Can Win7 be limited by lousy hardware?

I've used Win7 for about a week (in a computer I am returning for a non-OS reason).

I can't say I was immediately impressed, mostly because the file system looked so different with it's libraries, all the pop ups everywhere along the task bar, two different Program File folders, etc. I know I'll get past all that but I sure missed XP and all of my specific tweaks that made it 'just so'.

I will be getting a new system though and it will probably be win7-64 bit.

Since I'm not really sure of everything Win7 can do yet, I'm afraid I might limit it's features by not getting the right hardware for it. Specifically, I am thinking about it's Multimedia features. We don't have high speed internet here in the boonies but I think I read where win7 can do a lot more when connected to an HDTV with HDMI.

I have a new (to me) Video Card I was thinking about using in it but I'm not sure if it is up to speed for win7 multimedia features.

It's a MSI R5450.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7283222&CatId=3669

Any advise on that GPU or hardware, ram, etc in general for win7?

I'm not a gamer (Call of Duty 2 keeps me happy) and I really don't think I do anything that requires a very fast system. For one thing, I would like to be able to play videos from a computer to the TV, with sound and audio both. My current XP notebook's hardware and ports don't allow that.

Thanks

Brian

 

You need to work with it longer. The Win7 taskbar is much better than the old XP tasbar. I bet you haven't even discovered right clicking on a program icon in the taskbar and using the "jump list".

That statement implies you think an HDTV with HDMI will increase your Internet speed. It won't.

You're joking, right? That card will have no problem whatsoever with Win 7 for your intended use.

Most new systems come with at least 4GB of RAM, and more (6GB or 8GB) is fairly common. Any of those RAM configurations will work fine, based on your stated usage. And, keep in mind adding RAM later is an easy upgrade.

 

As a general reply to your topic title, "Can Win7 be limited by lousy hardware?", sure, but that's true for any OS. But, nothing in your post indicates you'll be using "lousy hardware". I'm running Win 7 on a Pentium 4 with 4GB of RAM and an AGP video card. This computer was first released on 17 September 2003.

 

I mentioned the lack of high speed internet because I know there seem to be a lot of internet related OS features, but only for high speed connections. I wouldn't be able to use any of them. I would like to maybe connect the TV to any new computer though. That's why I wanted a Graphics card with HDMI.

Well, I was hoping that card might work but it seems as though everything is outdated right away and that card isn't exactly state of the art. It probably is for me though, so that's good news.

Even some of the reviews for the card mentioned how 'outdated' it was, but, that's kind of a relative term. Given the computing I currently do (and probably will for some time) it seemed like it would be ok.

Thanks

 

My Win 7 computer has an NVIDIA GeForce 6200 video card with 256MB of memory, and I run the Aero visual effects of Win 7. The card you cited is far superior to mine, so you need not worry about that card, not at all.

 

Which edition of the Pentium 4 do you have and what is the clock speed?

 

The HWiNFO software installed on it tells me it's the Northwood variation of Pentium 4. The clock speed is 2.67GHz.