"Real world" minimums for XP?

[Atuin]

Hello,
I'm trying to get some 'real world' feedback (not the MS claims) on the real minimal configuration for running XP. any input is welcome.
TIA,
Atuin

 

[KpocAlypse]

P2 (i'd say 400 min but it will work fine one lower speeds)
256 megs of ram
a wopping 3gig of HD space with winXP,office XP, and nero installed.

EDIT: I say you gonna need a MIN. of 4 GIGs of HD space if your gonna to ge the most use out of XP...I having a B*tch of a time right now with 3.

 

[Athlon4all]

Yep, about a 450 PII, 256Megs of RAM, and 3-4GB of hd space.

 

[hotrod121]

I have noticed that WinXP will expand to fill whatever size hard drive you install it on 😉 through the use of system restore and other "useful features." I keep a separate 5 gig partition for WinXP and important apps to make reformatting a breeze, I just formatted a week ago and it already has 2.87 gigs used (1.7 gigs for WinXP and swap file) so keep in mind disk space is important for this OS. The desktop has a lot of graphical functions that have never been in windows before, so a decent video card and a lot of RAM are vital for speedy operation. Of course, you can disable these "improvements" to give a cleaner, classic look to the OS without extra baggage. Another observation - Windows Explorer has changed to show thumbnails and large icons by default, making a fast hard drive system a must for browsing directories, but this can also be turned off. Bottom line is, all these extra features that take up more memory and CPU power can be turned off to give you the same system requirements and feel as Win2000, but expect to spend some time finding all the options. Good luck!

 

[SpotDancer]

Very nice post Hotrod............lots of useable information...........I hope to see lots more of these types of posts from lots of people in lots of places on Anandtech.

Thanks again!

 

[Rand]

IMHO: Celeron 500MHz/P2 450MHz/PIII 450MHz.
128MB RAM ABSOLUTE MINIMUM, definitely preferable for 196MB minimum.
3GB HDD.