Looking Ahead to Windows Vista: Part 3

Looking Ahead to Windows Vista: Part 3
Vista's More Complex System Requirements



If you've read part I and part II of this three-part series, you already know that Windows Vista is on the horizon and that it sports a number of useful features for a small business. But even though Vista is still at least six months away, if you envision Microsoft's new operating system in your company's future — whether your plans include upgrading your existing computers or buying new systems in advance of Vista's release — now is the time to start preparing.

That's because the move to Windows Vista may be somewhat more complicated than the move to Windows XP from one of its predecessors. In the past, the ability to run the latest version of Windows depended mainly on having a certain level of processor speed, RAM, and free hard drive space under the hood. Windows Vista is the most hardware-intensive version of Windows to date, so while these components are still extremely important, they're not necessarily the whole story because of two important factors.

First, some of Vista's new features depend on the presence of hardware other than the aforementioned major system components. Second, not every feature is available in each version of Vista. Ultimately, the specific feature or features you want will likely dictate the version of Vista you need, and in many cases may even preclude the option of upgrading an existing system.

More Complex System Requirements

Because of the various new features and the myriad versions of Vista, its system requirements aren't quite as straightforward as with past versions. For Windows XP and its antecedents, the system requirements basically boiled down to two levels — minimum and recommended levels. More processor power and memory made earlier Windows versions run faster and more smoothly, but as long as you as you met the minimum requirements, you could generally perform the same tasks (albeit slower) as a system that was loaded to the gills with gobs of the latest hardware.

Things are more complicated now, and even having just bought a system, say, in the past six-to-12 months doesn't guarantee complete compatibility with all versions of Vista. For that matter, a system you go out and buy this afternoon won't necessarily work with every Vista feature.

Vista's minimum system requirements are significant but still relatively modest. They consist of a "modern" 800 MHz processor (that five-year-old 800 MHz Pentium III may not be quite up to the task), 512 MB of RAM, and a 20 GB hard drive. Systems that meet these criteria can run Windows Vista Basic and rate as Windows Vista "Capable" by Microsoft.

To run Vista's Home Premium, Business or Ultimate versions, on the other hand, requires a system deemed "Premium Ready". Premium Ready systems specify a slightly faster CPU (1GHz), bigger hard drive (40 GB) and significantly more memory (1GB).

But that's just the beginning — more importantly, PCs must have a graphics subsystem that supports certain DirectX capabilities — specifically, the ones that Vista's new, modernized Aero interface uses to provide its translucent menus and other visual effects. Premium Ready systems must also sport specific amounts of graphics RAM (anywhere from 64 to 256 MB, depending on your display resolution).

The problem is that many PCs with integrated chipset-based graphics — as opposed to discrete graphics processors on the motherboard or an expansion card — may not satisfy this requirement (and you thought graphics was only important for games). Therefore a graphics upgrade may be needed to use the Aero interface with an existing system, and if your notebook's graphics hardware isn't compatible with Aero, you'll either need to do without it or get a new system.