windows upgrade question

[bubba.50]

no matter how I phrase it I can't find a satisfactory answer to my question by googlin' online.

can a computer with windows 2000pro be upgraded to any usable current operating system?

and if so, to what & how hard/easy would it be?

thanks & have a good'en, bubba.

[bubba.50]

forgot to mention this is a new/old stock 12 or 13 year old Dell CPX650GT laptop.

[pressonregardless]

Bubba, I can't answer your question. The only advice that I can give you is try to stay away from anything to do with Windows 8.

[bubba.50]

I don't like windows 8 either. 8.1 is workin' a bit better for me since ya can put a start up place on it so ya don't hafta fool with those tiles. a friend wants to trade it to me for an item I have on another forum & I just wanta know if I can make this thing usable before I take him up on it.

[mozeppa]

win 7 is the only way to fly!

had xp forever hated to see it go. worked too good.

[dilly]

I guess anything is possible, and without a lot more detail it would be hard to get a definitive answer.

My advice would be not to make the trade because it's highly likely the specifications for that old computer are less than the minimum for a modern operating system. Even XP is considered antiquated now, and I think that would be the most you could hope to squeeze onto an old computer like that.

[mozeppa]

I guess anything is possible, and without a lot more detail it would be hard to get a definitive answer.

My advice would be not to make the trade because it's highly likely the specifications for that old computer are less than the minimum for a modern operating system. Even XP is considered antiquated now, and I think that would be the most you could hope to squeeze onto an old computer like that.


^this

[Hogtamer]

With a handle like bubba you can appreciate this....[smilie=l: The BEST thing I ever did regarding the digital world was deliver a load of 00s from about 10 yds into my cpu that ran windows. Truly an awesome and satisfying experience. Bought an Ipad and have never had a freeze up, lockdown, no lost data or error message. This too has been an awesome and satisfying experience. Turned it on and everything was so intuitive! BTW, used a full choke with 12 hard cast 00. A little overkill but I wanted to make sure nothing was left alive in that sucker! My only regret was that I didn't take a picture.

[oldred]

With that computer the operating system would be the least of your problems, that thing is a dinosaur don't spend any money trying to get it to work. I doubt you could even get Win 7 or 8 to run on that thing and even if you did it would perform poorly, sorry but no matter how "new" it is the fact is that by now it is an antique, antiquity happens fast in the computer world!!!

[Smoke4320]

not enough CPU, video card speed or right kind of memory to upgrade and old 2000 operating system to win 7 .. you would spend more than just buying a new computer with all new hardware and operating system ..

[Yodogsandman]

My computer gooba says that Windows 10 will be coming out about in June. It's being hailed as being much like Windows 7. He says to wait and buy a computer with Windows 10.

[pworley1]

You will be able to run the 32 bit version of windows 7.

[RogerDat]

That CPX 650 is way out of date, some google checking did not turn up any hardware that looked like it could meet the hardware requirements of Windows 7.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/system-requirements

Would be way short of ram and processor looks like it would be about 1/2 of the minimum. Aside from that old laptops are rarely a good deal. To keep size and weight down all components are micro sized and less robust, combined with the fact that it gets moved around makes it more prone to failure. I would say about 4 years is the max safe life span when there is not a significant risk that a component that cost more than the laptop is worth will fail. Plus most of the parts are built in and unlike a desktop can not be replaced. Oh and the battery will run close to $100 and those lose performance in at most a couple or three years. The power brick to run/charge it will run $60 so if either one of those have to be replaced.... Given a choice between a leatherman with a busted blade and a 10 year old laptop I would take the leatherman, can at least use the other tools for something.

If getting a computer that is slightly older and is pushing the limits of it's hardware to run latest Windows consider Linux. Ubuntu for one is free and pretty easy to install, tends to support most hardware found in desktops (laptops can be trickier but may work) Linux can easily provide web surfing, email, digital photo software, and an office suite (Open Office) which will meet the computer needs of most people. Look for an Ubuntu Live DVD, this would be one that allows you to run the Linux system without installing it, just runs off of the CD/DVD, does not perform as well as it would installed but you can see if it works ok with the hardware and try out surfing the web. When you exit the Linux live CD nothing will have changed on your original Windows installation. You have the option of Installing or not. http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/try-ubuntu-before-you-install

We sometimes use a Linux live disk to get files off of a system where the Windows install is corrupted or there is a virus that is preventing normal operation, booting from the live CD provides it's own operating system but we can still rescue the persons files off of the hard drive.

