Should i upgrade to win 7 64 bit from Vista 32 bit?

Kagey58

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Hello,I am looking to upgrade my Gateay P 6301 laptop to a ssd and I am considering upgrading to win 7 for TRIM. i currently have 2mb's of ram and I use the laptop for basic business apps and presentations. What is my best upgrade path?
 

crisan_tiberiu

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If you have only 1GB Ram i suggest you wont make the upgrade... I suggest 2GB minimum for 64Bit OSes
 

Kagey58

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May 28, 2012
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I ran the windows advisor and it said ok for the upgrade, but i'm wondering if the path to 64 is worth the bother. Vista seems to run o.k., but I would like to recapture some of my speed, and since my hardrive is moving waaay slow, i thought that the ssd might give a shot in the arm. If I don't use TRIM, then how can I keep the ssd healthy?
 
Also, you cannot actually "upgrade" from 32 to 64 bit, in the sense of an actual upgrade. Going from 32 to 64 bit requires a completely fresh installation, you will lose everything as you have it on the Notebook, and you will have to reinstall all your programs. So be sure you save all your data and important files to some sort of external storage first before you begin the upgrade. You should do this anyway in case of problems even with a standard 32 bit to 32 bit upgrade.....good luck and enjoy that new SSD. Its going to be quite an improvement I think!
 

TidalWaveOne

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Apr 22, 2009
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With only 2GB, I would not upgrade to 64-bit Windows 7. 32-bit Windows 7 - maybe... if you want to go through (or are OK with) the upgrade hassle. If not, stick with Vista. TRIM isn't that important as a practical matter.

Personally, if it were me, I'd upgrade to Windows 7 32-bit because I really like Windows 7... but if you don't want to deal with the hassle and risk, then that would be a reason to stick with Vista.
 
1) Upgrad ram to 4 gigs, if laptop will take 2 x 2 gig modules. Unforantuely some of the older laptops only allow swapping out one module. Check manual. But going 2 gigs -> 4 gigs is a good performance boost.
2) Yes on SSD, DO NOT get one that uses the SATA III Sandforce 22xx controller. infact a quality sata II would be fine, recommend w/laptops a Min of 128 gig.
3) Yes on windows 7 32 Bit (64 bit is only if going more than 4 gigs of ram).
4) If going with an SSD, HIGHLY recommend a clean install!!!

Some comments:
.. Windows 7 has other improvements (such as a improved imaging of OS), not just trim. In effect it is vista upgraded (not really a "new version" - Intel had to get rid of the name Visa. AND SSD CG works BETTER when trim is supported.
.. Word of caution, Windows 7 does NOT have a email service. The included all the files, but does NOT work. If you like / use Vista winmail, you can "port" the program over to Windows 7 (This is what I did for My wife's upgrade. There are other alternatives, such as Windows live mail, and/or 3rd party email programs.

... You can Use windows 7 Upgrade version or OEM as they are cheaper than the "full Version"
...... With upgrade copy, you will have to select custom install and NOT enter your Key during installation. Once done you must do a registry edit (easy) and run a Dos command, also easy. will post steps so you can judge.
...... OEM, is tied to the computer that it is first installed and can NOT be transfered to a New computer at a latter date UNLESS your laptop dies a thousand deaths.
 
How to use Upgrade Windows 7 to do a clean install.
1) select custom and do not enter key, Then
.. A) method 1. After installation re-run the Windows 7, but this time select Upgrad and ENTER you key this time.
.. B) Method two, preferred method for SSDs:
Quote
How To: Use Your Windows 7 Upgrade Disk On a Fresh PC
How To: Use Your Windows 7 Upgrade Disk On a Fresh PC
Posted 10/27/2009 at 8:30am | by Justin Kerr
48CommentsPrint 105 118Share .Installing to a Fresh Drive
Step 1 - Access & Edit the Registry
A true geek has never been intimidated by the registry, but lets face it, it's a mess in there. To access the registry you will first need to open up the start menu and type "regedit" into the search field, followed by enter. To find the proverbial needle in this haystack, you will need to navigate through the tabs listed on the left in the following order:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/ . If you don't like doing it the hard way just click Edit then Find and type MediaBootInstall into the search field, and press enter.
Once found, double click MediaBootInstall and change the "1" to a "0". Once you have finished this, simply click Ok and close out the Registry Editor

Then
Before we try to activate our copy of Windows, we need to reset or "Re-Arm" the activation sequence. To do this, simply open up the start menu and type cmd but instead of just pressing enter, you need to press "Ctrl" + "Shift" + "Enter" to run it as an administrator. You can also accomplish this by clicking the start menu, typing cmd into the search box, then right clicking the command prompt application and selecting Run as administrator.

Once the command prompt appears type slmgr /rearm and press enter. Next simply type Exit and hit enter again, after which it will ask you to restart your machine.

Above quote is from MaxiumPC: http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/how_use_your_windows_7_upgrade_disk_fresh_pc?page=0,1