For torrent downloads I use an old Win 98 laptop which was new in 1990. It is running XP pro on it's 4.5Gb hard drive - I have a 8GB memory stick to catch downloads and it works fine. I installed a BT I-plate or broadband accelerator yesterday and already my evening torrent download speed has increased 10 fold from 10KB/sec to 100KB/sec. I look forward to the post midnight increase when BT throttling is turned off!