 with 1GB memory and needed to upgrade my video to run the Windows Aero feature without glitches. It is less taxing on the system with Windows Aero turned off.

However to answer your question. I do not know if it will run on a machine so old. I would recommend a Computer Upgrade or stay with XP. There are older hardware drivers for XP that will not be supported by Windows 7.

 

[Kougar]

Windows 7 will not run on a P266 MMX nor on 128MB of RAM without a good deal of hacking, that's what was required by one savvy individual: Here's the Link

 

[DevilSShadoW]

so technically win7 could run on an iPhone 3GS
600Mhz proc, 256 MB RAM and a pretty good GPU (designed for OpenGL ES 2.0)
that would pe quite a paradox

 

[clifford_cooley]

I dont think the iPhone would have enough storage to hold the O.S. could be wrong though

 

[Ian]

so technically win7 could run on an iPhone 3GS
600Mhz proc, 256 MB RAM and a pretty good GPU (designed for OpenGL ES 2.0)
that would pe quite a paradox

Although the iPhone has a 600Mhz processor, it wouldn't be suitable for running Windows 7 - although it would be funny if it was

 

[DevilSShadoW]

I dont think the iPhone would have enough storage to hold the O.S. could be wrong though

the 32GB version of the 3GS would be enough probably

 

[Thrax]

The 600MHz processor in the iPhone is not an x86 CPU.

 

[DevilSShadoW]

ahh i knew there was something more to it
alas, one can still dream

 

[Kougar]

The 600MHz processor in the iPhone is not an x86 CPU.

Exactly... the iPhone uses an ARM Cortex A8 processor. It may run around 600MHz, but the performance would be much lower. Simply loading a feature rich webpage is still a CPU-bound thing, that is to say it's limited by the CPU as much as the bandwidth. Older ARM 11 cores were mostly CPU-bottlenecked regardless.

If it takes awhile to compute a small browser window, try to imagine how many days it would take to reach Window's desktop... assuming it was an x86 CPU, which as Thrax correctly points out it is not.

 

[DevilSShadoW]

i've been reading this interesting article about the first wave of smartphones to use x86 based CPU's
LG i said to launch such a product in the very near future

 

[Kougar]

i've been reading this interesting article about the first wave of smartphones to use x86 based CPU's
LG i said to launch such a product in the very near future

Intel was trying to push their Atom into MID's, and once they die shrunk it, eventually into smart phones. The entire "MID" concept didn't take off, or even go anywhere either.

It might be awhile before such a thing takes off, a long while... just because it is based on the x86 core doesn't mean it automatically has a huge speed boost. It also means it's going to be power hungry and unoptimized until software is written that makes use of the x86 features.

 

[DevilSShadoW]

Intel was trying to push their Atom into MID's, and once they die shrunk it, eventually into smart phones. The entire "MID" concept didn't take off, or even go anywhere either.

It might be awhile before such a thing takes off, a long while... just because it is based on the x86 core doesn't mean it automatically has a huge speed boost. It also means it's going to be power hungry and unoptimized until software is written that makes use of the x86 features.

ahh, yes, i remember reading it was gonna be a power hungry hog
yet it's still a step forward. Oh well, i'll eagerly await for 2013. Who knows what might happen until then
EDIT:
this picture is the result of a conversation i had with a friend of mine who sarcastically suggested that win7 could run on a toaster