Okay. I have an Asus Netbook with XP and 1 MB of Ram, and a Dell laptop with XP and 2 NB of Ram.
The Asus can be upgrade to 2 MB of Ram, but the Dell is maxed out.
Can I install Win 7, on these computers and expect reasonable performance, mainly on the Internet?
I have a recent model ASUS notebook with Win 7 Works fine
I understand that Win7 requires a minimum of 1GB of RAM, whereas XP runs well with 512MB. For simple browsing and youtube viewing your machines should have no major problems assuming you have sufficient download speeds to view any streaming video.
Some people do not like the Win7 layout so be prepared for that, but simple web browsing is not demanding at all. Stay away from MS Explorer, however, just to be on the safe side. Firefox, Chrome, and Opera work much better but your preferences may differ.
Consider switching to a Linux distro, or alternatively you can remain with XP and boot from a Kiosk Distro (Linux) for simple browsing and emailing so nothing can corrupt your machine. This is especially helpful when you do not want any unnecessary downloads to occur. The Kiosk Distro will not allow anything to be saved to the computer -which bypasses all malware and rootkit potential hazards.
More memory is always helpful, but it varies depending upon the OS. Mepis Linux v8.0, for example, runs just fine with 512MB of memory. I have it installed on a Compaq laptop with a 1.6GHz Celeron CPU and it responds quite well.
Hope that helps.
Nah. Stay on XP. Practice Safe Hex (good AV, don't go to stupid places), stay behind a router, and don't use Internet Explorer or Windows Media Player online... You'll be fine.
Start looking for used Vista or Win7 based machines - You can probably replace what you have pretty cheaply and move up a couple generations. I have a later model Vista era machine running my TV that my kid found for 50 bucks. Runs like a champ, and would be way better technically than anything you can do with your present hardware. Older Vista/win7 boxes are all over the place under $150...