Upgrade from Win2k to WinXP or not?

jxcheng · February 2nd, 2004, 07:53 PM

I have a pretty old machine, HP Pavilion 8533Z:

CPU: Intel Celeron 500MHZ
RAM: 256MB PC133 SDRAM ( Expanded from 128MB)
HARD: 120GB MAXTOR EIDE 2MB Cache (New HD)
Motherboard: Intel 810 chipset with integrated grahpics.

The machine is a bit slow now, and currently it is running windows 2000 pro. I am wondering if upgrading to WinXP will give it a slight performance boost.

BTW, I am not using this as a game machine. Mostly it is used for office applications, email, web-browsering, and mp3 playing.

Thanks!

teengeek88 · February 2nd, 2004, 07:58 PM

Win2k has all the features (if you have service pack...5 i believe?) as windows xp i heard.... so its all about if you want the candy coated interface or not pretty much.... i myself prefer Win2k because there is no activation and annoying stuff

i wouldnt

just my 2 cents

-Rob-

Scott Tiger · February 2nd, 2004, 08:11 PM

Personally I'd stick with Win2k. I think it's the perfect OS for office apps and hardware like yours.

Bill in SD, CA · February 3rd, 2004, 11:45 AM

I doubt if you will see any performance boost.

I have both and I prefer 2K myself.

Any performance issues you have is with the machine not the OS.

IMO,

Bill

vass0922 · February 3rd, 2004, 12:46 PM

IMO XP would only make your box MORE sluggish due to the overly OBESE nature of XP

Christian-Comp · February 3rd, 2004, 12:50 PM

True... XP is obese, however one can put it on a diet and remove features that are not needed or desired.

**Martoch** · February 3rd, 2004, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Christian-Comp
True... XP is obese, however one can put it on a diet and remove features that are not needed or desired.

...thus, turning back into 2K!

Stick with 2K, XP will do nothing more for you.

Gettinbye · February 3rd, 2004, 12:59 PM

Have to agree with the general concensus...win2k is basically xp without the window dressings...if you're looking for a mild performance boost in win2k, do the standard disk cleaning, defragmenting, registry cleanup, and startup management.

Scott Tiger · February 3rd, 2004, 01:21 PM

Have you considered upgrading your processor?

I'm only saying that because I had almost your exact configuration a couple years ago and I upgraded my 500mhz celeron to a 950mhz Celeron for less than $65. It made a noticable difference in the machine for very little money.

EDIT: I spoke too soon. A quick check at Newegg shows that the only Celery they have with a 100 mhz bus is a 1.3 and it's Tualatin based and I doubt your mobo will support that.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...log=343&depa=1

Sorry!

You may be able to find what something else somewhere else though.

jmichna · February 3rd, 2004, 02:04 PM

IMO, for your uses stick with W2K Pro. We migrated to XP Pro solely for the improved H/W and game compatability. The eye-candy is nice if you've got the horses... but W2K is fine. Save your self the $150-200 and try to find a faster CPU for your mobo, and double the ram.