Your computer OS

[Legendary Silke]

I successfully installed Windows 7 on my old laptop (Toshiba Satellite A105). Single core Centrino processor (ugh) with 512 MB RAM. I didn't update RAM to 3GB until a year after putting Windows 7 on it. I used it mostly for schoolwork and online chatting during that time, occasionally using it as a multimedia player.

Other than the operating system lag, it ran pretty much the same as it did when I had Windows XP on it.

As a general rule, if Windows Vista can install on your computer, even if it doesn't match the specs, Windows 7 will also be able to install on the computer. My laptop's original package (I checked online) said it was Vista-ready.

Usually, when they list minimum specifications these days, barring missing processor features, it's not the bare minimum; it's a "good minimum" for normal usage. You might be able to launch Windows 7 just fine with 512 MB of RAM installed, but it's not going to be a good user experience under most circumstances.

It's the same reason why modern Windows OSes "require" that you have a display that can at least do 800x600/32bpp for the desktop (1024x768/32bpp for Metro apps) even though it's likely you can push the resolution and colour depth lower. You can do it, but it's not a good idea - a Windows desktop at 640x480 or lower on newer versions of Windows means that you lose guarantee that things are going to fit on your display.

 

[Zen-senpai]

Considering that I have an iMac sitting beside my custom built PC with windows 7 and Ubuntu dual boot, I use all 3 major operating systems :D

 

[Magykx]

Windows 8.1 on my laptop. I would definitely switch back to Windows 7 if given the opportunity.

 

[Morkula]

I have Windows 7 on both my desktop and laptop. I tried using 8.1 on my desktop for a while but just couldn't get used to it - it was really fast, but I didn't like having to search for everything rather than just open the start menu and click, and everything in 8.1 just seemed to require extra steps to do even basic things. Win7 was the pinnacle of Windows, in my opinion, and Win8 is just a tablet OS clunkily shoehorned onto a desktop environment.

 

[RemixinROMulus]

I'm a Linux fan. I mostly use Linux Mint on both my netbook and desktop. Unfortunately, my desktop hard drive is failing, so the Linux part of my computer got corrupted and I'm using Windows 7 right now.

On my new laptop, I have Windows 7. It came with 8, but downgraded it as I didn't like its interface; it's so tablet-like. :( On my older one, which I'm using right now to type this post, I have Ubuntu 13.04. Was planning to upgrade to 13.10, but always kept forgetting. Will get it done by the end of this month, probably. Finally, on my iBook, I have OS X Leopard.

Just warning you, Ubuntu 13.10 is a lot slower than earlier releases. IDK about 13.04 though. I tested Ubuntu 13.10 on 3 computers with decent specs and I ended up downgrading to 12.04 LTS on 2 of them and noticed a speed improvement on both. I feel Ubuntu's going the wrong way with Unity. The flashy effects and animations are really bloating it up.

 

[Mittens95]

Having a PC with 6 gb of RAM and a dual core 1.7 GHZ i5, I can confirm that Ubuntu 13.10 runs like a champ and boots much faster than windows. I'm pretty sure a little bit of bloat wouldn't be an issue on a brand new PC with at least 4gb of ram and a dual core processor.

 

[LividZephyr]

Windows 7. Aka my favorite OS ever. I can't stand the lack of customization on Mac OS, and Linux-based software is a tad too complex for me. I COULD learn it, but I like sticking with what I know and really love. It does everything I want it to xD

 

[Flakey Bear]

Windows 7 Home Premium still shines and i'm still happy of using it. On my laptop, i have Windows 7 Starter, which is very limited and doesn't give me various options i like to use in W7HP, but it can still run some of the programs i like.

 

[Tsutarja]

On my laptop, i have Windows 7 Starter, which is very limited and doesn't give me various options i like to use in W7HP, but it can still run some of the programs i like.

Does your laptop happen to be a netbook? Most netbooks come with Windows 7 Starter because of the limited specs they have. Other than that, I don't see why any laptop would run Windows 7 Starter, unless you didn't have a key for either Home Basic or Home Premium.

 

[Flakey Bear]

Does your laptop happen to be a netbook? Most netbooks come with Windows 7 Starter because of the limited specs they have. Other than that, I don't see why any laptop would run Windows 7 Starter, unless you didn't have a key for either Home Basic or Home Premium.

Yes, it's a netbook. I always forget how to use this term correctly >_>

 

[Life]

A non-genuine copy of Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit, lol. I guess I'm satisfied with it since it's A LOT better then Windows XP which my PC Specs were designed for. Although I'd like to upgrade to Windows 8... if my CPU supported it. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to wait.

 

[Astinus]

I'm currently using Windows 8, which came preinstalled on my current computer. I'm more used to it now, dealing with the Start menu and the apps. There are just little quirks about it that I can't stand though, and I'm hoping to soon go back to 7 or Vista.

 

[Tsutarja]

I'm currently using Windows 8, which came preinstalled on my current computer. I'm more used to it now, dealing with the Start menu and the apps. There are just little quirks about it that I can't stand though, and I'm hoping to soon go back to 7 or Vista.

If you do decide to go back, go back to 7. At least Windows 7 is more stable than Vista, and it's also more up-to-date as well.

 

[Megan]

I have a dual boot system with Windows 7 and Arch Linux. Both of them are really useful and the latter one took long until I had it where I wanted it to be (well almost, still some stuff to do...).

As for Virtual Machines I have a couple of different Windows and Linux systems some of them even having a purpose (like my Gentoo Linux installation which also serves as my testing webserver with phpBB installed). Maybe someday I even finish my attempt installing a Xenix system. It's hard to find good tutorials, unfortunatly, most of them are really bad video tutorials (and I don't like video tutorials in general).