What OS for old Laptop

[Falloutboy]

My GF was planning on getting her dad a Netbook for xmas,

but I was able to aquire a really nice shape Dell D610 for 50 bucks from my works IT department, haven't received it yet but it has some sort of single core Core processor from my research 1.8-2ghz or so. also has a x300 radeon in it. I'm going to max out the ram on it to 2gb. So figure this would be better than any netbook that we could get for 200-250 anyway. Debating on what OS I should load on it, I'm sure it has XP on it now, I'm thinking it should be good with windows 7 since its still faster than any netbook. the x300 concerns me though, getting mixed information on if its supported by windows 7. Anyone have any thoughts?

Another question I have is I want to make this as easy to fix in the future as possible since this guy is 50 and never owned a computer, lol I know.... but hey he got a blackberry a few months ago and seems to utilize it pretty well so maybe not completely lost...so my thinking was to do an OEM style restore partition that I can instruct him thru when this thing gets screwed up to bring it back to a clean slate, anyone done this before?

 

[WildW]

I would personally stick with XP. Processor and memory might be okay but the hard disk is often the speed-limiting factor in laptops, especially old ones. XP is still a lot lighter.

I would suggest a newer faster hard disk, but I imagine that machine is probably IDE, and your choice may be a bit limited now.

 

[KGB]

Stay with XP.

Kudos on helping out the old guy.

 

[bhanson]

I would go with Windows 7 simply because it is more resilient to random clicking than Windows XP.

Think about the average PC from the XP era and how easy it was for a user to infect their systems even with antivirus.

 

[repoman0]

I suggest Windows 7 as well for the added stability and robustness. In a couple years with 7 I have not reinstalled once on my desktop where I would every six months or so on XP, and it's still as fast as it ever was. I also use Win7 32-bit on my IBM Thinkpad T43 with 1.7GHz Pentium M, 1GB RAM, old X300 graphics and slow-ish 60GB 5400RPM IDE hard drive. Still just as fast as XP would be and I'm confident it will stay that fast or faster, unlike XP which would degrade.

The x300 is not enough for Aero but the regular 7 interface without all the fancy see-through stuff works fine.

 

[hulkhelton]

windows 7 or ubuntu?

 

[muskie32]

I would say some linux distro

 

[mfenn]

Yeah, I was going to say Linux. Just don't give him root and there is pretty much no way that he can permanently screw it up.

 

[george82]

I have the same laptop and I'd go with Windows 7. I had XP for 2-3 years and then Win7 for 1-2 years (since RC) and Win7 feels much better overall on this laptop.

Couple of tips to get maximum juice out of this baby:

Consider a RAM upgrade to a 2GB kit (1GBx2), 200-pin SODIMM from crucial

and a HDD upgrade to SAMSUNG HM160HC (maybe $80 both?)
this thread has benchmarks (sorry if its against forum rules)

Also use mobility modder and the 10.2 legacy drivers for the ati x300

Good luck!

 

[BoomerD]

I also like Windows 7, but like Vista, it may not be compatible with, or have drivers available for older hardware.
IMO, run the "Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor" first:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=1b544e90-7659-4bd9-9e51-2497c146af15

Than, IF there are drivers available for the hardware, go for it...otherwise, XP.

 

[Fhistleb]

I would honestly do Windows 3.1 Its a solid OS.

 

[bacillus]

My GF was planning on getting her dad a Netbook for xmas,

but I was able to aquire a really nice shape Dell D610 for 50 bucks from my works IT department, haven't received it yet but it has some sort of single core Core processor from my research 1.8-2ghz or so. also has a x300 radeon in it. I'm going to max out the ram on it to 2gb. So figure this would be better than any netbook that we could get for 200-250 anyway. Debating on what OS I should load on it, I'm sure it has XP on it now, I'm thinking it should be good with windows 7 since its still faster than any netbook. the x300 concerns me though, getting mixed information on if its supported by windows 7. Anyone have any thoughts?

Another question I have is I want to make this as easy to fix in the future as possible since this guy is 50 and never owned a computer, lol I know.... but hey he got a blackberry a few months ago and seems to utilize it pretty well so maybe not completely lost...so my thinking was to do an OEM style restore partition that I can instruct him thru when this thing gets screwed up to bring it back to a clean slate, anyone done this before?

I have a dell 6000 with almost identical specs that I am happily running win7 on atm...

 

[VirtualLarry]

I would go with Windows 7, assuming that you can find drivers for all of the hardware.

 

[corkyg]

You should be able to install Win 7 OK, but without Aero. I did with my old HP dv1000.

 

[george82]

I'm typing this on my D610 (Intel Pentium M 770, 2GB ram, 160G 7200 HDD), and I do have aero.

##

Windows Experience Index:

Processor Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 2.13GHz 3.6

Memory (RAM) 2.00 GB 5.1

Graphics ATI MOBILITY RADEON X300 2.0

Gaming graphics 831 MB
Total available graphics memory 3.4

Primary hard disk 5GB Free (60GB Total) 5.4


System
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Manufacturer Dell Inc.
Model Latitude D610
Total amount of system memory 2.00 GB RAM
System type 32-bit operating system
Number of processor cores 1
64-bit capable No

Storage
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Total size of hard disk(s) 149 GB
Disk partition (C 5 GB Free (60 GB Total)
Disk partition (D 4 GB Free (89 GB Total)
Media drive (F CD/DVD

Graphics
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Display adapter type ATI MOBILITY RADEON X300
Total available graphics memory 831 MB
Dedicated graphics memory 64 MB
Dedicated system memory 0 MB
Shared system memory 767 MB
Display adapter driver version 8.593.100.0
Primary monitor resolution 1024x768
DirectX version DirectX 9.0 or better

Network
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Network Adapter Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller
Network Adapter Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network)
Network Adapter Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection

 

[JackMDS]

I run Win 7 Starter on a D-600 with 1.5GB RAM.

Runs as well as Win XP (was originally on it).

 

[0roo0roo]

I installed win7 on an x60 laptop before, goes on smoother than you'd expect...and yes with decent ram it is fast as xp. Faster in actual use since the gui is far better for multitasking within a small screen. All the live previews and such/start bar progress meters and such are good to have on a small screen.

 

[jinna]

go for Windows XP which will handle all drivers and smoother performance !