Installing Windows on a netbook?

i_got_a_mohawk · #1 10-09-2011, 07:52 AM

Just a tech question for the IT guys here.

I've got an Acer Aspire One (ZG5 with 1.6Ghz Intel Atom, 512Mb RAM, 8Gb SSD running Linpus Linux (based on Fedora) ).

I've had it for a few years, and I'm just generally fed up with the OS, it won't let me update flash

, quite fancy using it as a controller for my camera too.

Wanting to upgrade the OS to either XP or Windows 7. Since updating my home PC to 7, I've got a spare XP disc floating about. I was also told that it *should* be ok to use the Windows 7 license at work for the netbook, should I want (it quite often gets used there).

Which OS would be better on a lower spec system like this?

I'm thinking that XP, being the older, would probably be the better option?

Anyone ever tried installing Windows when you don't have a disc drive? Is it easy enough to do?

Basshoofd · #2 10-09-2011, 09:07 AM

My amateur view: Choose XP. It's simple and decent. You can install XP using a USB-device, but you have to change your boot sequence first in BIOS.

**bassybill** · #3 10-09-2011, 09:10 AM

I have Samsung netbook with a pretty similar spec and I'm stull running XP. I think you might be on the right lines thinking that older OS is better suited to what is nowadays a fairly low spec machine.

Doing a clean install of Windows could cause a few headaches though as I don't think you can use a USB connected optical drive for this - I can't see how such a drive could be made bootable. Creating an image of the CD on the internal hard drive could be the way to go, but again, not sure how you could get the machine to boot from that. Is there any way of making a USB memory stick bootablle? Then you could install the OS from there, maybe?

EDIT - basshoofd beat me to it; that sounds like the asnwer (or at least part of it). You might need to jiggle with how the system assigns drive letters perhaps, if the installation process looks for a particular drive (typically D) - not sure about this though.

fdeck · #4 10-09-2011, 10:11 AM

I've looked into making bootable Windows installers. My gleanings from online tutorials suggests that it's easier with Win7 than with WinXP. In fact, I've gotten it working with Win7.

Possibly the biggest issue with running Win7 on an older PC is the amount of memory. If you can upgrade that to at least 1 Gig, then you might be OK with Win7.

AFAIK there is a version of Linux that basically emulates MS-DOS, and can be installed onto a bootable flash drive using the unetbootin utility. Perhaps you can copy the contents of the WinXP installer onto such a drive, file by file, and end up with a bootable XP installer. Just a guess.

i_got_a_mohawk · #5 10-09-2011, 11:27 AM

May do the RAM upgrade either way. Need to double check the max amount I can have in the wee thing, IIRC it is only 1Gb, but another 512Mb of RAM is cheap!

Came across a program called WintoFlash, will do some more reading into that, make sure it's all good to use and then try to load windows off a flash drive.

fdeck, I got the same impression, that it would be easier with Windows 7 as they provide software to use a usb drive for installing. Just, as you've all said, the system spec may be a bit too feak and weeble!

**bassybill** · #6 10-09-2011, 11:32 AM

I love Windows 7 - best OS on the market in my opinion (including those touted by the Apple fans), but I wouldn't try running it on an older specced machine. It might be fine, though. Let us know how things go.

Tegzsa · #7 10-09-2011, 11:59 AM

This is my entirely non-scientific take:

I have an older HP desktop that used to have XP and is now running Ubuntu 10.04.

I have exactly the same OS on my netbook (not the netbook version), a Dell Latitude with an Intel Atom chip.

They run at about the same speed.

If it can drive the hardware, XP would be a safer choice, as you'll be just about at the absolute minimum requirements for Windows 7.

Pilgrim · #8 10-09-2011, 12:02 PM

I have an ACER with the same procesor. I dropped a 2 GB RAM stick into it, and it runs Win7 starter edition (came with it) just fine. I don't know why people bitch about Win7 starter, to me it's a perfect match for a netbook. I wouldn't try to run the full Win7 without at least 2 GB RAM.

At any rate, with a boost in RAM I don't know any reason the netbook you describe can't run either OS - but I wouldn't recommend XP, as it's obsolete...but then, so is an old netbook. Maybe that would be a good match.

