Author Topic: Windows 7 on a Pentium III? (Read 7727 times)

Computer-Lab in Basement · « **on:** Wed, 25 November 2009, 20:55:04 »

I have a Micron TransPort GX+ laptop running at 1ghz with 384mb of RAM. I was wondering if it was possible to install Windows 7, would it even be pracitcal for daily use? I am thinking not, but with the two installations of Windows 7 I currently have, they both seem to run pretty light. I would like some other opinions.

timw4mail · « **Reply #1 on:** Wed, 25 November 2009, 21:47:38 »

It might run fine, but you will feel cramped for space very quickly compared to XP.

Mr.6502 · « **Reply #2 on:** Wed, 25 November 2009, 22:34:50 »

I found it slow but usable on a 1GHz laptop with 256MB RAM. I haven't used 7 much and I did nothing special to try and make it run quicker. It can probably be streamlined considerably.

ricercar · « **Reply #3 on:** Wed, 25 November 2009, 23:40:40 »

I found Windows7 unspectacular on a 733 MHz PIII laptop with 512MB RAM. Switched back to XP within a few days.

D-EJ915 · « **Reply #4 on:** Wed, 25 November 2009, 23:41:19 »

you will want to mutilate your friends with only 384MB

ch_123 · « **Reply #5 on:** Thu, 26 November 2009, 03:34:18 »

A lightweight Linux distro would be a much better idea.

Computer-Lab in Basement · « **Reply #6 on:** Thu, 26 November 2009, 08:23:19 »

Thats exactly what I suspected, it could handle it, but it would be better off with its current OS's of Windows 2000 and Ubuntu 9.10.

Manyak · « **Reply #7 on:** Thu, 26 November 2009, 11:46:42 »

Well, if you can outfit the laptop with 2GB RAM and a newer (faster) hard drive you'll be fine. I've installed Windows 7 on a Pentium III like that and it was even snappier than a netbook. Screw that Atom garbage.

microsoft windows · « **Reply #8 on:** Thu, 26 November 2009, 16:29:16 »

Windows 2000 will do perfectly well on that computer.

keyb_gr · « **Reply #9 on:** Thu, 26 November 2009, 18:14:51 »

Quote from: Manyak;136506

Well, if you can outfit the laptop with 2GB RAM and a newer (faster) hard drive you'll be fine.

Show me a PIII generation notebook that will remotely take 2 GiB of RAM. Even with the i830M which supports chips up to 512 MBit, the usual two SODIMMs with 8 times 32Mx16 each would only yield 1 GiB. i815, 512 megs max. i440BX/MX even, 256 MiB.

Manyak · « **Reply #10 on:** Thu, 26 November 2009, 21:24:33 »

Quote from: keyb_gr;136607

Show me a PIII generation notebook that will remotely take 2 GiB of RAM. Even with the i830M which supports chips up to 512 MBit, the usual two SODIMMs with 8 times 32Mx16 each would only yield 1 GiB. i815, 512 megs max. i440BX/MX even, 256 MiB.

Hence why I said "if". There are plenty of ATX boards that can take 2GB of SDRAM, so there's no technical reason that a laptop can't. It's just up to the manufacturer to add the extra slots.

InSanCen · « **Reply #11 on:** Fri, 27 November 2009, 04:28:47 »

Quote from: Manyak;136642

Hence why I said "if". There are plenty of ATX boards that can take 2GB of SDRAM, so there's no technical reason that a laptop can't. It's just up to the manufacturer to add the extra slots.

Chip density is going to bite you in the ass.

you simply cannot fit the same number of DRAM chips on an SODIMM as on a desktop DIMM, so you have bigger chips with a higher density to get the same capacity. And SDRAM is well known for being picky about the Density of the chips.

in short...

2GB on a PIII era laptop?

pffffttttt.... look... uncooked bacon in the sky!!!

microsoft windows · « **Reply #12 on:** Fri, 27 November 2009, 06:37:16 »

I haven't seen a Pentium III laptop handle anything more than a maximum of 512mb of RAM. Even then, you need low-density chips of you put any stick above 128mb in it.

Manyak · « **Reply #13 on:** Fri, 27 November 2009, 15:36:20 »

Quote from: InSanCen;136658

Chip density is going to bite you in the ass.

you simply cannot fit the same number of DRAM chips on an SODIMM as on a desktop DIMM, so you have bigger chips with a higher density to get the same capacity. And SDRAM is well known for being picky about the Density of the chips.

in short...

2GB on a PIII era laptop?

pffffttttt.... look... uncooked bacon in the sky!!!

You're right, 512MB SODIMMs don't exist.

microsoft windows · « **Reply #14 on:** Fri, 27 November 2009, 16:21:48 »

I don't think any of my computers can regocnize sticks that big.

InSanCen · « **Reply #15 on:** Fri, 27 November 2009, 17:14:16 »

Quote from: Manyak;136741

You're right, 512MB SODIMMs don't exist.

Just because you can physically put it in there, does NOT mean it's going to work. Kinda like Petrol (Gasoline) in a diesel car. You can do it, but you aint going anywhere with it.

I deal with this ALL THE TIME in work... as in this is something I try at least weekly, on both Desktop and laptop's, at the insistence of the customer. It's their money, so I do it.

2GB of ram is not going to work on anything other than a handful of laptops from that era. Consumer grade hardware will not handle a 512MB SODIMM.

also, remove your sarcasm please. I am perfectly aware that 512MB SDRAM SODIMMS exist, but they simply will not POST with the full amount of RAM recognised, if it boots at all. Hence why I never posted anything about tthem not existing. I merely wanted you to avoid buying what would likely be an expensive paperweight. If you do have one of the handful of laptops that will handle it, then well done, and good luck to you.

