Need help deciding if laptop can handle win7 64bit

[kempodragon]

My laptop's hard drive is on it's last legs, had several crashes already, and I decided since I'm replacing it, I might as well see about upgrading to win 7. I only have the 64 bit version and even the processor is 64bit capable, (AMD Turion64 x2), I'm not so sure about the memory requirements or rest of laptop components. How much does win 7 64 really need, not what Microsoft says it needs?? I use it mainly for gaming online, watching videos and other computing while traveling. I have the Windows Vista 32 bit that came with it, but would prefer to dump vista altogether if I can.

[GrofLuigi]

From my experience, 2 Gigabytes is the minimum for comfortable work on Win7 x64, and even that's on the very short side.

Turion might also be suboptimal, but IMO it's not as noticeable.

Collecting drivers for all devices before even thinking of installing x64 is essential. :)

GL

[Blue_MiSfit]

2GB of RAM made for a perfectly good experience on my old 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo laptop. If you're multitasking or running any memory heavy apps, I'd definitely suggest 4GB or more.

If it runs reasonably well on Vista, it will FLY on 7 ;)

Derek

[Sharktooth]

with 2GB of RAM there is NO reason to install win7 x64. go for the 32 bits version. it will "eat" much less resources.
if you also plan to buy some memory (4GB or more) then go with the 64 bits version.
however, if your laptop had vista installed by default, then you wont have driver problems since vista drivers are win7 compatible.

[CpT]

with 2GB of RAM there is NO reason to install win7 x64. go for the 32 bits version. it will "eat" much less resources.
Exactly.

I run a win7 32bit version on one of my media center pc's. It idles at 580Mb to 700Mb ram usage.
The 64bit installs I'm running boot at around 1.2Gb ram usage and Idle after running for a bit at around 1.4Gb ram usage.

Win7 64bit may run ok on 2Gb of ram but it really needs 4Gb+ if you plan on using it for anything other than checking emails/browsing ect.

[Lighto]

2GB of RAM will be sufficient, however it's just the minimum requirement.
Anyways, I believe for Windows 7 retail(not OEM/System Build edition), 64bit keys can be used on 32bit.
Provided you got yourself a 32bit iso or DVD in this case.