Laptop & Windows 10 help

T

TitanTim

Lifer
Hi all,

Hope someone more knowlegeable can shout up :)

I have a DELL XPS 17 laptop which is 8 years old and I've been soldiering on using Vista and going from web browser to web browser as they slowly stop working with Vista. I'm currently using Firefox which is starting to struggle, they stopped supporting Vista earlier in the year. Its mainly plugin issues when playing videos or using more intensive webpages. I've tried Lunascape and Opera which I understand still support Vista but having problems dowloading them for some reason.

My options are to simply get a new laptop, however I love this DELL as it has the 16.4 inch screen and is just so well made, think it was around 1700 quid new and still looks and runs like new.

Before looking at replacing the laptop is there the option of installing Windows10?

Dells spec is Intel R Core 2 Duo CPU 3.06ghz processor wih 4GB Ram and Mobility Radeon HD 3670 graphics.

I think the processor and RAM are ok to run windows 10 but unsure on the graphics card? does any one know if it would be a straight install or am I wasting my time on an older laptop?

Thanks,

Tim.
 
Not sure if this helps but I'm running Windows 10 on an old PC with 6GB ram core2duo 1.8GHz and a GeForce 7900GTO graphics without any issues.
 
Have a go, it may well be OK even if not supported... but I'd back it up first. There's an upgrade download link here that still works:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/windows10upgrade
 
Should be more than ample. If I can make Win10 run on a VM with just 1gb ram and 1.5GHz cpu you should be able to install no problem.
 
Ducklakeview said:
Should be fine with Win 10 - Also, have you tried Chrome?

Mike
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike, thats good to hear :thumbsup: I was using Chrome before Firefox but started to run into same issues as Firefox which is why I swapped over, Firefox has been great but the issue is with Vista which I need to address. If Windows 10 is a cert then I'll just get it installed. The latest Dell XPS 15 starts at 1300 quid :o but would like to stick with DELL.

Tim.
 
A1GSS said:
Have a go, it may well be OK even if not supported... but I'd back it up first. There's an upgrade download link here that still works:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/windows10upgrade
Click to expand...

Ah this might not work, Vista upgrade not supported :(
 
Thanks guys thats really helpful :thumbsup:

Thanks Graham, never mind, I don't mind buying a copy of Windows10, will be a lot cheaper as I had over 1300 quid in mind for replacing my current laptop :lol:

Tim.
 
Ducklakeview said:
About 18 months ago, I had a 5 or 6 yr old 17" Dell XPS, windows 10 was fine on it.

Mike
Click to expand...

Thanks again Mike, I've found the Dell to be great, just reluctant to replace it if I can avoid it, built like a tank :)

Tim.
 
TitanTim said:
Ducklakeview said:
Yup - And swapping the HD for an SSD made it fly..

Mike
Click to expand...

:D

Only slight pain is, you can't download windows 10 from the Microsoft site using Vista which is a bit of a pain :(

Tim.
Click to expand...

There's a "workaround"

"IF" you need the accessibility features, you CAN still download windows 10 for free, fully licensed from here; https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/accessibility/windows10upgrade

:D

Mike
 
Ducklakeview said:
TitanTim said:
Ducklakeview said:
Yup - And swapping the HD for an SSD made it fly..

Mike
Click to expand...

:D

Only slight pain is, you can't download windows 10 from the Microsoft site using Vista which is a bit of a pain :(

Tim.
Click to expand...

There's a "workaround"

"IF" you need the accessibility features, you CAN still download windows 10 for free, fully licensed from here; https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/accessibility/windows10upgrade

:D

Mike
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike, I'll give it a whirl.

Tim.
 
Yup windows 10 will speed it up.. but also see it you can pop an SSD drive in there. That'll transform the performance of it.
 
Buckz said:
Yup windows 10 will speed it up.. but also see it you can pop an SSD drive in there. That'll transform the performance of it.
Click to expand...

Many thanks, will have a look, should be hopefully easy to do as I've had the back off before now to clean the fans.

Tim.
 
Double check the graphics card driver support. I had to put an old amd 3770 back in my windows 10 machine and it is not supported on by amd with drivers. They did release some old drivers downloadable through windows update but not direct from amd. They did work just didnt give you all the features of up to date software and struggelled with programs using modern features.
 
Vonlipvig said:
Double check the graphics card driver support. I had to put an old amd 3770 back in my windows 10 machine and it is not supported on by amd with drivers. They did release some old drivers downloadable through windows update but not direct from amd. They did work just didnt give you all the features of up to date software and struggelled with programs using modern features.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this.

This is what I was worried about re Graphics Card and why I thought I'd post the question. I've done some Googling earlier and it looks like the graphics card I have installed doesn't meet the minimum requirements for Windows 10

http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/Driver-Support-for-AMD-Radeon%E2%84%A2-HD-4000,-HD-3000,-HD-2000-and-older-Series.aspx

I'm guessing this means when installing Windows 10 it won't recognise the graphics card? Is this correct or will it simply install new drivers that will work with the card? Unsure.

Would enabling Windows Update allow it to automatically detect and install the correct display driver version?

Tim.
 
TitanTim said:
Vonlipvig said:
Double check the graphics card driver support. I had to put an old amd 3770 back in my windows 10 machine and it is not supported on by amd with drivers. They did release some old drivers downloadable through windows update but not direct from amd. They did work just didnt give you all the features of up to date software and struggelled with programs using modern features.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this.

This is what I was worried about re Graphics Card and why I thought I'd post the question. I've done some Googling earlier and it looks like the graphics card I have installed doesn't meet the minimum requirements for Windows 10

http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/Driver-Support-for-AMD-Radeon%E2%84%A2-HD-4000,-HD-3000,-HD-2000-and-older-Series.aspx

I'm guessing this means when installing Windows 10 it won't recognise the graphics card? Is this correct or will it simply install new drivers that will work with the card? Unsure.

Would enabling Windows Update allow it to automatically detect and install the correct display driver version?

Tim.
Click to expand...

IRC, Iit installed the basic graphics driver, as there isn't a Win10 certified one, and then I changed it to one selected from the available list. Similar to the procedure described here: https://community.amd.com/thread/185041

This worked fine for me.

Mike
 
Have a check on amds site, Mike's work around will work but the windows update centre is what I did as the legacy driver was released to microsoft to enable it. Cant remember where i found out the info mind you and at work atm and have since replaced the card so not setup lile that anymore.

There appear to be solutions so good luck with it. I would use it as an excuse for a new machine, but that's because I want one for VR :thumbsup:

Edit: just seen the link you posted says the driver is available through windows downloads
 
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