10-09-2009, 08:43 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 202
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Windows 7 doesn't like older hardware
I see myself as the resident old-hardware guy here on the site. Recently, I was given a copy of Windows 7 RC and a page of product keys. I took the plunge and installed it on my 933mhz PIII laptop with 700-something megs of RAM.
I was amazed at how smoothly it ran. I did however run into some problems with drivers. I still haven't located a sound driver for the 6-year-old laptop, the default driver works but sounds terrible.
I was so impressed with Windows 7 that I installed it on my home-built desktop, only to find that graphics drivers for my Radeon 9200se aren't available. I was able to make XP drivers work, but there's no Aero. Even worse, the PC bluescreens every time I shut it down. Hibernate doesn't work, it seems to simply reboot the PC.
It's frustrating for users like me, because Windows 7 DOES run well on slow hardware. It just doesn't support older sound and graphics adapters, and it's doubtful that hardware manufacturers will write the needed drivers. I suppose that this is the price to pay for progress though, I can't really expect Microsoft to sacrifice innovation and performance for old hardware and software support.
I might have to revert to Windows XP, which is too bad, because Windows 7 really is an excellent operating system.
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Joel Crane
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