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Microsoft Releases Vista Hardware Requirements

Digital Inspiration writes "CNet reports that Microsoft has kicked off a 'Get Ready' campaign aimed at helping customers prepare for Windows Vista. The site also includes an Upgrade Advisor tool to help people determine just how Vista-ready an existing PC is." From the article: "The marketing programs and upgrade tool are designed to ease some of the uncertainty around Vista well ahead of the back-to-school and holiday shopping seasons, the two biggest PC selling times of the year. Vista had long been expected to arrive by the 2006 holidays, but Microsoft said in March that it would not arrive on store shelves until January."

22 of 591 comments (clear)

  1. B..b..but... by GillBates0 · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...I thought 640k was good enough for anybody?

    --
    An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
  2. Re:Bah! by Average_Joe_Sixpack · · Score: 4, Funny

    Seriously - 1GB ram (512MB for low end installs) seems like an awful lot to me....
     
    I heard Freecell on Vista is going to use a higher resolution set of cards, so the 1GB will come in handy.

  3. These high requirements are needed... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    because of MS plans to reward their patient Vista customers with an added software bonus...

    A free copy of Duke Nukem Forever with each Vista sale. (Since they should be both released at about the same time.)

  4. By the time Vista is released.... by MarkByers · · Score: 5, Funny

    By the time Vista is released, 1 Gig will seem like nothing. We will have 1 gig chips implanted into our brains just so that we can remember where our flying car was parked.

    --
    I'll probably be modded down for this...
    1. Re:By the time Vista is released.... by mshmgi · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think you meant "flying PIG" - not "car", right?

    2. Re:By the time Vista is released.... by HermanAB · · Score: 4, Funny

      640GB should be enough for everybody... ;)

      --
      Oh well, what the hell...
  5. Re:Upgrade Advisor itself requires... by MrPerfekt · · Score: 4, Funny

    Windows XP to run, and won't install on Windows 2K systems. Hrmmmm. How helpful.

    Well, run on out to the store and buy XP so you can run Upgrade Advisor. ;)

    --
    I just wasted your mod points! HA!
  6. Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor doesn't run on Linux by Andrew+Tanenbaum · · Score: 3, Funny

    How the heck am I supposed to upgrade from GNU/Linux to Vista??

  7. Re:Bah! by maynard · · Score: 4, Funny

    Long ago X ran under Linux and BSD just fine on a 386 with 8MB of RAM and a Hercules graphics card. Hell, before that one could run X on a Sun 3/50 with only 4MB of RAM, though it was pretty tight. A PII with 64MB or more and a modern graphics card is serious hardware overkill.

  8. Re:Tools Still in Beta by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 4, Funny
    Your computer currently has 0.00 Hz

    Neat! Can you overclock that, multiplier-style? You could try to get it all the way up to 0.00Hz!

  9. Re:Ummm... by pintomp3 · · Score: 4, Funny

    yeah, this is truly a first. no other operating system has minimum requirements. my toaster runs linux just fine, thank you.

  10. Don't worry by JonTurner · · Score: 4, Funny
    the "features" they are announcing have been in Mac OS X for four years.
    Don't you worry, Microsoft still has plenty of time to backpedal and remove those features, too.
  11. Re:Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor doesn't run on Li by AuMatar · · Score: 4, Funny

    Its an upgrade advisor, not a downgrade advisor.

    --
    I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
  12. HD Reqs Insane! by oh_my_080980980 · · Score: 3, Funny

    15 GB Free HD Space! Are you kidding me. My machine at work takes up 8.6 GB! Thats OS + Apps + Data. WTF requires 15 GB! Is Microsoft including Porn to show off Aero!!

  13. You filthy criminal! by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 3, Funny
    HOW DARE YOU OVERUSE MS OS! You were not granted the right to just keep using it forever and ever communist! Why did you refuse to stimulate the american economy by not buying every single MS Windows release? Next you are telling me you didn't buy any of the Plus Packs.

    Hanging is too good for you. I sentence you to ten years of Windows ME support.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  14. No way by Mateo_LeFou · · Score: 5, Funny

    You're actually suggesting that Microsoft would negotiate a deal where you had to pay for things you don't actually need or want, in order to get something you do? Whatever. I'll believe that when I see it.

    --
    My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
  15. Re:Ummm... by pintomp3 · · Score: 4, Funny

    nah, only happens with sesame. i'm thinking about upgrading from dual slot to quad though.

  16. Re:Ummm... by mapmaker · · Score: 4, Funny
    my toaster runs linux just fine, thank you.

    Got a Pentium 4, do ya?

  17. Come on, people! by Godji · · Score: 3, Funny

    Why are you acting surprised? Vista will run on much less stellar machines. These requirements are there becase:

    1) Microsoft wants people to have a reason to upgrade, so that OEMs are happy, and will stick to Windows rather than start selling cheap machines with a free OS preinstalled - the single pillar that will singlehandedly ensure that Bill's Empire will not fall anytime soon.

    2) To ensure that people will have acceptable performance even after they install hundreds of bloated applications, firewalls, virus scanners, adware scanners, Bonzi Buddy screensavers, free wallpaper switchers, device drivers thinking their hardware is the most important component in the system, Viruses, Infections, Spyware, Trojans, Adware, and last but not least least, Microsoft Office.

    That said, I still make some money fixing XP machines that are mainframes compared to what you were supposed to have back when Windows Xtra Profit came out, so nothing is new.

  18. I'm reading the CPU requirements now by commodoresloat · · Score: 5, Funny
    ...and I don't understand something.

    What the heck is a "beowulf cluster"?

    1. Re:I'm reading the CPU requirements now by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 4, Funny

      Sorry, but as they say, if you have to ask, you can't afford it...

      --
      If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
  19. Re:Count the pixels! by yeremein · · Score: 4, Funny

    Uh oh, my 1280x1024 display (1,310,720) is too much for my 64MB graphics card! Whatever will I do?

    Oh wait, the monitor has a dead pixel on it. So there are only 1,310,719.

    Whew, that was a close one.