Re: XP Pro Upgrade or full version?



Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
> John wrote:
>
>> I am thinking of upgrading an older PC by adding hardware and
>> software and installing XP Pro. I now am using Win98SE and wonder
>> which way to go. What would be best and reasons why not just upgrade.
>> Thank you very much.
>
>
> I'm not sure what you mean by "what would be best?" but bear in mind
> that most computers of Windows 98 vintage will need substantial
> upgrading to be able to run XP at all, and even more to run it at
> acceptable speed.
> For example, I wouldn't try to run XP with less than 256MB of RAM (and
> depending on what apps you will run, more might be much better). Do
> you have that much? Will your motherboard take that much?
>
> How fast is your processor? About 400MHz is the practical minimum,
> and speed will be poor at that speed. Somepleace around 1GB would be
> more realistic.
> How big is your hard drive? About 10GB is the practical minimum, and
> that only if you have very few applications. 40GB is a more practical
> minium for most people.
>
> I dont know, but I'm guessing that you won't meet this minimums and
> will probably need to upgrade at least the motherboard, CPU, RAM, and
> hard drive, as well as buyiong a copy of XP. If so, look very
> carefully at the cost of upgrading so much vs the cost of just buying
> a new computer from someplace like Dell with XP included. You will
> probably find that upgrading makes no sense.
>
> Also bear in mind that you can probably get away with lower specs,
> but it makes little sense to spend $250 to upgrade to a very minimal
> configuration, when for $350 you could get a whole new
> much-better-configured machine.

I find now that I should have had XP installed on this system to begin
with. The guy said he could save me some money if I went the Win98 route.
This system is around three years old if I remember correctly and is a P4
2.4 Gig with 1 Gig of Ram. I have been adding all the new hardware since I
bought it like DL-DVD and new HDDs and Video card and so forth. In my last
post I mentioned finding XP for $75.00 with assurances it is a legal CD. I
do wonder what is meant when they add "CD Only" as if there is something
missing.



.

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