Installing Vista OS

GT60

Hi my son has an old Lenovo R60 laptop which originally ran on XP pro but has had windows 7 pro put on it making it useless.
( My EX bought it him)


I understand that I can put vista on it instead.
Processor intel (R) core (TM)2 T5500 @ 1.66GHz
1 GB ram
74 GB HD


1, Now I have a Dell vista OS cd will this work on this laptop?


2, I am not sure on what to do over the drivers I have found the site http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/thinkpad-r-series-laptops/thinkpad-r60i/9456
for them but how would I install them if nothing runs / works on the laptop after I have installed Vista?


3,Would I be better writing down every driver installed on the laptop by using the device manager first?


Thanks

DoaM

If it runs poorly with 7, it'll likely run worse with Vista.

Win 7 Pro should run "OK" with those specs. Can you define what you mean by "useless"?

GT60

DoaM wrote: »

If it runs poorly with 7, it'll likely run worse with Vista.

Win 7 Pro should run "OK" with those specs. Can you define what you mean by "useless"?

It is running very very slow taking ages to load up and out of the 74GB disc space 34 GB is used and only 11 basic programmes installed
It is 7 pro 32 bit OS
I read what 7 os needs and windows state 1 gb or more of ram yet vista states 520 mb so I thought it might be a bit faster?
I know it is not the best but limited funds etc

NiftyDigits

Vista will be worse.

2 x 1GB DDR2 PC2-5300 Unbuffered NON-ECC... £7.99

Collabora

GT60 wrote: »

1, Now I have a Dell vista OS cd will this work on this laptop?

That may not work unless its a Dell machine, some Dell provided OS discs will pick up its not a Dell HDD so will not allow it to be installed

onomatopoeia99

GT60 wrote: »

Hi my son has an old Lenovo R60 laptop which originally ran on XP pro but has had windows 7 pro put on it making it useless.
( My EX bought it him)


I understand that I can put vista on it instead.
Processor intel (R) core (TM)2 T5500 @ 1.66GHz
1 GB ram
74 GB HD

My five or six year old Mac Mini is very similar in spec to that and runs Windows 7 fine.


Have you looked at what loads at startup and disabled the indexing service? Google will provide on how to do both of those things and they've got to be easier than the complete aggro of a re-install.

GunJack

as per nifty's post, up the ram and it'll be fine. To reclaim some hdd space follow this:-

MSE Forums Vista - how do i free up my disc space

written for vista but same process for 7. If he needs more storage, external hdds are cheap enough

GunJack

GT60 wrote: »

It is running very very slow taking ages to load up and out of the 74GB disc space 34 GB is used and only 11 basic programmes installed
It is 7 pro 32 bit OS
I read what 7 os needs and windows state 1 gb or more of ram yet vista states 520 mb so I thought it might be a bit faster?
I know it is not the best but limited funds etc

Vista never ran properly on 1GB, let alone half that...add the updates & service packs and you can get away with 1.5GB if you tweak it enough, but not less....

...and vista's just plain crap compared to W7

groovyf

Another vote for staying clear of the abomination that is Vista.
Any laptop I've installed Windows 7 on (rather than the supplied Vista) has run better.

Fightsback

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Vista will be worse.

2 x 1GB DDR2 PC2-5300 Unbuffered NON-ECC... £7.99

+1 add memory

DO NOT USE Vista.

Make sure you power down the laptop, unplug from the mains and remove the battery if upgrading the memory.

J_B

GunJack wrote: »

as per nifty's post, up the ram and it'll be fine.

+1

Nifty advised me to fix 'Granddad's laptop'

It runs like a dream now with Win 7 and 2GB RAM

:T