I have a Dell PC at work that should be upgraded to Win 7 before XP goes obsolete. It has an Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 2.53GHz processor and 3GB RAM. It's used for a proprietary scheduling system, QuickBooks, Office, Outlook and browsing when no one's looking. It seems to be Win 7 ready but I wonder if it'll cost me more to buy a Win 7 license than a PC with Win 7 installed. This is a DIY effort so there's value to just upgrading the OS, if that's possible vs starting with a fresh PC.

Also, should I go with Win 7 Pro since I'm using XP Pro now, or some other version of Win 7?

Mac and other OS's aren't options at this time

Thanks,
Sixto
87 300D

Yank a key off of a Win 7 PC that someone is tossing and install Win 7. MS isn't all that strict. Personally, if it's just being used for QB and a few other things, I'd use XP till it drops or is no longer supported by QB, have good virus protection, and not be a cretin while browsing.

Who gives a crap if it's no longer updated as long as it does what you need it to? I've seen proprietary systems that still use NT or Win2k.

What kind of browsing are we talking about? Maybe you need a larger screen and better graphics card for THAT sort of browsing? Makes things seem bigger.

How about this. Ask the scheduling system programmers what OS they like. You might be able to get away with whatever you want but if it is a production system, you might not and the consequences might be worse than not being able to view porn. Depending on what they allow, you might be able to get a new upgrade

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Or a smaller screen to discourage it. Sticky keyboards aren't fun.

The PC you have has more than the minimum requirements for the 32Bit version of W7 and possibly the 64bit version, though I'd check the RAM requirements. W7 Home Premium will do.

How can you possibly know what his work requirements are? If it's a work PC and he needs to join a domain, he will need more than "home premium," but the disclosed HW specs either way are fine for Win7, whether x64 or x86.

sixto, spdrun is halfway right about reusing the key, but you would have to re-register it with M$ as it will be associated with a different hardware profile.

If the PC is more than a few years old, I would DEFINITELY install a new hard drive in it rather than relying on the old one.

Also, note that most PCs you buy now are sporting Win8 of one flavor or another. Business-class PCs (that usually cost more) are available with Win7.

Thus, all the way around it makes more sense to me to swap your hard drive and install Win7 on it. Check pricewatch, this place has the full version of professional for $60: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64 bit Full Version OEM (Dell)

Good luck.

Don't know. Never worked with that. If you have, sorry for you.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
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04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Would it matter if it is an open architecture PC where you buy the OS separately? IDK. I haven't done that for a few years and things might have changed.

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04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Usually if the computer has been in service 4 years or more, money is better spent on a new computer.

If you do an upgrade of the current steed to a new OS, you may or may not be able to find drivers for things that work perfectly now. Some things that work with xp do not get along with Windows 7 or 8. The list of these is pretty long.

If you’re going to rebuild, and the computer is 3 years old or greater, get a new hard drive. If you don’t use a lot of drive space, you will *love* the performance gain provided by a SSD drive. If you do use a lot of drive space, get a SSD drive for the boot and major programs, and also a spindle drive for inexpensive storage.

3 GB of RAM would make for a cramped Windows 7 machine.

HD is 12-18 months old. 24" monitor helps my lousy eyes... or maybe caused them to be lousy. Scheduling software was written for XP and updated for Win 7; not Mac OS compatible but I know folks who run it on Macs. And, yup, this PC is a server for the scheduling software which is accessed by another PC or two on a local network and externally through Hamachi.

To highlight my ignorance, can I get a new PC with Win 7 on its HD then add this HD with all its applications and data? I'm pretty sure the data would be accessible but the applications have to be reinstalled. What are the pros and cons of having the OS on a separate drive? Seems like some applications don't give the installer the option to install anywhere but the boot drive or partition.

Sixto
87 300D

Nope. With a single exception not relevant here (because sixto wouldn't be asking these questions if the exception applied), Win7 requires you to register it, and it does that online through an algorithm of associating hardware with the key. I actually don't know if a hard drive swap alone would trigger it, but in any case when you can buy the software for $60 why bother?

As long as you don't make a habit of it, the algorithm isn't too strict about re-registering once or twice with different hardware.

You can add your HD to the new PC (it's likely to be a SATA drive anyway) but you won't be able to access the programs. They will have to be reinstalled on the new PC. You will be able to access the data that is on the drive.

IMHO, 3GB of RAM is fine for a general-purpose win7 machine using it as you described. Nothing you're doing is going to hit the RAM or the CPU very hard anyway.

Do I dare?

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Guess maybe it depends on who's paying.

I agree with link, a new machine will be an upgrade across the board and will likely work much easier with less time spent f*king with it.
If it is a business machine, and you have other tasks besides tinkering with it, then it makes better sense to replace the machine with new, totally functional equipment.

Of course, the old machine could be reallocated and an upgrade could make that machine more of a benefit to the company with just a little of your time (learning along the way), Best of both worlds. I've used this excuse in the past...

and.... a machine that does scheduling isn't where I would decide to expand my computer knowledge....

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