Would Windows 7 run on...

[user1397]

My Dell Mini 10v netbook? And I mean home premium or above, not starter edition or below.

Its got an intel atom 1.6ghz
1GB ram
16GB SSD
intel integrated graphics

what do you all think?

[Zorgoth]

I don't know but Ubuntu would :D

More seriously, I would think that your experience would not be too great. The atom is a weak processor and 1 GB is not much RAM for W7 to play around with. If you need Windows I would go for XP, but honestly I wouldn't buy a netbook like that for Windows period. XP is dated and insecure, even by MS standards. Actually, I won't use Windows at all anymore, but if I were going for a Windows 7 netbook I would think the RAM should be at least 2 GB and there should be 32 GB disk space.

[Queue29]

Technically, yes, but XP or possibly Ubuntu would run better. If those intel graphics are gma950, I would definitely think twice about putting any linux distro on it.

[user1397]

I don't know but Ubuntu would :D

More seriously, I would think that your experience would not be too great. The atom is a weak processor and 1 GB is not much RAM for W7 to play around with.

why ubuntu is already on it :) I was just wondering because I know the specs arent great at all, but I was thinking without aero and maybe a few minor tweaks it could be passable...

[Austin25]

Maybe, but I wouldn't.

[Zorgoth]

Well you'd have to drop Ubuntu for sure unless Windows 7 is smaller than I think it is. I disagree that the GMA 950 is some kind of linux showstopper. I had a GMA 965 which I think is essentially the same generation and never had problems except of course no OpenGL 2.0 = no wine games.

Really though, I don't see the point of putting a cutdown W7 on when Ubuntu will easily go at full blast.

[wilee-nilee]

16GB SSD

Your HD is just to small. My copy of W7 pro unpacks to about that amount.

[fremantle]

I have the dell mini 1012, the very latest one with the latest atom. it came with w7 starter, and believe me, outofthebox it was SLOW AS HELL. And you wana have HomePremium on your 10v? NOT A GOOD IDEA AT ALL. On the other hand, i would recommend you to get windows vista, the home premium service pack 3 runs pretty decently on 1012. Hope this helps. And btw. did you check out mydellmini? its a great forum for dell mini users.

[fremantle]

I don't know but Ubuntu would :D

More seriously, I would think that your experience would not be too great. The atom is a weak processor and 1 GB is not much RAM for W7 to play around with. If you need Windows I would go for XP, but honestly I wouldn't buy a netbook like that for Windows period. XP is dated and insecure, even by MS standards. Actually, I won't use Windows at all anymore, but if I were going for a Windows 7 netbook I would think the RAM should be at least 2 GB and there should be 32 GB disk space.

i really dont believe that atom is that weak. it can run giant programs pretty smoothly. for example, photoshop cs5 runs like a charm. And rams are always upgradeable. but i agree with you that w7 is not a good option for netbook, not even the starter version *which by the way is a GREAT disgrace to personal freedom, wont let you change the wallpaper :@

The starter version of w7 is slow, and let go of the advanced ones. Vista runs decently, but its a huge security failure, you can still use it if you have good protection software.

I think that to be able to join the netbook os market, windows needs to build an OS specifically for netbook, not just limiting some features of an existing version of windows. For myself, if you just want to run some basic windows apps (you cant really do gaming and heavy stuff on a netbook) you can find alternatives of those in linux, and it would be much faster.

[afroman10496]

My Dell Mini 10v netbook? And I mean home premium or above, not starter edition or below.

Its got an intel atom 1.6ghz
1GB ram
16GB SSD
intel integrated graphics

what do you all think?

maybe but good luck finding the drivers for everything. im sorta being preachy here but ubuntu netbook remix is pretty awesome. and im not sure about putting win7 on a usb drive either ;)

[d3v1150m471c]

if you gutted most of it post install, you might get some performance out of it.

[wilee-nilee]

Just for the record I have a acer netbook with the atom processor but 2 gigs of ram and a 160 gig HD.
Windows 7 runs as fast as Ubuntu on this computer which is pretty quick.

[slooksterpsv]

i really dont believe that atom is that weak. it can run giant programs pretty smoothly. for example, photoshop cs5 runs like a charm. And rams are always upgradeable. but i agree with you that w7 is not a good option for netbook, not even the starter version *which by the way is a GREAT disgrace to personal freedom, wont let you change the wallpaper :@

The starter version of w7 is slow, and let go of the advanced ones. Vista runs decently, but its a huge security failure, you can still use it if you have good protection software.

I think that to be able to join the netbook os market, windows needs to build an OS specifically for netbook, not just limiting some features of an existing version of windows. For myself, if you just want to run some basic windows apps (you cant really do gaming and heavy stuff on a netbook) you can find alternatives of those in linux, and it would be much faster.

