Is 2 GB RAM and 320 GB Harddrive enough for Vista?

[mretzloff]

Is it? I'm buying a Dell Inspiron 530 with 2 GB RAM and 320 GB Harddrive. Is that enough to run Vista on? I'm not buying the computer to play games. It's for word processing, digital photography, homework, and accessing the Internet.

Am I buying enough memory?

 

[Rik]

Go to www.microsoft.com and you will find plenty of info about vista.

 

[mretzloff]

Can't you just answer my question? It's pretty obvious that I have no clue what I'm doing.

 

[Rik]

http://www.windowsmarketplace.com/content.aspx?ctId=390&tabid=1&WT.mc_id=0207_08

 

[Cinders]

Yes that should do.

 

[bushwhacker]

If you are using for word processing,

The memory is little too high.
pull it back to 1 gb
pull the hd back to 80.

Saved you over 150 dollars

 

[Cinders]

I tried the advisor and it said that my computer could run Vista, but it didn't have any information about my RAID controller. I wonder how I was gonna run Vista if my raid array didn't work afterward. I mean my hard drive resides on that RAID array, and I think I'm gonna need it to make my computer go.

 

[Tedster]

that's plenty. You're fine. Your hard drive is huge, but the extra 1gb in RAM is very good. You'll notice a speed improvement.

 

[kpo6969]

Is it? I'm buying a Dell Inspiron 530 with 2 GB RAM and 320 GB Harddrive. Is that enough to run Vista on? I'm not buying the computer to play games. It's for word processing, digital photography, homework, and accessing the Internet.

Am I buying enough memory?

Yes your fine.
For Aero a 128mb dedicated video card min, 256mb better performance
Just a suggestion (for photo applications)

for bushwhacker
Vista and 1GB isn't too good

 

[poriggity]

I hope so.. Ive got 512 MB of RAM and an 80 gig hard drive, and I'm running vista...
Scott

 

[bushwhacker]

My advice. Stick to XP, save you boatload of money and life of your laptop.

 

[Tedster]

My advice. Stick to XP, save you boatload of money and life of your laptop.

personally I would agree. Vista offers no significant gains in productivity and in fact, can cause issues.

 

[kpo6969]

I agree to a certain extent, especially with older hardware, But:
1.The OP is buying an Inspiron 530 (new system offering), and
2.XP is not a workable, viable option(in my opinion), it comes with Vista, and
3.There are not all the XP drivers available that may be required

everyone is entitled to an opinion, I was trying to give a useful, factual one

 

[tipstir]

Is it? I'm buying a Dell Inspiron 530 with 2 GB RAM and 320 GB Harddrive. Is that enough to run Vista on? I'm not buying the computer to play games. It's for word processing, digital photography, homework, and accessing the Internet.

Am I buying enough memory?

Digital Photo editing you might want to get more RAM for that.. Think of it this way...

2GB - 1GB for OS - 1.5GB or 1GB for Free Depends on what you load and use. If you're using Adobe products for editing you'll better get enough for that and VISTA plays happy in 4GB world. You could try to get by with 2GB. I recommend you try that and see how it goes. 320GB HDD is 298GB or less but OS, programs and Photowork will fill up quickly.. If you use large JPEG HQ/PQ images or use 7MP or higher digital Camera settings....

 

[kpo6969]

3GB is the sweet-spot. If you have 64bit then 4GB.

 

[tipstir]

4GB can be use on 32-bit

 

[kpo6969]

The most it will use is 3.2GB (max)
I didn't say you couldn't do it but why pay for it unless you plan on upgrading to 64bit in the future (near)?

 

[bushwhacker]

2.XP is not a workable, viable option(in my opinion), it comes with Vista, and
3.There are not all the XP drivers available that may be required

Excuse me, sir? Have you tried Belarc and Everest Software ? =)

PLUS.

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?os=WW1&osl=EN&catid=-1&impid=-1&servicetag=&SystemID=INSP_DSKTP_D530&hidos=WLH&hidlang=en

You have to be careful what you said about dell. It does provide the xp drivers.

@mretzloff It is useful if you have the service tag handy, so the driver database can narrow down to required files for you to download.

Dismissed.

 

[35Tony]

Why Dell? Your plenty good enough with your description. (FYI)Were you told that you can upgrade to 4 GB Ram. Chances are the only way to do this is to buy all sticks again. Dell will use the lowest possible combinations of RAM to use up all your slots.

 

[Bruce2]

Planty enough, but I wouldn't buy a dell. Quality and service disappointed me.

 

[kpo6969]

Excuse me, sir? Have you tried Belarc and Everest Software ? =)

PLUS.

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?os=WW1&osl=EN&catid=-1&impid=-1&servicetag=&SystemID=INSP_DSKTP_D530&hidos=WLH&hidlang=en

You have to be careful what you said about dell. It does provide the xp drivers.

@mretzloff It is useful if you have the service tag handy, so the driver database can narrow down to required files for you to download.

Dismissed.

I use both programs on my system, thank you.
Please explain this:
"You have to be careful what you said about dell. It does provide the xp drivers."
There are 29 current drivers for Vista, 19 for XP.
This is what I said:
"3.There are not all the XP drivers available that may be required"

So what are you getiing at?
Dismissed.

 

[kpo6969]

My advice. Stick to XP, save you boatload of money and life of your laptop.

The subject of this thread is a desktop, not a laptop.

 

[Spyder_1386]

2GB of RAM is plenty for vista pal...you should be just fine

Spyder_1386

 

[bushwhacker]

I use both programs on my system, thank you.
Please explain this:
"You have to be careful what you said about dell. It does provide the xp drivers."
There are 29 current drivers for Vista, 19 for XP.
This is what I said:
"3.There are not all the XP drivers available that may be required"

So what are you getiing at?
Dismissed.

You caught me with my pants down, sir.

*winks*

There is only way to do this
install most xp driver and leave the missing driver... use either everest or belarc to find the rest, such as Intel Chipset drivers ...

 

[SNGX1275]

Yes its fine. Run Vista, XP will involve more effort. Vista deals with multimedia stuff better than XP anyway (nicer photo thing (very much like picasa), importing and tagging of digital cam pics, VHP has Media Center which is worth the purchase of the whole OS if you ever want to connect to a TV for picture/movie viewing/tv recording).

2 Gigs is great, 4 gets you into a grey area with a 32bit OS and ultimately you are wasting money. 3 gigs prevents you from running in dual channel mode which sacrifices speed. 2 is perfect. Your HD space is plenty, unless you are recording HDTV.