Tech: To upgrade Vista laptop or not?

Subject: Tech: To upgrade Vista laptop or not?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 10 Sep 16 - 10:00 AM

We have an Fujitsu Esprimo laptop bought in 2005 which we keep just for holidays, but is unfortunate enough to be running Vista. Any thoughts as to whether it would run Windows 7? It would need to be a clean install because it seems that upgrades are no longer available for machines running Vista.

Subject: RE: Tech: To upgrade Vista laptop or not?
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Sep 16 - 10:05 AM

It might help if you gave it's spec...

Subject: RE: Tech: To upgrade Vista laptop or not?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 10 Sep 16 - 10:21 AM

Crikey you are right - stand by!

Subject: RE: Tech: To upgrade Vista laptop or not?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 10 Sep 16 - 10:26 AM

Windows Vista Home Premium (build 6000)
FUJITSU SIEMENS ESPRIMO Mobile V5535 V1.02

Processor a   Main Circuit Board b
1.60 gigahertz Intel Pentium Dual
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache
1024 kilobyte tertiary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (2 total)
Not hyper-threaded   Board: FUJITSU SIEMENS Z17M2.0 V1.02
Serial Number: Z17P074800476511
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: Phoenix V1.03 11/30/07

Subject: RE: Tech: To upgrade Vista laptop or not?
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Sep 16 - 10:58 AM

You can check the technical_requirements for Windows 10, but some of them are non-obvious. I tried to install it on a similar aged laptop but it wouldn't because the processor was too old and lacked some features (namely NX). The processor must do NX, PAE, and SSE2. So you will probably have to download and run a program that checks that - google for one.

Subject: RE: Tech: To upgrade Vista laptop or not?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Sep 16 - 11:01 AM

Most manufacturers have a web site and have links to information about equipment models, going back quite a way. When I've upgraded Dell or HP computers here, I've looked up the product specs them checked to see how much I am allowed to upgrade. If you're going to fool with a computer that old, you might want to look into how much you can increase the RAM (makes a huge difference in how well any new software runs). And it should tell you what versions of Windows can be installed. Though I don't know that particular company so this is an educated guess.

Subject: RE: Tech: To upgrade Vista laptop or not?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Sep 16 - 11:05 AM

Windows 10 most certainly wouldn't run in a computer that old - he's asking about Win 7, that *might.* And I'm pretty sure you can still buy the OEM software from eBay and from tech sites.

Subject: RE: Tech: To upgrade Vista laptop or not?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 10 Sep 16 - 11:05 AM

Thanks for all that, perhaps it's not such a good idea after all. I hadn't thought of the RAM aspect at all.

Subject: RE: Tech: To upgrade Vista laptop or not?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 Sep 16 - 11:10 AM

I haven't had much luck upgrading Vista computers to either Windows 7 or Windows 10. The upgraded computers have been very sluggish. When I work with a sluggish computer, I end up making lots of mistakes.

Subject: RE: Tech: To upgrade Vista laptop or not?
From: DaveRo
Date: 10 Sep 16 - 11:30 AM

Acme wrote: Windows 10 most certainly wouldn't run in a computer that old - he's asking about Win 7

GUEST was me. Yes, sorry, I misread the question - probably because I was using Edge browser on a newly installed Windows 10 box. And that box dates from 2007 - so it might run!

I tried to find out whether the "Intel Pentium Dual" had NX etc. If that's a "Pentium Dual Core" then it does - and it was introduced in 2006 according to wiki.

But I wouldn't try either Win 7 or Win 10 without 2GB of RAM.

Subject: RE: Tech: To upgrade Vista laptop or not?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 10 Sep 16 - 09:53 PM

Trash what you have...

Play with Linux...(free in magazines)

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

(it is simple, it is fun, and you have nothing to lose)

Subject: RE: Tech: To upgrade Vista laptop or not?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 10 Sep 16 - 11:43 PM

Upgrade the RAM and install Windows 7. The rest seems to be within the acceptable range.

Subject: RE: Tech: To upgrade Vista laptop or not?
From: Stanron
Date: 11 Sep 16 - 12:31 AM

The best light Linux operating system I have encountered so far is Zorin. Check out

        http://zorinos.com/

On my desktop I use Mint with the 'Cinnamon' configuration. I love it. On my sadly clunky Toshiba Sattelite laptop Zorin makes it work to an acceptable standard. It can appear like a Mac, Win XP, Win Vista or Win 7. You can down load the 'isa' file, burn it to disk and try it without too much risk.

Why does everyone want to give Bill Gates and Apple all that money? Linux is free.

Subject: RE: Tech: To upgrade Vista laptop or not?
From: DaveRo
Date: 11 Sep 16 - 01:38 AM

If those specs are correct I think this laptop was built in 2007. It's not a partucularly feeble machine; I run full SUSE Linux on a laptop of that age with a less powerful processor. But use a 32bit build.

Subject: RE: Tech: To upgrade Vista laptop or not?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 11 Sep 16 - 02:57 AM

Thanks again, I'll certainly look into cost of increasing RAM. I can use the Win 7 disc which came with my desktop. I'm sure the Linux system works well, but I have no wish to learn a new one.

Subject: RE: Tech: To upgrade Vista laptop or not?
From: vectis
Date: 11 Sep 16 - 06:33 AM

I upgraded a pc from vista to Win 7. Runs no worries.

Subject: RE: Tech: To upgrade Vista laptop or not?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 11 Sep 16 - 12:03 PM

Bonzo - considering your keen interest in 'unofficial' vintage gig recordings freely available online,
you might find freeware install AV Linux worth investigating.

I tried it out on an aging PC last summer, but didn't have time to explore it's capabilities [family health reasons and all those distractions...]

Subject: RE: Tech: To upgrade Vista laptop or not?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 11 Sep 16 - 12:05 PM

If you already use an android tablet or phone, you might find AV linux easier to negotiate than you think...

Subject: RE: Tech: To upgrade Vista laptop or not?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 11 Sep 16 - 12:19 PM

Thanks, that will give me something to think about during our flight home from Spain tomorrow!

Subject: Tech: Upgrade 2006 Esprimo Mobile v5535?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 02 Sep 20 - 08:13 AM

We have a Fujitsu Esprimo Mobile v5535 laptop which is just used for holidays. It originally ran with Windows Vista, but now runs Windows 10 Pro. There are 2 problems - it is slow, and the sound crackles despite reinstalling the rcommended Realtek Vista Audio Drivers.

It has maximum allowed RAM - a hefty 2 gb!! so nothing to be done there. Is it worth upgrading to SSD?