Windows 7 vs. XP

 Spoiler

BackGround Story:
Ok, so my dad was one of the lucky people to actually survive Black Friday at Best Buy. He got his hands on this new HP computer not sure of it's features and won't share it. He took it into his room and hooked it up so he can have it to himself.
Anyways, as I read on the box I saw that it had windows 7 pro (had a little orgy) installed on it. I ran my ass upstairs to play around with it and he slams the door on me.

I'm planning on just buying the windows 7 cd nd installing it on my computer, my question is: Can I skip Vista and go straight to Win7? I have Windows XP and my computer is able to use vista but I'm not sure if I should risk it. Another problem is that my computer is 32-bit (lol2006) and i heard Win7 is 64-bit. I'd like to have the 64-bit version, can i do that without any hardware altercation?

Thanx!

you can't upgrade from windows xp to windows 7, you'd have to do a full install. it comes in both 32 and 64 bit.

You mind explaining what a full install is and how I can do it?

Fresh format. Boot from the CD.

So I just pop in the cd and do what ever, or do I reformat my enter computer restart it and pop in the cd?
Sorry for the questions, just curious.

Yes, you'd have to install from scratch. Back up everything you need to back up. If I remember correctly, selecting "custom install" will save some of your program files in a "windows.old" folder. From there, there are certain ways you can recover some of that stuff. I can give you some guides if you want.

So I just pop in the cd and do what ever, or do I reformat my enter computer restart it and pop in the cd?
Sorry for the questions, just curious.

Pop in the CD and when you start your computer press either F8 or ESC. It should leave you to the boot menu. From there, pick the CD, and the rest is self explanatory. You might want to look into the difference between "Custom", "Upgrade", and "Clean install" (I think those are the exact options the CD gives you. Too lazy to put it in and check.)

Pretty sure you can custom install, but if you don't care about loosing everything then stick with formatting. It's better to start off fresh to avoid problems.

Yes, you'd have to install from scratch. Back up everything you need to back up. If I remember correctly, selecting "custom install" will save some of your program files in a "windows.old" folder. From there, there are certain ways you can recover some of that stuff. I can give you some guides if you want.



Pop in the CD and when you start your computer press either F8 or ESC. It should leave you to the boot menu. From there, pick the CD, and the rest is self explanatory. You might want to look into the difference between "Custom", "Upgrade", and "Clean install" (I think those are the exact options the CD gives you. Too lazy to put it in and check.)

Pretty sure you can custom install, but if you don't care about loosing everything then stick with formatting. It's better to start off fresh to avoid problems.

Alright, thanks!

 Spoiler

BackGround Story:
Ok, so my dad was one of the lucky people to actually survive Black Friday at Best Buy. He got his hands on this new HP computer not sure of it's features and won't share it. He took it into his room and hooked it up so he can have it to himself.
Anyways, as I read on the box I saw that it had windows 7 pro (had a little orgy) installed on it. I ran my ass upstairs to play around with it and he slams the door on me.

I'm planning on just buying the windows 7 cd nd installing it on my computer, my question is: Can I skip Vista and go straight to Win7? I have Windows XP and my computer is able to use vista but I'm not sure if I should risk it. Another problem is that my computer is 32-bit (lol2006) and i heard Win7 is 64-bit. I'd like to have the 64-bit version, can i do that without any hardware altercation?

Thanx!

Your computer is not 32-bit. Your current operating system may be, but your computer is not. A 64-bit OS will allow you to take advantage of more RAM than 2 GB/4 GB/whatever the 32-bit windows limit is.

Your computer is not 32-bit. Your current operating system may be, but your computer is not. A 64-bit OS will allow you to take advantage of more RAM than 2 GB/4 GB/whatever the 32-bit windows limit is.

My computer only has 1 gb of ram... Is that bad?

My computer only has 1 gb of ram... Is that bad?

Not really, just means there's no point getting 64-bit Windows unless you plan on adding more.

My computer only has I accidentally 1 gb of ram... Is that bad?

You WHAT?

Funhouse material aside, yeah 32-bit and 64-bit doesn't really matter to you unless you have more than 4 GB of RAM, as Spaz said (in which case you need 64-bit).

However I think certain rather dated programs might not like 64-bit.

Can I buy Ram and install it? Is it a hardware or a software?
How much would ram cost, google is giving me rediculous prices 8gb ram for 5 bucks).
Or should I just buy a whole new computer all together? I have 2.2k USD to spend.

Can I buy Ram and install it? Is it a hardware or a software?
How much would ram cost, google is giving me rediculous prices 8gb ram for 5 bucks).
Or should I just buy a whole new computer all together? I have 2.2k USD to spend.

You can't "install" it per say like a program since it's physical computer part. On Newegg.com, there are some pretty good deals going on for RAM packages.

you can "install" physical computer parts.

you can "install" physical computer parts.

How??

Bestbuy can "custom install" your RAM for only 110 bucks last time I checked.
This means they open your box and stick the new RAM in.

Bestbuy can "custom install" your RAM for only 110 bucks last time I checked.
This means they open your box and stick the new RAM in.

Ew, that's way too overpriced considering you can just open your rig up and stick it in yourself.

Bestbuy can "custom install" your RAM for only 110 bucks last time I checked.
This means they open your box and stick the new RAM in.

Yeah they also show you how to hook up a console for 50 bucks. Psh

Don't go to best buy, just be careful and learn it yourself or you're gonna end up forking out more than you want too. 2GB should be enough for a laptop, I have 2GB and my laptop runs top notch.

Running Win7 with 640MB of RAM on my laptop here. Win7 runs smooth as butter, and better than XP ever did. 1GB of RAM should be fine.

Don't fall for those Best Buy installation "scams". -_-