The step up in required hardware from XP to Vista was significant and the system requirements between Vista and 7 didn’t really change much, in fact it is often noted that it is easier to run 7 than Vista so if anything the requirements rolled back a touch.
Microsoft has been looking to continue the trend set by Windows 7 and it is targeting similar system requirements that would make Windows 8 as easy to run as Windows 7, if not even easier. It also means that Windows 8 will have similar hardware requirements to Vista which was released 6 years before (if Windows 8 is released next year, otherwise 7 if it is 2013).
Microsoft Corporate Vice-President Tami Reller said that “In both of our Windows 8 previews, we talked about continuing on with the important trend that we started with Windows 7, keeping system requirements either flat or reducing them over time.” So it seems that Windows is looking to improve its compatibility with lower performance and lower power systems by making it much easier to run.
She also added “We’ve also built intelligence into Windows 8 so that it can adapt to the user experience based on the hardware of the user. So, whether you’re upgrading an existing PC, or buying a new one, Windows will adapt to make the most of that hardware.”
The current Windows 7 system requirements are:
1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
Electronic Arts (EA) announced today that its games were played for over 11 billion hours…
Steam's annual end-of-year recap, Steam Replay, provides fascinating insights into gamer habits by comparing individual…
GSC GameWorld released a major title update for STALKER 2 this seeking, bringing the game…
Without any formal announcement, Intel appears to have revealed its new Core 200H series processors…
Ubisoft is not having the best of times, but despite recent flops, the company still…
If you haven’t started playing STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl yet, now might be the…