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Microsoft Releases Vista Hardware Requirements

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the i-know-you've-been-waiting-with-baited-breath dept.

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."

11 of 591 comments (clear)

  1. Bah! by Whiney+Mac+Fanboy · · Score: 5, Interesting
    From tfa:
    Premium Ready [aero, etc ready -wmf] machines need a 1GHz processor, 128MB of graphics memory, 1GB of system memory, a 40GB hard drive and an internal or external DVD-ROM drive.
    I run os x on my early g3/250 powerbook (with 160MB ram) and linux on an old 90mhz pentium classic (w/128MB).

    On both, things run perfectly, with all gui features, XGL, aqua effects, etc etc.

    (ducks!)

    Seriously - 1GB ram (512MB for low end installs) seems like an awful lot to me....
    --
    There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
    1. Re:Bah! by alx5000 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      What makes me jump is the HDD requirements.... 40 GB total and 15 GB free? Are they kidding??

      My current Windows folder uses 1.53 GB and is installed in a 6GB partition... Is there such a jump here as to justify so much HDD hunger? What will it be used for? Swap memory? Fonts??

      So this thing is gonna drain up my graphic card while it's eating my hard disk? No thanks. I'll stick with XP (If only I could go back to 98....)

      --
      My 0.02 cents
    2. Re:Bah! by Vancorps · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Sounds like you should read more closely. Those are specs for all features turned on and are the recommended configuration. Vista already works on much less hardware than that.

      Interestingly enough I know that Vista works on processors much slower than 800mhz so I imagine there is quite a bit of padding in there. With minimal effort I can setup a responsive Vista box with less than 512megs of ram. MS is just playing it safe here saying that people with these specs will be happy with the performance out of the box. People with less will have to tweak to get themselves where they want to be. Like me running XP on a 400mhz P2 with 64megs of ram. Sucked out of the box, but I got it fairly responsive in short order. System profiling is a good thing, if you have a slow machine automatically shut off the stuff that isn't needed. That is one good feature with Vista. Not perfect since the other stuff shouldn't be running anyways but its a desktop OS so its intended to be as friendly as possible out of the box which means leaving a lot of stuff running.

      As for your other examples, let's see you run the latest release of KDE with all the bells and whistles on a Pentium 90. Not gonna happen, not even close. The OS X comparison at least compares OSes with similar graphics capabilities.

      We'll grant OS X is more efficient though Vista does quite a bit more in terms of management and monitoring so the comparison is still a little off.

  2. Ummm... by xeon4life · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Is it just me, or is having stringent hardware requirements for the OPERATING SYSTEM kind of ridiculous?

    --
    Real programmers can write assembly code in any language. -- Larry Wall
  3. not gonna work - should give out coupons instead by shr3k · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How many people will buy Vista-ready PC's but not actually bother to buy it when it comes out? Too many. Non-technical types who make up a good number of Windows users will not bother to upgrade past what they get with their computer at purchase time.

    Unless MS bundle coupons for Vista with Windows XP this buying season, they can forget about people making any effort to do buy it and do the upgrade.

  4. Upgrade Advisor itself requires... by abb3w · · Score: 5, Interesting

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

    --
    //Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.
  5. 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?

  6. It's not for the OS, it's for the experience... by Overzeetop · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Okay, everybody is missing the point. Vista does not have a HD foorprint of 15GB. Really, it doesn't. Nor does it plan to use 1GB of memory for the kernel.

    The "system" requirements are set to provide the average user with a pleasant experience (the use of Windows notwithstanding). That means several applications open and multimedia running in the background and/or foreground. Yes, there will be lots of clock cycles and memory for pretty (and useless). This isn't about the minimum requirements for an OS, its about the minimum requirements for the OS and a typical group of applications.

    For you Mac fanboys out there - yes, Tiger will install with 3GB of HD free and will run on a G3. I don't know this as fact, but based on what I know Vista will easily fit into 3GB as well with room to spare. It will also run on an 800MHz x86 processor which...wait for it...came out the same year as the G3 was introduced (1999).

    I know it's popular to get your panties all bunched up over the evil empire's latest move to try and get you to pimp your little sister for enough money to upgrade, but this really isn't that bad. I mean, this is the same place where we discuss whether it's enough to have dual 512MB video cards to play the latest game on our machines, right? Are we really that worried that we're not going to have 40GB of hard drive and a gig of RAM?

    --
    Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
  7. 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
  8. 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"?