Which OS for this old laptop

[Gerbil333]

Compaq Presario 1245:

K6-2 333mhz
160mb PC66
3.2gb hd
2mb video memory
24x CD-ROM
Floppy
56kb modem
10/100 NIC
Sound

It had Windows 98 SE on it when it was new. I put Windows XP Pro on it over a year ago...I had reasons for that, but now I no longer need XP Pro on there. XP is painfully slow. I think I'm going to format it again. I have all the MS OS's back to Windows 95, so what should I install?

 

[MedicBob]

2000 or just go a linux route. Everything depends on what you plan on doing with it.

 

[Gerbil333]

It will be used for word processing and internet purposes and will need to be able to print to the network printer (HP 1012 hooked upto an XP Pro machine downstairs). That's about it really.

 

[CTho9305]

98se or win2k

 

[Gerbil333]

The main thing I'm looking for is to speed this thing up. Will win 2k be as quick as 98 se?

 

[tooltime]

98se the way it is

 

[Blayze]

I have a laptop very close to that and it runs Windows 2000 great.

 

[MedicBob]

2000 should run fine on that. Plus networking with XP will be easier.

 

[HalfCrazy]

I got a Compaq Presario 1247 laptop. Which has a little faster processor and little more hdd space. I'm thinking about installing win2k on the laptop my self.

 

[arsbanned]

I ran Win 2K on a PII 300, 160 MB RAM for a couple years. Not a bad machine. You won't be doing SETI stuff but, knocking out letters and e-mail is fine.

 

[fdisk2003]

98se to save drive space or 2K Pro for stability. I prefer 2K, however.

That system should run 2K fine. I have a fleet of 90 300mhz celeron systems where I work and I've kept them useful machines by upgrading them all to 256mb ram and installing windows 2000. On a 3gb drive after installing Win 2K, Office, SP4, and copying the I386 directory over you should have about 1GB - 700MB spare space, depending on the size of your swapfile.

 

[dnuggett]

I voted XP pro and here's why:

You can scale back the graphical goodies that XP uses and have it running close to 2000 speeds.

 

[BurnItDwn]

for your needs, I'd recommend linux, however, of the options listed, Win2k is the best. a 333 with 160MB can handle it just fine. I imagine XP would run fine too. Windows ME is too horrible, and I just don't like 95 and 98, though 98SE is halfway decent.

 

[vegetation]

Originally posted by: dnuggett
I voted XP pro and here's why:

You can scale back the graphical goodies that XP uses and have it running close to 2000 speeds.

It will still eat up more memory than running a lean win2k setup though.

 

[mpitts]

Win2k or a linux distro.

 

[pelikan]

How about a P75 with 16MB ram (add linux distro to the list)?

 

[Gerbil333]

Originally posted by: dnuggett
I voted XP pro and here's why:

You can scale back the graphical goodies that XP uses and have it running close to 2000 speeds.

It has XP Pro on it now, and it's really slow.

I would put Linux on it, but the computer isn't primarily used by me, and it would confuse the poor soul.