On the other hand, it's a 4-year-old HP laptop I'm typing on (3 GB RAM), and I installed Win7 on it last winter when they came out with a $70 deal for those with .edu email suffixes. (Unfortunately that deal is no longer available.)

fdeck · #9 10-09-2011, 12:14 PM

AFAIK Win7 is not a new operating system, but an incremental update of Win32, with a new shell. It boots more quickly than WinXP, suggesting that some improvements have been made to its efficiency. Some may experience a loss of performance on older computers because the MS apps continue to grow in their use of system resources.

WashburnBasser · #10 10-10-2011, 04:09 AM

Windows 7 is very easy to install off of a usb flashdrive. I just did the procedure, very simple. It runs great on my netbook, although it is a fairly powerful one. I think if you turn off aero and some other fancy stuff it would run better than XP, or at least as well as XP.

bassplayer1494 · #11 10-10-2011, 07:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassybill

I have Samsung netbook with a pretty similar spec and I'm stull running XP. I think you might be on the right lines thinking that older OS is better suited to what is nowadays a fairly low spec machine.

Doing a clean install of Windows could cause a few headaches though as I don't think you can use a USB connected optical drive for this - I can't see how such a drive could be made bootable. Creating an image of the CD on the internal hard drive could be the way to go, but again, not sure how you could get the machine to boot from that. Is there any way of making a USB memory stick bootablle? Then you could install the OS from there, maybe?

EDIT - basshoofd beat me to it; that sounds like the asnwer (or at least part of it). You might need to jiggle with how the system assigns drive letters perhaps, if the installation process looks for a particular drive (typically D) - not sure about this though.

I dont see why he couldn't use an external disc drive and the install disc unless its not suported on his netbook. But a Flash Drive would be alot easier and they cost less than external disc drives.

KingRazor · #12 10-14-2011, 02:03 PM

I hate XP and almost always recommend win 7 over it, but netbooks generally have a hard time running it compared to XP.

A ram upgrade can help, though.

i_got_a_mohawk · #13 10-18-2011, 06:45 PM

Just to give an update here.

Looking around, while the netbook *should* be able to run Windows 7 in terms of processing power and ram, it seems that the hard drive is just going to be too small for it.

I've got 1Gb of memory on the way (taking it to 1.5Gb of RAM, according to Acer this is the limit for this netbook).

So going to install Windows XP onto the netbook.

Another, side question. I got access to a bunch of software via my university (as far as I can make out it's more-or-less every Microsoft product, with the exception of the newest MS Office (but it does have 2007), it even has a bunch of design tools as well as some toys like Songsmith). It also have Windows 7 Pro, Vista and XP Pro (all in 32 and 64 bit flavours).

I already have Windows 7 on my desktop, but I was wondering, would getting the 64-bit version be worthwhile at all? Having a scout about, it seems that my hardware could support it. Just wondering if there are any real perks at this stage?

KingRazor · #14 10-18-2011, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

Just to give an update here.

Looking around, while the netbook *should* be able to run Windows 7 in terms of processing power and ram, it seems that the hard drive is just going to be too small for it.

I've got 1Gb of memory on the way (taking it to 1.5Gb of RAM, according to Acer this is the limit for this netbook).

So going to install Windows XP onto the netbook.

Another, side question. I got access to a bunch of software via my university (as far as I can make out it's more-or-less every Microsoft product, with the exception of the newest MS Office (but it does have 2007), it even has a bunch of design tools as well as some toys like Songsmith). It also have Windows 7 Pro, Vista and XP Pro (all in 32 and 64 bit flavours).

I already have Windows 7 on my desktop, but I was wondering, would getting the 64-bit version be worthwhile at all? Having a scout about, it seems that my hardware could support it. Just wondering if there are any real perks at this stage?

One of the biggest perks of 64-bit is the ability to use more than 3GB of memory.

i_got_a_mohawk · #15 10-18-2011, 06:54 PM

Motherboard can support up to 8Gb, and I've got 4Gb installed at the moment (shows up as 3.5Gb).

Are there any other perks, or would it be a bit of a waste of time? (I do do some image editing, but I haven't done any sound editing in a couple of years)