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Old XP laptop

I've got an old Toshiba operating XP I'd like to update to windows 7 or 8. My latest Toshiba laptop operates on Windows 7. I've ordered 1GB of RAM for the old Toshiba but wasn't sure how to proceed from here! Is it possible to somehow copy the OS from the latest laptop? I'm sure you'll all have gathered I'm not at all techy and would appreciate any advice. Thanks.
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Comments

  • bsod
    bsod Posts: 1,225 Forumite
    no, you'll have to buy it, and make sure the hardware is compatible, by the time you've paid for the ram too, you're close to the price of a new one
    Don't you dare criticise what you cannot understand
  • When I bought the latest Toshiba laptop I made a repair disc as instructed. Can't I use this in the old Toshiba?
  • jbuchanangb
    jbuchanangb Posts: 1,335 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    How old is your Toshiba laptop? Mine is 14 years, and it only just runs XP SP3 because it is at the limit of RAM with 512KB. Have you run the Windows 7 Upgrade advisor?

    I think you would have to pay about £80 for an XP to Windows 7 DVD set. That's what I paid when I upgraded my 7 years old Dell Inspiron 18 months ago.

    It took me a whole day to perform the upgrade, including the data backup and restore process, and re-installing all applications, and finding some drivers for obsolete hardware. I was glad of my fibre broadband connection for all the Microsoft updates that came down the pipe after the installation process.
  • bsod
    bsod Posts: 1,225 Forumite
    edited 5 January 2015 pm31 7:35PM
    Windows 7 isn't free, about £70 last time I looked. There's a thread about £200 laptops just below this one, if you really need 2 machines.
    Don't you dare criticise what you cannot understand
  • maimee_magic
    maimee_magic Posts: 396 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    edited 5 January 2015 pm31 7:49PM
    Thanks for all the replies. JBuchanangb=think mine must be as old as yours with only 512 mb RAM. I might see if I can cancel my order for the RAM! Didn't realise it was so expensive to update the OS. Was hoping to be able to use the old one as I prefer the keyboard on it but don't think it's worth the trouble.
  • If you are looking for a money saving option why dont you try Linux which is free..I replaced XP on my old pc with linux mint its given the old thing a new lease of life..just takes a little bit of getting used to but the linux forums are brilliant to give you advice..

    https://www.linuxmint.com
  • abibee
    abibee Posts: 441 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture
    Installing a version of Linux on it was my first thought too. LXLE is specifically designed for older machines, I use it on an old laptop myself.

    http://lxle.net/
  • steviebabes
    steviebabes Posts: 2,062 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    I have an old Toshiba laptop and upgrading the ram to 1GB from 512MB made a huge difference. Still on windows XP and now pretty fast.
  • jbuchanangb
    jbuchanangb Posts: 1,335 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Mine is a Satellite Pro 4600 with 1Ghz Pentium III processor. It had 256MB RAM when I bought it for £50 4 years ago, but its limit is 512 MB, so of course I maxed it out as soon as I got it.
    One of the greatest challenges was getting it from XP SP2 to SP3, but now it is beyond upgrading, not least because the DVD reader has packed up.
    Still running MS|Office 2003 and Outlook Express 6. Google Chrome insists on telling me that my hardware is not supported.
    No problem showing video clips with media player embedded in PowerPoint!
    This device has built in WiFi, InfraRed port, modem, Floppy Disk Drive, 2 USB ports, a serial port, S-Video, a parallel printer port, and Ethernet.
    Top of the range form the year 2000!
  • J_B
    J_B Posts: 6,672 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    The first thing that 'Nifty' will ask is 'full make & model No'

    ;)
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