Windows Vista: Enjoy the View - Hardware and the Beta
(Page 2 of 4 )
This brings me to one inevitable issue. Microsoft claims that Vista will start up and run applications significantly faster that Windows XP. I wonder though if this is because a significantly faster machine is required to run the system. I foresee some disappointment for those people who simply bought an upgrade CD to run XP and hope to do the same for Vista. While the majority of Dev Hardware readers have (at a minimum) 1 GB of RAM and 2 GHz plus CPU, most people out there don’t place quite the same priority on staying on the bleeding edge of technology. It will be very interesting to see how the general populace takes the forced hardware upgrade!
To see if Vista will run on your current hardware, you can find a quick guide on the Microsoft Windows Vista information page here. A short rundown of the requirements on the page:
Processor: Modern mid-range and high-end processors will do, but Microsoft is really pushing users to upgrade to dual cores and x64 chips.
Memory: Microsoft says 512 MB is required, but 1 GB is recommended.
Graphics: Vista will demand at least 64 MB of video memory and DirectX 9 capable cards. Avoid low end video cards.
Storage: Microsoft is suggesting SATA drives over IDE and also buying a DVD writer.
I am not as fortunate as some to have an extra high-powered machine sitting around purely for testing purposes, so I usually take another route. Generally speaking, I like to try out a beta product, or a new Linux distro, inside a safely contained VM Ware session. So I bumped up the maximum memory for the session, hotwired the settings VM Ware to allow maximum CPU usage, and fired up Vista Beta1 (almost drooling in anticipation).
Much to my dismay, I could get as far as choosing the hard drive to install to, and no further. The beta install system detected the hard drive but told me it was unavailable, and it recommended I “enable it in the system BIOS.” Undeterred, I tried a new, larger virtual hard drive. No go. I scoured support groups. If you have an answer to my virtual hard drive issue, please contact me!
Next: The New Look and Feel >>
More BrainDump Articles
More By Justin Cook
