Microsoft’s release of the new operating system, Windows 7, has many people looking to either upgrade their current systems or run out and buy the latest and greatest in hardware. Whether you are looking to upgrade or buy new there are specific hardware components that are required to get the most out of the new operating system. From the processor to the hard drive each piece needs to fit together to give the best performance. According to Microsoft’s website the minimum hardware required to run Windows 7 are:
1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
The first and most important piece to the PC puzzle is the processor, Windows 7 supports both 32-bit and 64-bit but what does this mean? For the purpose of this article a 64-bit processor with multiple cores (dual core or quad core) is what is needed. It provides the ability to have more than 3GB of RAM, processing large files like video rendering is much faster and with multiple cores multi -tasking becomes much more seamless since the processor can receive multiple streams of data for processing.
The only requirement for RAM in terms of general computing and Windows 7 is that 4GB is best. This provides more than enough for the operating system and nearly any program that needs to be run.
The price of hard drive space has significantly dropped over the past few years to he point where a 500GB drive can be purchased for less that $100. These drives will work well with Windows 7 and provide more than enough storage for the average user. If you are looking for a bit more performance solid state drives by far have the best access speeds but the price is significant.
One of the best features of Windows 7 is the Aero desktop but it requires a newer video card. To really take advantage of the new video features a video card with onboard memory is required.
What is the point of having a powerful video card and excellent visuals in Windows 7 without a decent monitor, again with the price dropping on LCD screens picking up a good 21 0r 24 inch widescreen monitor is essential.
Finally, a microphone and webcam, these are not absolutely required to run Windows 7, they are part of the fun of Windows 7.
In a nut shell a good Windows 7 machine includes: a 64-bit dual core processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive, video card with 256MB onboard RAM, 24 inch wide screen monitor and webcam with microphone. Wait a sec that is only 6, what happened to the 7th, well there really isn’t a 7th component that is required but adding a case with some Neon lights would be a nice touch.
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