Vista's modest hardware requirements will be good news for consumers
Microsoft surprises with Vista hardware specs
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19 May 2006, Clement James , V3
Microsoft has revealed the minimum requirements a PC will need to run its forthcoming Windows Vista operating system.
The software giant listed the required specifications for a PC to be branded 'Vista Capable' and 'Vista Premium Ready'.
Judging by the response on the internet, the list of requirements has surprised consumers who had expected to have to shell out for a whole lot of new hardware.
A 'Vista Capable' PC will require at least an 800MHz processor, 512MB of system memory, a DirectX 9 capable graphics card, a 40GB hard drive with at least 15GB of free space, a DVD drive, and audio and internet capabilities.
The only extra requirements for a 'Vista Premium Ready' PC are a 1GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor, 1GB of Ram and a graphics card with 128MB of onboard memory capable of supporting Windows Aero2.
An Aero2 compatible card is a DirectX 9-class graphics processor that supports WDDM, Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware, 32 bits per pixel, and 64MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor less than 1,310,720 pixels.
128MB of graphics memory will be required to support a single monitor at resolutions from 1,310,720 to 2,304,000 pixels, or 256MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor at resolutions higher than 2,304,000 pixels.
At most, the typical consumer with a PC even a few years old is only looking at buying a new graphics card and some extra memory.
The announcement is likely to put Intel's and AMD's noses out of joint, as the chip manufacturers are thought to have been expecting strong motherboard and processor sales on the back of the Vista launch.
But the news is good for consumers who can expect to take less of a hit on their pocket than previously expected.
"To help customers make informed decisions when buying new PCs, Microsoft today announced the availability of 'Windows Vista Capable' PCs and the forthcoming availability of 'Windows Vista Premium Ready' PCs," said Microsoft.
"The 'Windows Vista Capable' logo is designed to assure customers that the PCs they buy today will be ready for an upgrade to Vista and can run the core experiences of Vista."
© Incisive Media Investments Limited 2010, Published by Incisive Financial Publishing Limited, Haymarket House, 28-29 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4RX, are companies registered in England and Wales with company registration numbers 04252091 & 04252093
Do you agree?
no vista
Most non buyers are from and because they know vista sucks. I mean really a pathetic "os" that admits to hiding the dos base, cant mutltitask. Man an 8bit os. ITs suppose to improve. Who gives a flip about the new gui ,well some might care ,but vista still sucks.
Posted by BIGBOT, 19 May 2006
Most are still complaining...
Most comments I've seen around the net were from people complaining about the higher hardware requirements and saying they will not buy Vista because of it. The majority of Windows users are not geeks and are not still living with parents who pay for everything. So, they need to see a good reason to upgrade their current operating system. Even if convinced it's a good idea, most would rather replace the entire computer than spend a few hundred dollars adding a new graphics card and whatever else is needed. If their computer is not very old, they'll wait to do this.
Also, these are minimum requirements. There's no guarantee Vista will run at a decent speed if one just meets them. Minimum hardware requirements for Windows XP Home Edition are:
- Pentium 233-megahertz (MHz) processor or faster (300 MHz is recommended)
- At least 64 megabytes (MB) of RAM (128 MB is recommended)
Put XP on a computer with this configuration and see how very slow it runs.
Posted by Mike Wonderwen, 19 May 2006
Great News
Well done Good on Yaa
Posted by George Green, 20 May 2006
Under-spec-ed, under-powered hardware + bloated software == slow system
as usual, Microsoft has under-specified the hardware requirements for their software.
true, it may run (i.e. it boots) but don't expect to run very well. (e.g. "singing pig" - amazing it sings, but not well)
Posted by "Allan Smithee", 21 May 2006
RE: Microsoft surprises with Vista hardware specs
Before we jump up and down with joy let's not forget that these are most likely minimum specs. And that would mean you might want to double those figures to have the new MS OS run comfortably if you run multiple programs at the same time like many of us do.
Posted by Bill Leeper, 21 May 2006
lol, people are in for a surprise
im building my "vista ready" computer with parts way over the requirements. people who try to run that big of an operating system on a 1Ghz processor are going to be in for a surprise. thatrs way to slow for even an XP computer.
I was surprised by the XP min requirements. i was looking at the cheapest processors availible, and i saw a 233 Mhz processor for $1.14. i could get a good Xp ready system for $50 if i got something at the minimum requirements.
if you ask me, microsoft is just showing low requirements so that they can sell more units, but if people really want a PC that works, they will need to upgrade their proccessor also, and get a pretty good on at that!
thats all folks
Posted by douglas adams, 21 May 2006
i like but,
just give me easy internet connections i dont like waiting for my loved ones to contact me
Posted by peter antony robinson, 21 May 2006
vista requirements
I have a brand new Dell Inspiron 1501 2GIG AMD64 with 512 ram and the machine is a pig OS locks up also does excessive paging (a lack of memory)Dell now ships the same system with a minimum of 1 gig ram im still dealing with Dell on this issue as they say buy more ram I say warranty issue and never again will Dell get in my pocket
Posted by mad at dell, 21 Aug 2007