[BLOG] Updating a 2 year old laptop to Windows 7

Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
edited November -1 in Community
When I purchased my laptop 2 years ago it had just about all the bells and whistles a person could want. Even with the system running Windows Vista 32bit, it provided fast access to programs and gamed fairly well with the provided games of 2007. But with the launch of Windows 7 now come & gone & me seeing just what this Operating System (OS) can do for my desktop I have decided to purchase an upgrade pack for my trusty laptop.

First step in my upgrade was to make sure my ASUS laptop could actually handle the new OS. I already knew the specs of the system & was sure it would, but hey Microsoft made the tool for a reason, why not use it?

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor:

This program is pretty easy & straight forward, in general it just runs some diagnostic on your precious system and spits out a report saying if you can run the newest version of Windows.

After loading the downloaded .exe file from Microsoft's website the program created a start icon on my desktop. Once the program opened I clicked "Start Check" and away it went. The actual check should not take any longer than a few minutes and in my case it took just over 2 1/2 minutes to fully run its course. It promptly let me know my system meet all the requirements. But if I wanted to run the 64bit version of the OS I would have to do a special/custom install. My guess is that I would not be able to move over my files easily & that I should back them all up. After reading the informative link it gave me, my thoughts were right on the money. Overall not such a big deal since I was planning on reinstalling my critical apps anyways.

Install Windows 7 Upgrade:

The first thing I did was head on over to ASUS & download all the drivers needed for my laptop. The one thing that concerned me was that ASUS only had drivers f4or Windows XP 32bit & Vista 32bit. My plan was to upgrade to Windows 7's 64bit OS. Me knowing that most 32bit software will install on 64bit OS's took the chance and downloaded all the 32bit drives from Vista. I burned all these files on to a CD after I downloaded them, but I could have easily used a USB flash drive or an external hard drive.

So after I backed up all my personal files (videos, photos, documents, music etc...) I was ready to install Windows 7. I grabbed the Windows 7 64bit disc from the shinny plastic case & rebooted my system. Luckily I had already set my BIOS to boot from disc first which when the system came online it prompted me with the question "Boot from CD or DVD?" which I clicked yes. The system than booted into Windows 7 loading screen & I was off.

Taking the advice of what the Windows Advisor told me I choose the custom install option which allow me to choose what drive I wanted the install to take place on. I choose the drive I had originally installed Windows Vista on, as I think this is mandatory as I am using the upgrade version of the OS & not the full version. After a few questions during install I was looking at my laptop with a successful Windows 7 install.

The one thing that amazed me is that 95% of the drivers I downloaded from ASUS where not needed. Windows 7 recognized just about everything right away & had installed 80% of the drivers my system needed on install & Windows Upgrade found the other 20%. This to me was amazing as when installing Vista it was a nightmare to find the proper drivers for stuff & I had to hunt down drivers from similar Laptops that ASUS made that offered Vista drivers.

Overall the install was flawless & the driver issue was not an issue at all. I now have a laptop running Windows 7 Ultimate which is a huge upgrade from Vista & the performance increase is noticeable. My 2 year old laptop has a breath of fresh life in it & it is ready to last another 2 years.

Comments

  • Glad Win7 had or found your drivers. 32-bit drivers don't run on 64-bit systems, even though 32-bit programs do.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    Yeah the fact Windows 7 found them all made the install so easy.
  • photodudephotodude Salt Lake, Utah Member
    I just upgraded my 2yld desktop to 64bit-win7....I agree much better, most streamlined easy install I've ever had.

    I ran the free scan at Driver Agent and found four drivers Win7 chose were a bit out of date, so I've been hunting down updated drivers. overall not bad.
  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    I have installed Windows 7 on an Asus 1000HE netbook, and honestly, it ran beautifully. I wouldn't even dare try that with Windows Vista.
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