Can I upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 10?

Dinarius

I have a DELL Laptop that is about 6 years old.

Thanks.

D.

ED E

Will it work? Probably

Will it cost you? Yes. Retail its ~€100, gray market its €15

Is it a good idea? No, not on hardware of that generation.

TerrorFirmer

If its only six years old it hardly came with XP?

Mobile hardware six years ago was 1st gen i3, i5, and i7. Also would have been plenty strong Core 2 Duo processors as well.

Unless you bought a really low-end cheap laptop six years ago, it should be fine for W10.

However it might be much older than you think if its XP.

riclad

if its really 6 years old,it,ll have windows 7 on it.
don,t use it for online banking or use a credit card on it,
windows xp is not supported anymore ,
no more security updates, apart from companys that pay for ms support contract.

Dinarius

Thanks for the replies and apologies for the delay in acknowledging them. For some reason, I'm not getting email notification of replies.

I could be a bit iffy on the age of the computer.

I'm a photographer and I use it ONLY for direct capture of files while on location. It is used for nothing else, quite literally. I have two other computers back at base for processing, editing, Photoshop etc..

What I need it for, it does perfectly. The only reason I would like to upgrade to Windows 10 is that a new addition to the software that I run on it won't run on XP.

My idea was that I would have someone install an SSD and Windows 10 on it.

Make sense?

Another reason I'd like to hold onto it is that one of my cameras (Hasselblad) needs a Firewire connection. This DELL laptop doesn't have Firewire, but it does have a slot allowing me to plug in one of these, which solves the problem. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Startech-com-ExpressCard-FireWire-Laptop-Adapter/dp/B003N3J354/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453798606&sr=8-1&keywords=firewire+expresscard+34

Without some sort of Firewire connection, I'm screwed.

Thanks again.

D.

ED E

First point, if you're doing tethered shooting with full frame gear your time is very much worth a few bob, IMO dont rely on such old hardware as its now EOL. If it goes down 10 mins into a shoot after a few hours prep (possibly models, makeup) itll be expensive for you.


If it came with XP then it probably won't benefit much from an SSD as the interface is too slow to utilize the speed. It may even be IDE which wont allow you to use one at all. If you post the model number we can advise with more detail.

Dinarius

Thanks for the reply.

So, what are my options for a cheap(ish) replacement that has Firewire? I don't want to go the Apple route. I've heard too many horror stories about about the torque of the Firewire cables eventually wrecking the socket/connection. The Firewire card and cable that I am using are the original ones! I've never had a single bad capture. If I replaced the laptop, I would definitely go the Firewire card slot route again, if possible.

Thanks.

D.

Dinarius

Thanks for the reply.

So, what are my options for a cheap(ish) replacement that has Firewire? I don't want to go the Apple route. I've heard too many horror stories about the torque of the Firewire cables eventually wrecking the socket/connection. The Firewire card and cable that I am using are the original ones! I've never had a single bad capture. If I replaced the laptop, I would definitely go the Firewire card slot route again, if possible.

Thanks.

D.

riclad

There aren't many laptops with expresscard these days, here's a short list of those I can remember on short notice:
Lenovo Thinkpad T430
Lenovo Thinkpad T530
Lenovo Thinkpad W530
Dell Latitude E6430
Dell Latitude E6530
Dell Latitude E5530
Dell Latitude E5430
Dell Vostro E3560
I don't remember HP's elitebook models by heart, but most also have an expresscard, some of their probooks likely have one as well.

This is by no means a complete list either, there are other models that have an ec port and the older versions of the laptops I listed as well, but you cna use this as a starting point for your search. Some of the laptops I listed are out of your price range new, but may fit in it as refurbs.

Also, be sure to check the size of the expresscard slot, they come in 34 mm and 54 mm variants, make sure the size of your firewire expresscard adapter matches.

As for laptops with firewire ports, the only I can think of are the Dell Precisions and Elitebooks w series which are again out of your price range (way way out). MSI and Clevo likely have the odd model with either firewire or expresscard, but they are bound to be rare.



http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/searching-for-decent-laptop-with-firewire-port.710127/

Lots of good laptops on adverts.ie going for 150euro plus .

Dinarius

Thanks for the reply.

Just been on to DELL to see what's current.

This is the only laptop they have with a card slot, and it's the 54mm.

http://www.dell.com/uk/business/p/precision-m6800-workstation/pd?refid=precision-m6800-workstation&baynote_bnrank=0&baynote_irrank=1&~ck=dellSearch&isredir=true

I'd happily spend a few € on a card, but the laptop is WAY out of my budget.

D.

riclad

So buy a laptop on adverts ie,

i got laptop 4gig ram,64bit cpu
300meg video card , dual core 64bit 2.oghz cpu 170.euro. it has a card slot.

my old laptop dual core cpu 1.7ghz 32bit cpu has an express card slot ,bought it in 2011 .
still works fine .

i got another laptop last week,so i can run linux 64bit os.

i got a laptop 2 years ago 80 euro ,cheap ,cos there s a few dead pixels in the top corner of the screen.
on adverts.ie it had a card slot .
play a video ,mp3 file , put in a usb drive,play a cd disc.
test it before you buy it .

bpb101

Upgrade to windows 7
Windows 10 may work but will more than lightly be shîte on it ( it will be shîte on a high end modern laptop as well:))

All software supports windows 7 as it accounts for well over 75% of windows on the market (estimate)

riclad

I thought windows 10 is supposed to slightly faster than windows 7,
it may not work properly on an old laptop,
eg one designed for windows xp.
it may not all the device drivers .
There,s no free upgrade to windows 7 .
linux is free and there,s versions for older laptops ,
mint or porteus linux.
menu looks similar to windows 7,
mint comes with firefox, vlc video player, music player ,libre office .

search linux for older laptops pc,s