Windows 7

Although the look of Windows 7 may seem to be nothing more than some polish applied liberally to the Vista Aero theme, make no mistake: this is a full replacement operating system, and more than just "Vista done right."


Windows 7 Memory Requirements
Since the time this article was first published, Windows 7 has been officially released and Microsoft has announced the memory requirements. Basically, Microsoft recommends a minimum of 1 GB of RAM for 32-bit versions of the operating system and a minimum of 2 GB for 64-bit versions. If you plan on taking advantage of the Windows XP Mode feature, you should bump those requirements up to include an additional 1 GB of RAM.

One of the big differences here is that Microsoft's recommendations for Windows 7 seem to be a lot more realistic than the ones given for Vista. That is, with Vista, most people needed much more than the minimum requirements stated for the OS to run properly. With Windows 7, the stated requirements seem adequate. However, you're still much better off if you have 4 GB of RAM, especially if you're running a 64-bit version.

Will Windows 7 run on less? The user community says yes – Windows 7 can boot up in systems with less RAM, but remember that there is a difference between just being able to boot your PC and actually being able to do anything with it. So, if you actually plan to use any applications and don't want your system to slow to a crawl, it's best not to try to scrape by with less than the minimum.