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worth upgrading a P4 2GB XP machine to Win7?

VirtualLarry

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
I've got a client, with an older HP PC, that came with XP. I think I may have upgraded the RAM for the client to 2GB the last time it was in for service.

I know it will run Win7, maybe even the 64-bit version, since the HDD I put in last time had a trial install of Win7 that needed to be reformatted to put in the XP Restore discs. Win7 seemed snappier than the XP that replaced it, on the same hardware.

But I wonder about the wisdom of keeping and using a P4 PC in the day and age. Even Gigabyte's new Bay Trail Brix mini-PC would likely be faster, and certainly more power-efficient. But, this client is a bit budget-limited, as far as I know.
 
You should check if your client has any legacy WinXP only software that he's running that doesn't have a Win7 equivalent.

But other than that, I'll go with the "if it ain't broke, don't fix" philosophy. If he's getting by on that P4, and it's not costing him in terms of productivity, and it's not costing him too much in the electricity bill department, then leave the PC as is. I've seen some people run a P4 because all they do is data entry with a web browser, and there's no reason for them to replace the P4 unless it actually dies.
 
1. Are they sticking with XP even after support has stopped?
2. What types of tasks do they use the machine for?
3. Is their printer supported with 7 drivers?
 
Blain said:
1. Are they sticking with XP even after support has stopped?
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I don't think my client is currently using the machine for anything. I think that they don't want to scrap it though.
2. What types of tasks do they use the machine for?
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Web browsing, photo editing (or just transferring pictures from their digicam, I'm not sure which), and QuickBooks.
3. Is their printer supported with 7 drivers?
Click to expand...
That's a very good point. I will have to find that out.

Edit: I wonder how they would feel about Linux? It would be better for their budget, certainly. Linux Mint 17, maybe.
 
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VirtualLarry said:
But I wonder about the wisdom of keeping and using a P4 PC in the day and age. Even Gigabyte's new Bay Trail Brix mini-PC would likely be faster, and certainly more power-efficient. But, this client is a bit budget-limited, as far as I know.
Click to expand...

If they're too budget limited to replace that thing, they're probably too budget-limited to pay you on time and/or in full.

Run.
 
A heavier linux distro like zorin would likely run worse than Windows 7 would on that machine.

Windows 7 would work on that machine, so long as their web browsing isn't too intense and they don't frequent a lot of multimedia heavy sites. And it would certainly be more secure than XP. The clockspeed is also an important factor. If it were say a 2.0Ghz P4 I would say no not a chance, but if it were a 3.0Ghz+ model with HT I would say it should run absolutely fine. If you have a spare AGP GPU sitting around with 128mb+ of memory I would toss that in as the integrated graphics would be a huge performance bottleneck for not only windows but websites and animations as well. If there is any way that machine would accept more than 2gb of ram I would try upgrading it. That, coupled with a dedicated GPU and it shouldn't be that bad.
 
It shouldn't be a problem. I used Win7 just fine on my old Athlon64 X2 4600+ (2.4GHz dual core) + 2GB Ram. If buying a new license though, Win8 should work even faster.

Is it worth it though? I personally wouldn't bother for machines that old.
 
Zorander said:
Is it worth it though? I personally wouldn't bother for machines that old.
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That's how I kind of feel about it. I feel anything older than a C2D or AM2/AM2+ rig should be scrapped.

But this client is a "hanger-on". She does own a faster PC already, some sort of Intel dual-core that came with Windows 7. She just doesn't want to junk the P4, but doesn't want to run it with XP, after I told her it was EOL, and a virus magnet. I'm strongly considering Zorin OS 8 Lite 32-bit.
 
Debian stable. Use the netinst, install only what is required (XFCE or LXDE) and have at it. Super light and will turn that box into something approaching usable.
 
Just get a whole new old refurb PC with Windows 7. Core 2 and Athlon II systems aren't hard to come by, these days, and even with cheap electricity, only the very tail end of the P4 CPUs wouldn't be idle power hogs.
 
Cerb said:
Just get a whole new old refurb PC with Windows 7. Core 2 and Athlon II systems aren't hard to come by, these days, and even with cheap electricity, only the very tail end of the P4 CPUs wouldn't be idle power hogs.
Click to expand...

Now that you mention that, it jogs my memory. I did actually previously give her a C2D 2+ Ghz refurb PC with 2GB DDR2, 160GB HDD, and Windows 7 32-bit. She gave the PC to one of her relatives that had their only desktop PC die on them.

I guess that was my original intent, to give that to her so she could retire the XP P4 box. I guess I should tell her to scrap the P4, but she is willing to pay me to put Win7 on there, if she ever gets the money together and has me do that.

You're right though, it makes little sense to me.

Edit:
http://www.hecticgeek.com/2014/02/zorin-os-8-review/
 
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Is she paying for a full retail version of Win 7 as well? If so, she might as well just buy a cheap Dell refurb system.
 
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