I have no clue what Atom you have, but all the Intel Atom's I've used, with XP, Vista, and 7 are so slow. Now the AMD Neo, is amazing. Atom, very poor - even with ION graphics. Sorry to say, but I have a Netbook and I put XP on it and it's still slow. Only thing I really want to run on it is Xubuntu cause that's what runs decent on it.

What amazes me too is some of the Atom's have VT-x Technology built in, why! I don't want to virtualize on a CPU that can barely handle Solitaire.

My opinions though.

[sikander3786]

My Dell Mini 10v netbook? And I mean home premium or above, not starter edition or below.

Its got an intel atom 1.6ghz
1GB ram
16GB SSD
intel integrated graphics

what do you all think?

Mine (Ultimate) takes up about 700MB of RAM as soon as it starts. Just a Torrent Client, Antivirus and a Download Manger enabled on start up. Will be a poor performer on 1GB RAM I hope. :lolflag:

"Sorry your balance (1GB RAM) is too low for the call."

[pania]

The answer to this would be here (http://windows.microsoft.com/systemrequirements)

[murderslastcrow]

This netbook actually shipped with Windows 7 at one point. I can assure you, it runs. However, don't try opening more than a couple applications, and don't expect it to handle gaming very well. If you need to game on it, Wine on Linux would provide much more favorable performance.

I know this because I tested both approaches myself on this very computer.

[Steam.]

1GB RAM is the amount windows uses for itself, you would have no more RAM to open anything with the left amount.For the processor, if it is similar to a P4, it would run.I myself have 4 GB RAM and windows basically uses 2GB for itself, leaving me with 1.9 GB for me to use.

[Nick_Jinn]

My Dell Mini 10v netbook? And I mean home premium or above, not starter edition or below.

Its got an intel atom 1.6ghz
1GB ram
16GB SSD
intel integrated graphics

what do you all think?

32bit version would, a stripped down hacker version of 64 MIGHT, but you are not going to get good execution speeds.

I would suggest XP or Linux.

[afroman10496]

This netbook actually shipped with Windows 7 at one point. I can assure you, it runs. However, don't try opening more than a couple applications, and don't expect it to handle gaming very well. If you need to game on it, Wine on Linux would provide much more favorable performance.

I know this because I tested both approaches myself on this very computer.

Yeah, but still the drivers are a pain in the ;) to get back

[mips]

You could use a utility like vLite (http://www.intowindows.com/download-vlite-for-windows-7/) to strip the Win7 install media to only what you need. You can remove unnecessary drivers,software, languages etc. I still think you are better off with 2GB of ram though but give it a try anyway, nothing ventured nothing gained.

[Giant Speck]

The amount of RAM isn't something I'd be worried about. My three-year-old Toshiba notebook with 1GB of RAM runs fairly well, even with Aero enabled.

It's the small hard drive that I would be worried about. Now, from my experience, I've only ever seen Windows 7 take up around 7-8GB of hard drive space when fully installed. However, this number seems to vary wildly depending on the computer. I've heard of people's installations being anywhere between half that (4GB) and twice that (16GB).

[Johnsie]

I had a netbook of similar spec. Installed Win7 Ultimate on it and it ran pretty slowly. I suppose it would've worked better if I'd increased the RAM to 2 GB. In the end I went back to XP Home which runs alot faster. All the same apps work in XP so there wasn't much need for 7.

People who say Windows XP is old and insecure compared to 7 seem to be ignoring the multiple service packs, security updates, the creation of Microsoft Security Essentials and newer browsers with better in-built security. But then you would expect a little fud on a Linux forum ;-)

BTW for anyone concerned about getting Windows drivers, Everest is pretty good for detecting hardware. It's a bit like LSPCI with a gui. Linux and Windows drivers systems both have their pros and cons. Linux comes with support for more drivers out of the box, but with Windows it's much easier to install a 'missing driver'.

[Dragonbite]

I have a P4 running @ 2.4 GHz and have 2.5 GB of Ram and Windows 7 runs slow on that.

One part, I believe, is that it relies a lot on the graphics card so while it cannot run Aero, everything seems to be dragged down (either that or I'm just not used to Windows anymore ;) )

This is a desktop too, that it doesn't even factor the lower space or SSD performance.

[CharlesA]

My netbook came with Win7 Starter which ran "ok." Ubuntu worked except for two-finger scrolling.

I've installed Win7 Pro 32-bit on it now, default install with Office and Firefox and it is using around 700MB of RAM. I don't understand the whole "ZOMG IT USES ALL MY MEMORY" mentality; what's the point of having RAM, if you don't use it?

[RiceMonster]

My netbook came with Win7 Starter which ran "ok." Ubuntu worked except for two-finger scrolling.

I've installed Win7 Pro 32-bit on it now, default install with Office and Firefox and it is using around 700MB of RAM. I don't understand the whole "ZOMG IT USES ALL MY MEMORY" mentality; what's the point of having RAM, if you don't use it?

