Which Windows for the old banger?

Discussion in 'Windows OS's' started by sabashuali, Feb 10, 2006.

  1. sabashuali

    sabashuali Ani Ma'amin

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    Hi all

    Further to my previous post (my newold laptop) I have come to a conclusion that the PIII M300 will not serve me very well and decided to donate it to the in-laws. They are using a PII 450Mhz M700 running ME.

    So Basically it has to be windows because they do not have broadband and I doubt they are willing to embrace Linux, even if it is all ready for them.
    I just know what a hassle it is to find drivers for winmodems and for what they need, windows (+ office) will do.

    The PIII laptop has got 128MB RAM and I might be able to borrow a stick of 128 from the PII (maybe Megamaced can advise....?) to give me 256MB (neat maths hey.....:confused: ). I am currently able to install XP or 98 but might be able to get 2000 as well, not sure.

    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.....

    Thanks!
     
  2. Anti-Trend

    Anti-Trend Nonconformist Geek

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    2000 Pro will run well, but of course you'll need a swathe of 3rd party security tools to keep it locked down, including a firewall. I wouldn't go with XP or 98 at all, since XP is too bloated for that hardware, and 98 is no longer supported with security patches by MS.
     
  3. sabashuali

    sabashuali Ani Ma'amin

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    Thanks AT

    I will try and get hold of 2000.
    I already put XP on it but I would assume that once I add Office and the protection squad it will start crawling....
    I can probably just put Word on there instead of the whole shebang.

    Thanks for the advice.
     
  4. Anti-Trend

    Anti-Trend Nonconformist Geek

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    Yeah, just make sure office doesn't boot with Windows to save on precious resources and it should be OK.
     
  5. megamaced

    megamaced Geek Geek Geek!

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    My Armada M300 has 196MB RAM installed, and it runs Windows XP fine. I would not advise you to install XP with only 128MB though. You should install Windows 2000 if you do not plan to upgrade the memory.

    The M300 has 64MB built in to the motherboard, and has one slot which you can insert a stick of PC100 Sodimm RAM. Therefore you will have one stick of 64MB already in there (64+64=128 - hey my maths is pretty good too :) ). The laptop supports a maximum of 256MB (+64MB built in). Windows XP would run quite well with 320MB installed
     
  6. sabashuali

    sabashuali Ani Ma'amin

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    My in-laws PII M700 has two 128 sticks.
    Will they both fit in the PIII M300?
    Or are you saying that the M300 has only one RAM expansion slot? In which case the most I can add is one stick of 128?

    Not to worry! I found out already - the laptop has only one memory expansion slot....

    Thanks!
     
  7. Someone28624

    Someone28624 Big Geek

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    If you just need word processing and are worried about bloating up the machin, you may want to consider just using Abiword- its really good on resources.
     
  8. sabashuali

    sabashuali Ani Ma'amin

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    Me, I'll try anything once but I am dealing with proper conservatives here....
    It is what they know or bust!
     
  9. megamaced

    megamaced Geek Geek Geek!

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    sabashuali you should re-read my last post :rolleyes: I said you can put ONE stick of 256MB in there. And if you add 256MB to the 64MB IN-BUILT memory, then you will have a grand total of 320MB.
     

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