Computer-Lab in Basement · « **Reply #16 on:** Fri, 27 November 2009, 17:17:24 »

My uncle says I should just stick with Ubuntu. I think thats what I'll do.

Computer-Lab in Basement · « **Reply #17 on:** Fri, 27 November 2009, 17:28:28 »

Quote from: webwit;136773

Funny, that's what my girl said last n.. oh never mind.

haha lol thats good stuff there...

InSanCen · « **Reply #18 on:** Fri, 27 November 2009, 17:29:31 »

Quote from: webwit;136773

Funny, that's what my girl said last n.. oh never mind.

I really should have seen that coming... (snigger)

still good though :-)

Manyak · « **Reply #19 on:** Fri, 27 November 2009, 18:07:00 »

Quote from: InSanCen;136771

Just because you can physically put it in there, does NOT mean it's going to work. Kinda like Petrol (Gasoline) in a diesel car. You can do it, but you aint going anywhere with it.

I deal with this ALL THE TIME in work... as in this is something I try at least weekly, on both Desktop and laptop's, at the insistence of the customer. It's their money, so I do it.

2GB of ram is not going to work on anything other than a handful of laptops from that era. Consumer grade hardware will not handle a 512MB SODIMM.

also, remove your sarcasm please. I am perfectly aware that 512MB SDRAM SODIMMS exist, but they simply will not POST with the full amount of RAM recognised, if it boots at all. Hence why I never posted anything about tthem not existing. I merely wanted you to avoid buying what would likely be an expensive paperweight. If you do have one of the handful of laptops that will handle it, then well done, and good luck to you.

The bold text is exactly what I was getting at this whole time. You can't assume that the OP's laptop can't handle it as long as there's a chance that it can. Not until you know which laptop it is. You can say "it probably won't work", or "you're safer just sticking with smaller SODIMMs", but you can't be absolutely sure.

pseudolobster · « **Reply #20 on:** Fri, 27 November 2009, 21:04:39 »

Try xubuntu, it's nice. Gnome is boggy on older hardware.

I can confirm that 512mb sticks of SDRAM are incompatible with most things. I have one here and pretty much the only thing that'll accept it is a 12" mac ibook.

ricercar · « **Reply #21 on:** Fri, 27 November 2009, 22:59:02 »

Dell lattitude c800 PIII accepts 512M max, AND 512M sodimms. Quite irritating.

1600x1200 screen,
dual bays plus built in optical.
Be a great machine if i could put more than 512M in there.

Quite Irritating.

zwmalone · « **Reply #22 on:** Fri, 27 November 2009, 23:40:49 »

The chipset in my laptop can support up to 1GB per stick... don't remember the chipset model offhand, but it's a chipset for an older Athlon 4... for some reason it takes PC133 SODIMMS when by that time (mid 2001) things should have moved to DDR...

microsoft windows · « **Reply #23 on:** Sat, 28 November 2009, 15:59:57 »

PC133 lasted a few yeas after 2001.

zwmalone · « **Reply #24 on:** Sat, 28 November 2009, 16:04:53 »

Only in super cheap computers... This was a $1500 laptop...

microsoft windows · « **Reply #25 on:** Sun, 29 November 2009, 09:40:38 »

Arc'xer · « **Reply #26 on:** Sun, 29 November 2009, 12:02:53 »

Windows 7 on Pentium 3(There's also other CPUs P1, P2).

From what I read it takes somewhere around 15-20 hours to install.

ricercar · « **Reply #27 on:** Sun, 29 November 2009, 12:25:23 »

Quote from: Arc'xer;137157

From what I read it takes somewhere around 15-20 hours to install.

Bwuh? Windows 7 Ultimate 7100 Eval install took less time to install than XP Corporate on a PIII 933, 512M RAM (Dell Lattitude c800).

Optical drive speed tends to have more impact on installation time for me than RAM, CPU, or HD, so I usually use a FAST external USB optical drive. Learned this writing for VMware, with days of a dozen guest OS installs to document the process.

microsoft windows · « **Reply #28 on:** Sun, 29 November 2009, 13:12:50 »

From my experience, Windows 7 also took much less time to format the hard disk.

ricercar · « **Reply #29 on:** Thu, 03 December 2009, 16:14:43 »

Was in a toy store buying Legos for Ripster's xmas present and I saw an Etch-a-sketch. WHat a fantastic case for an old 640x480 PIII laptop!

microsoft windows · « **Reply #30 on:** Fri, 04 December 2009, 16:18:39 »

Quote from: ricercar;138459

Was in a toy store buying Legos for Ripster's xmas present and I saw an Etch-a-sketch. WHat a fantastic case for an old 640x480 PIII laptop!

You have a Pentium III laptop running in 640x480?

Computer-Lab in Basement · « **Reply #31 on:** Fri, 04 December 2009, 19:30:40 »

The worst resolution PIII computer I have is 1024x768, and that was probably standard for most PIII laptops at that time.

ricercar · « **Reply #32 on:** Sat, 05 December 2009, 02:22:39 »

Yea, the Toshiba Libretto 50CT is 640×480 hardware, with panning at 800×600 or 1024×768 in software; can drive an external to something like 1024. I keep wanting to merge the hardware of this Libretto with one of my WinCE tablets, to get a Windows XP tablet edition PIII machine in an Etch-a-Sketch box.

News:

Author Topic: Windows 7 on a Pentium III? (Read 7727 times)