Because the whole point of RAM is brag about how low your usage is, obviously!

[CharlesA]

Because the whole point of RAM is brag about how low your usage is, obviously!

Ah hah!

[user1397]

I don't think I've ever had such varying responses in a thread before. Some say it won't run at all, some say it'll run fine, and others say it'll run but not that well...who am I to believe? :popcorn:

[CharlesA]

Close yer eyes and roll a 20-sided die.

[mips]

I don't think I've ever had such varying responses in a thread before. Some say it won't run at all, some say it'll run fine, and others say it'll run but not that well...who am I to believe? :popcorn:

So post#20. You will be ok.

[blur xc]

Well you'd have to drop Ubuntu for sure unless Windows 7 is smaller than I think it is. I disagree that the GMA 950 is some kind of linux showstopper. I had a GMA 965 which I think is essentially the same generation and never had problems except of course no OpenGL 2.0 = no wine games.

Really though, I don't see the point of putting a cutdown W7 on when Ubuntu will easily go at full blast.

I've got a gma950 netbook and it runs like a champ- gma500, otoh, I'd pass. I've got an mini1010 and that gma500 is a pita to say the least. I'm deathly afraid to run updates on it. The last time, I had to reinstall the os. I know what steps I'm supposed to run, but I'm still gunshy.

And yes- we have a mini1010 w/ 1gig of NON-upgradeable ram (even those the bios? says it can take 2gigs). I've done a bit of googling, but it seems as though you need to disassemble the whole netbook (no access on the bottom) to get to the ram, and some places say it's soldered in place on some models.

It came w/ Win7 starter- but I never booted into it, just wiped and paved Ubuntu over it.

When it's working, it works great. I'd have to imagine, with more ram it'd only work better though.

BM

edit- Looks like w/ some elbow grease you can upgrade the 10v - http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/news/9223-dell-mini-10v-ram-upgrade-guide.html

[murderslastcrow]

It's not really the RAM that's the largest deterrent. Those graphics processors just can't do Aero right at all.

Windows 7 will work okay, and without compositing will work even better.

However, I suggest that, unless you have a very serious reason to use Windows 7 over XP or Linux, you should use one of the others for a more pleasant and snappy experience. I don't imagine you'd be gaming on there, so the only reason I could think of you needing Windows at all is to try it out, do MSN video calling, or using Adobe CS on a netbook.

Might as well, I guess? XD But use XP if you don't want to encounter as much frustration. Just remember to defragment and shtuff.

[mamamia88]

I have it running on my samsung n130 which just uses a normal hdd and it runs fine. granted i'm only using it to browse the web but still. you might not have enough space to hold the os though on the ssd. btw i'm running starter edition which is meant for netbooks. you can't buy it in the store though.

[Stancel]

My Dell Mini 10v netbook? And I mean home premium or above, not starter edition or below.

Its got an intel atom 1.6ghz
1GB ram
16GB SSD
intel integrated graphics

what do you all think?

Windows 7 runs fast on my laptop and I have 1 GB RAM too.

[Legendary_Bibo]

I just plan on getting the Teo from ZaReason. 6-cell battery, 2gb of RAM, only $400. Does anyone know if at least Wobbly Windows and Cairo-Dock will work?

[Zorgoth]

They should, but you'll still have OpenGL 1.4. But I had compiz/cairo-dock doing fine on a computer with a GMA 965 - although maybe it will be harder for you since Intel GPUs use the CPU too...

[Dragonbite]

Close yer eyes and roll a 20-sided die.
Yea! A Gamer!

Ever try one of those 100-sided dice? Like rolling a golf ball!

[CharlesA]

Yea! A Gamer!

Ever try one of those 100-sided dice? Like rolling a golf ball!

Would you even be able to read the numbers? O_o

[Dragonbite]

Would you even be able to read the numbers? O_o

Should have sold it with a magnifying glass, maybe that's why they aren't as popular ;)

[CharlesA]

Should have sold it with a magnifying glass, maybe that's why they aren't as popular ;)

Heh, figured as much. ;)

[Giant Speck]

I don't think I've ever had such varying responses in a thread before. Some say it won't run at all, some say it'll run fine, and others say it'll run but not that well...who am I to believe? :popcorn:

Do you actually have the Windows 7 on hand? The only way to be 100% sure it will work is to actually try to see if it works.

[user1397]

Do you actually have the Windows 7 on hand? The only way to be 100% sure it will work is to actually try to see if it works.

Well yes I have it on hand...on a dvd, so i need to either get an external dvd drive or somehow put win7 on a usb (looking online it looks possible)

[pwnst*r]

Don't bother.

[Col.Krumpet]

I would say that it would.....for about 2 hours before it flat out died.
Seriously I wouldn't try running Win7 in that low grunt of a laptop unless you like boot/load times of....say..Commodore 64 speed :p