QUESTION :
I’m about to reinstall the OS on a friends older laptop. It has a Intel Core2 Duo T5250 @ 1.5GHz. I believe it is 64-bit architecture. The laptop only has 1GB of RAM. It looks like it shipped with Vista 32-bit.
I’d like this laptop to be as snappy as possible. What OS would be best? Win 7 32-bit? Win 7 64-bit? Vista? Windows 8?
Thanks!
ANSWER :
Windows 8, I’d say. But the 32-bit variant.
They made great progress in bringing down memory and CPU usage (most likely because they want to run well on tablets). A side effect of that is that Windows 8 is really snappy, even on old hardware with little RAM.
This is definitely x32 bit OS, since you have less than 4GB of RAM.
I would say this is the choice between Windows 7 editions – Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate.
IMHO, Home Basic or Home Premium is the best choice.
Besides, if you still have Vista install you can upgrade with no problems to Windows 7 x32.
Moreover, I have doubts that there are drivers for Windows 8 on official web-site, which makes more sense in installing W7.
Run Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor to check if your laptop is capable of running W7 smoothly.