While for the most part Windows Vista has drawn the ire of netbook users for being too much of a memory hog, Microsoft has apparently addressed this issue in their next OS, Windows 7. Apparently, the Windows 7 beta runs relatively well on an Asus Eee PC 1000H that comes equipped with an Intel 1.6GHz processor and 1GB of RAM. Boot up time was approximately 58 seconds, not the best but good enough for a Vista like OS. So far so good, but with the lack of any clear release date for Windows 7 available, it might arrive just a bit too late. Developments in hardware technology are advancing at a ridiculous rate leaving Microsoft OS upgrades eating its dust. By the time Windows 7 is probably released, netbooks may be powerful enough to handle Vista for those still interested in the disappointing OS. Come on Microsoft, time is of the essence!
[laptopmag via crunchgear]
November 8th, 2008 at 5:44 am
One of the things I can’t figure out, is why Microsoft doesn’t release a smaller version of XP for these low-power machines.
Using the XP Embedded designer tool, it’s possible to make a version of XP that contains most of the things a normal user would need to run a netbook, and keep the memory footprint under 50MB at idle.
It would lack a lot of the crap (CD burning, indexing, multi-user support, themes, UPS services, etc, etc, etc) but would provide a small, snappy interface that looks like what you’re used to, and still be useful.
So far, the smallest memory use I’ve been able to achieve with XP Embedded is 35MB. But that lacks some critical things, like Explorer.