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A recent survey by Softchoice has revealed that 88% of PCs owned by businesses meet the minimum system requirements to run Windows 7, as compared to the 50% of PCs that could run Windows Vista when it was released.
Even more impressively, 65% of business PCs are currently able to run Windows 7 in its “optimal configuration,” meaning that they meet the recommended system requirements of a 1.6 GHz processor, 32 GB of hard drive space and 2 GB of RAM. This compares well to the 6% of PCs that measured up to Vista’s recommended specifications, with the other 94% needing a RAM upgrade, a processor upgrade, a hard drive upgrade, or all three. This, in spite of the fact that Vista’s recommended requirements only called for 1 GB of RAM and a 1 GHz processor.
These numbers bode very well for Windows 7′s adoption, even given the global recession. Businesses have mostly stuck by the aging Windows XP, and if other organizations are anything like the one I work for, they’re paying for it – Windows XP systems get viruses much more easily than Vista or 7 systems, they require more time to patch and bring-up-to-date, and every time a new computer model comes out we have to spend time hunting down new drivers and integrating them into our images.
Windows 7′s much improved numbers are caused partly by the normal advance of technology – nearly three years have passed, and computers have gotten more powerful while Windows’ system requirements have (for once) stayed about the same. Three years ago the problematic Pentium 4 and the single-core Pentium M were still prevalent in most business PCs, and AMD dual core processors still went for a hefty price premium. Now, dual core processors are the norm, and quad core processors have fallen below the $100 price point.
The situation with RAM is similar – in 2006 it was still possible to buy midrange computer systems with 512MB of RAM, and now even the cheapest of netbooks come with 1 GB, and almost all other systems come with 2GB or more. RAM prices are a little higher than they were six months or a year ago, but they’re still very low. It’s a great time to need a computer.
The relentless march of technology is one reason why modern PCs are so much faster, but another reason is Vista itself – after Vista’s release, PC manufacturers quickly moved to bump up the amount of RAM that came with all of their machines.
And why wouldn’t they? Vista was a pig, especially in a time where a computer running XP could run fine (not great, but fine) with 512MB of RAM. Many customers aren’t going to distinguish between the people who make their computer and the operating system that it runs – if they get a Dell or HP or Acer that’s running slowly, they’re just as likely to blame Dell or HP or Acer as they are to blame Microsoft. It was in PC makers’ best interests to beef up their machines, because they needed their computers to run Vista adequately so they wouldn’t lose business, even if their customers were just going to put Windows XP on those computers anyway.
There are plenty of reasons why home users and businesses alike are so prepared for Windows 7, but in a lot of ways, we should be thanking Vista for paving the way.