<insert RogerDat getting on soapbox>
I'm not a huge Apple fan, too much of their stuff is totally proprietary, like buying a rifle for a premium price and finding out you can only shoot it using their cartridges, and only reload if you buy their powder and projectiles. Windows by design runs on pretty much any PC hardware but because Microsoft does not control all the hardware and software people can come up with combinations that just don't work, PC uses standard plugs and devices, Apple tends to have their own "standards" and you will buy adapters ($$$). You can get a wider variety of software for Windows.

Linux/Unix is free but can sometimes take a lot of your time and research to get it working right with one thing or another, the saying is Linux is free if your time is valued at nothing, still it is rock solid and free is a good price. Not less software but somewhat less "mature" software, can usually find software that does 80% of anything you might want to do but is missing the last 20% of features that most people don't miss. Much of the software for Linux is free but because it is not from big companies it can sometimes have bugs or may not be as snazzy as Windows or Mac software. Adobe Photoshop is big bucks and really powerful, GIMP for Linux is free and does most of the stuff Adobe did a couple of versions ago, plus one or two features that people really liked from latest version of Photoshop.

Bottom line is computer is a tool, the OS be it Windows, Mac or Linux is just letting you use the tool. If one works well for you then by all means use that one. Some folks find holding a Glock hand grip "intuitive", some find it... well let us say not intuitive or comfortable. Sometimes it boils down to being totally used to something else. Who wants to stop doing something that works well for them?
<RogerDat weak with exhaustion steps down off of soap box>

[oldred]

not enough CPU, video card speed or right kind of memory to upgrade and old 2000 operating system to win 7 .. you would spend more than just buying a new computer with ALL NEW HARDWARE AND OPERATING SYSTEM


Exactly and that does mean ALL new hardware, basically in order to run Win 7/8 would require replacing nearly everything but the case and that's if hardware could even be found to do it with. Old desktop computers can sometimes be upgraded to newer components and I have done this several times by replacing everything starting with a new mother board and CPU leaving only the basic case and power supply assuming even the power supply was up to the task. This was sometimes (mostly not however) practical for a desktop with room to shoehorn in newer motherboards, etc that didn't physically fit exactly like the originals but laptops are a whole 'nother critter entirely!

[bubba.50]

about what I figgered. thanks for all the replies. have a good'en friends & neighbors, bubba.

[goodolejim]

Yes you can use just about any version of Linux on that computer. I use Linux Mint myself and Ubuntu manuals usually will walk you through how to do what you wish to do. I find Linux Mint somewhat easier to learn than Ubuntu. Both are totally free and can be downloaded or for less than $10 dollars you can buy the software on a dvd shipped to you.

A good site to read about differant linux distros is "distrowatch" where you can find people who will sell you a dvd for very low cost.

It's a shame so many perfectally good computers are junked because newer software will not work on older machines.

Almost all linux software is free and of very high quality.

[Bonz]

Windows 7 system "Minimum Hardware Requirements"

If you want to run Windows 7 on your PC, here's what it takes:


1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/64-bit-support) processor
1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

[SciFiJim]

I finally found the specs on the CPX650.

(PIII 650MHz, 384MB, 11.5GB, 14.1” TFT 24x)

Pentium III

650MHZ processor speed

384MB RAM

11.5 GB Hard Drive

24x Probably cd drive and not dvd drive

Pretty low end for today's OS's. You could probably run PUPPY Linux on it, but it probably wouldn't run anything else effectively.

[Kent Fowler]

You will be able to run the 32 bit version of windows 7.

The problem I ran into was you can't load Windows 7 over XP so I assume it probably won't load over Win 2000. Didn't want to spend time or money on putting Vista( I'm not allowed to say the words to describe Vista on this site) on then over writing it with Win 7, so I formatted the hard drive and loaded 32 bit Win 7 with no problems on a 2004 HP computer. YMMV.