I have a friend that has a Dell Optiplex 745 currently running W7 after an original factory install of XP. The CPU currently is a Pentium D945 and he has 8gb of DDR2 ram on board. He has the icon to get the free W10 update on his box. Should he do it? I know it is an older box and W7 is an excellent OS. Would there be any advantage to move to 10 other than just having it? His CPU can be updated to a Q6800 quad core fairly inexpensively but he is on a fixed income.
Computer capable of running W10?
- Thread starter jpk
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I've had a few OptiPlex computers and I even think I had a 745 at one point, running Windows 10.
That might have been back in the earlier preview days, I really don't recall.
I believe that the only issue I had (other than the annoying problem of having to remove the CMOS battery just about every time I changed any hardware, and then have to reset the date and time in the BIOS) I think the only problem might have been the integrated Video card driver.
I really don't remember which one it was but I think the MS Standard VGA adapter driver was good enough for what I was doing with it, which was basically test driving Windows 10.
The upside to an upgrade would only be the benefits that come with the overall better resource management which is pretty good compared to Windows 7, however the downside can seriously offset any benefits.
I would strongly suggest making a complete disk image of the system before even considering attempting an upgrade.
https://www.windows10forums.com/threads/please-for-your-own-peace-of-mind.794/
Then I would mount it and inspect the contents to confirm that it contained everything as expected and was likely a viable source to recover from, should the upgrade not go as planned.
We've heard some incredible and chilling horror stories, where upgrades didn't quite go as expected
IF your intention is to go forward, you might want to make sure that you disconnect any extraneous USB peripheral (Bluetooth / Wireless dongles that support mice keyboards, network adapters, etc.) keeping the hardware to a simple minimum of USB Keyboard, USB Mouse and the Monitor..... and remove as in "uninstall" any third party security suites in advance of the upgrade.
Good luck and keep us posted.
That might have been back in the earlier preview days, I really don't recall.
I believe that the only issue I had (other than the annoying problem of having to remove the CMOS battery just about every time I changed any hardware, and then have to reset the date and time in the BIOS) I think the only problem might have been the integrated Video card driver.
I really don't remember which one it was but I think the MS Standard VGA adapter driver was good enough for what I was doing with it, which was basically test driving Windows 10.
The upside to an upgrade would only be the benefits that come with the overall better resource management which is pretty good compared to Windows 7, however the downside can seriously offset any benefits.
I would strongly suggest making a complete disk image of the system before even considering attempting an upgrade.
https://www.windows10forums.com/threads/please-for-your-own-peace-of-mind.794/
Then I would mount it and inspect the contents to confirm that it contained everything as expected and was likely a viable source to recover from, should the upgrade not go as planned.
We've heard some incredible and chilling horror stories, where upgrades didn't quite go as expected
IF your intention is to go forward, you might want to make sure that you disconnect any extraneous USB peripheral (Bluetooth / Wireless dongles that support mice keyboards, network adapters, etc.) keeping the hardware to a simple minimum of USB Keyboard, USB Mouse and the Monitor..... and remove as in "uninstall" any third party security suites in advance of the upgrade.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Thanks. This guy is on disability and uses his computer for surfing the web and making purchases and paying bills so he doesn't need to play games, etc.. I was thinking about just buying him an upgrade CPU. They're around $30.00 for the fastest you can plug into the thing. I'm running 10 on my machine but it is far ahead of what his machine is. I did the free update from W7. The download and install went without a hitch. I rather like 10 but hated 8.1 which I had on a laptop which I also upgraded to 10. I also installed without a problem.