Microsoft apparently has finally released the "official" specs you'll need to run Windows Vista, for whenever it stops being delayed and starts to ship, which will probably be sometime in "early 2007". And considering all of the fancy graphical improvements they're throwing into the mix, it should come as no surprise to people that the requirements are rather steep.
Minimum Supported System Requirements- 800 MHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
- 512mb RAM
- 20gb HDD (15gb free space)
- CD-ROM drive
Considering I ran XP once on a 200mhz machine with 96mb of ram, that is certainly a leap in demand. But that's the minimum!
A Windows Vista Premium Ready PC includes at least:- 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor.
- 1 GB of system memory.
- A graphics processor that runs Windows Aero.
- 128 MB of graphics memory.
- 40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space.
- DVD-ROM Drive.
- Audio output capability.
- Internet access capability.
I'm sure one will be able to get it running on a lower-end machine, as long as they dump all the fancy graphical add-ons that nobody truly needs. I don't even run the Windows XP themes, leaving my system looking amazingly like Windows 2000, which apparently Vista will be capable of doing as well, especially if all you can afford is the Windows Vista Home Basic edition, because you don't even get any of the fancy interface stuff with that one.
All I can hope is that those requirements actually include using Aero, because I can't believe any plain-jane Win2000-ish setup would still require 800mhz and 512mb of ram. In any case, I'm sure Aero will be pretty to mess around with, especially since it works off of your video card's 3d hardware. So yeah, you might want a good video card while you're at it!
You can read more at Microsoft's new
Windows Vista: Get Ready site, which is hot off the presses.
