Should I replace Windows 7 with XP on new Laptop?

[matthew123]

Hey everyone, here's the question:

With 4GB RAM on a new computer, what OS will give me the best performance, Window 7 or my trusted XP?

Background:
So I'm pretty much decided on a new laptop (Toshiba L500-1XC) Intel Core i3-330M 2.13GHz, 4GB RAM. It comes with either Window 7 32-bit or 64-bit and I've heard & read that 4GB RAM is the minimum for Window 7 to run smoothly.

But my current XP computer runs great on 3GB RAM so I'm thinking why waste the extra RAM just on the OS?

If I go for Window 7, should I use the 32 or 64 bit version?

Cheers,

Matthew

 

[number13]

2G RAM and Win7 will run smooth, and after years of XP I went to 7 and for the most part I really am happy with it, I am using x86 Ultimate, and don't really see any need for me to go to 64bit, there are a few of my old programs that don't like 7, but the compatability mode fixed that, mostly just getting used to a different OS was the biggest problem(where they put things)

 

[sminlal]

I'm running Windows 7 on a laptop with 1GB of memory. It's not a speed demon, but it runs perfectly well.

If you have 4GB in your machine you'll need the 64-bit version of Windows 7 to take full advantage of it. The 32-bit version won't be able to use the entire 4GB because of the way the video hardware uses some of the memory space.

 

[Lewis57]

Your laptop will run great with Win7, i put it on my dads laptop with 2GB of ram, and some lower end core 2 duo and it runs fantastic (considering he had Vista on there before -.-)

 

[matthew123]

Thanks to everyone who's replied.

So it sounds like Window 7 will run sweet on me new laptop but does that mean the laptop will be faster/slower than running XP? I mean for things like boot up time, time to open applications, overall capacity for multi-tasking etc...?

 

[sminlal]

Any new OS will seem fast at first just because a fresh install puts all of the files together in a nice contiguous state, so depending on how old and disorganized your existing system is you may see a noticeable improvement. But my take is that overall there's not a huge difference between XP and Win7 in terms of performance.

If performance is your top priority then you'll get a far bigger boost by going to an SSD (Solid State Drive) than by going to Windows 7.

 

[matthew123]

Cool thanks.

 

[matthew123]

Best answer selected by matthew123.

 

[geofelt]

Windows-7 will run just as well as XP with the same resources, if not better. I would keep windows-7, and 64 bit if you have no problem with 64 bit. If you replace the hard drive with a SSD, you will want windows-7 to get the trim support. I just did the SSD swap on a new laptop, and the result is magical. I highly recommend a SSD if you can meet your capacity needs. Windows-7 will take about 14gb.