Microsoft Vista hardware requirements…



Microsoft has started releasing details of the hardware requirements for the upcoming release of Vista. It appears there are two categories of requirements. One is a bare minimum for vista, the other is a minimum for Vista Premium. They’re calling the specs Vista Capable and Premium Ready…


“Capable” systems will largely cover current systems running Windows XP, and serve as the bare minimum for upgrading to Windows Vista. PCs that fall under this category must have an 800MHz or faster processor and 512MB of RAM. A DirectX 9 capable video card is also required, and a 20GB hard drive.

But consumers looking to take full advantage of Windows Vista, including its new advanced user interface called Aero, will need more powerful hardware. A 1GHz processor, 40GB hard drive and 1GB of RAM are required at the base level, as well as a modern DirectX 9 graphics card with at least 128MB of video RAM. 256MB of video memory is required for higher resolutions.

These “Premium Ready” PCs must also include a DVD drive, audio output and Internet access. Microsoft recommends that any user currently planning to purchase a new PC make sure it has the Premium Ready designation. Manufacturers such as Dell, Gateway, Lenovo and Toshiba plan to add the Vista Ready branding to their systems.

Above text from the betanews article. And remember the parachute class analogy…. jumping required, parachute recommended…..

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