6 Windows Versions on the Presario - Back to Home
Note: I apologize for the bad image quality on this page. The camera I usually use is broken right now, so I used my DJI action camera for all the images instead. Thus, all the images have a very obnoxious fisheye effect.
The last time my old Compaq Presario desktop appeared on this site, it was me installing a version of Windows 8 for no other reason than to see if it would run well or not. To continue the same experiment, I installed 6 different windows versions (2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8.1, and 10) to see just how much the Presario could handle. Since I didn't have the time to install all 6 operating systems in one day, this page will only focus on the first 3 versions. Next week, I'll have a page discussing the last 3 versions. Update: part two can be found here.
Here's the good ol' Presario on my workbench. My Samsung CRT monitor has an issue where it randomly turns itself off, so I might swap it out with the Presario's matching LCD in the near future.
First up was Windows 2000. 2000 took longer to install than both XP and Vista, which was a bit surprising.
Besides being stuck at 16 colors, Win2K runs just fine. Speed wise, it's almost as fast as the Win2000 virtual machine on my main computer. Some day, I'll get get graphics drivers installed so 2000 doesn't look like garbage, but for now, it's time to move on to XP.
I've installed WinXP so many times at this point that I could probably run through the installer blindfolded.
XP seems to run at about the same speed as 2000 on this machine. This is actually the 2nd time the Presario has ran XP; about a year ago, I installed Windows FLP (WinFLP is just a lightweight version of XP for older PCs) but I don't think FLP was any different than XP performance wise for me.
Next up was Windows Vista, the OS originally installed on the Presario from the factory. In hindsight, I should've used the original Compaq restore CDs for Vista, but I didn't think of that idea until I was already done burning a CD with a different ISO.
Turns out that the ISO I used was actually a Dell restore CD, so that's why there's a Dell logo in the Control Panel. Performance wise, Vista wasn't as slow as I thought it'd be, but it still has a bit of lag compared to 2000 & XP.
So far, things have been pretty easy, but next week, we'll see how 7, 8.1, and 10 run.