Can your old PC run Windows 10? The answer will surprise you

Here’s how Windows 10 feels on very old hardware.

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For a modern operating system with an vast range of capabilities, Windows 10 is an incredibly lean and mean operating system.

To find out just how lean though, I decided to install Windows 10 on a few ancient PCs to see how well it runs. The actual experience might surprise you.

The “Vista Capable” machine

Can you run and install Windows 10 on a 9-year-old PC? Yes you can! (And no, you don’t want to!)

My first testbed would be a Dell Dimension E510. Carbon-dating of the chassis tells me it’s from the year 2006 A.D. The machine had been moldering away in a pile of old rigs at PCWorld and obviously wasn’t in its original state. Inside it has perhaps one of Intel’s worst-respected CPUs, a 3.2GHz Pentium D, as well as 2GB of DDR2 RAM and a dead video card.

I removed the machine’s fax modem. I dropped in a Radeon HD 6570 and a 320GB, 7,200rpm hard drive. I installed the only version of Windows 10 I had in ISO form at the time: Build 10162. It’s a few weeks old and the last technical preview ISO released by Microsoft before pausing the entire program. Note: The final build is supposed to offer some performance enhancements, but I honestly don’t expect a fundamental shift from a two-week-old build of the OS.

My experience with this 9-year-old box shocked me: It ran super-smooth and was surprisingly responsive just navigating Windows 10’s menu system.

Reality hit me in the face, though, when I decided to actually do something—like task the Edge Browser with opening five media-heavy pages, including PCWorld.com. That’s when it all ground to a halt. Some of that comes from the albatross of the truly atrocious Pentium D CPU, and some of that comes from the mere 2GB of memory in the system.

A dual-core Pentium D works with Windows 10 but it’s just not pleasant.

In fact, just leaving the Edge browser open and letting it sit for a few minutes caused the Dell’s CPU to run at 100-percent load. Doing nothing.

Moving to Google’s Chrome, which has a reputation for being a memory hog, it was just as bad—I waited 10 seconds for the Start Menu to pop up.

My verdict: I’m amazed it works at all. Be prepared for constant thumb-twiddling, however, as the CPU ramps up to 100 percent for long periods of time and the hard drive gets thrashed. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to take this as a gentle nudge to upgrade your 2006-era or older machine.

The Netbook

My second experiment in underpowered hardware was a 2009-vintage Lenovo IdeaPad S12 netbook. My specimen had a Intel 1.6GHz Atom N270 in it, 2GB of DDR2, and a 5,400rpm, 160GB hard drive in it.

Netbooks barely had the power to run Windows XP. If there’s one CPU that disappointed people more than the Pentium 4, it was the early Atom CPUs, which were universally excoriated for their performance.

Windows 10, amazingly, installed just fine on the S12. Like the Pentium D box, however, the processor almost continually runs at full load doing the most basic tasks. Opening five-media heavy websites meant waiting an inexorablly long time for the computer to respond to other instructions.

Just running a single instance of Youtube on a Netbook will eat most of the CPU cycles. Windows 10 Edge though, will at least work in Youtube while Chrome chokes.

I’ll give the S12 and Windows 10 this, though: The new Edge browser was capable of playing Youtube videos with far fewer hitches than Chrome.The last Netbook I played with years ago would not play Youtube videos in the Chrome browser without major hitches. The S12 with the Chrome browser and Windows 10 was no different, as it would continually drop frames and pause playing a 720p movie trailer.

My Verdict: It works and installs just fine. It doesn’t make the Netbook experience any better. Let’s be frank, Netbooks were poor performers when they came out with Windows XP, so Windows 10 won’t magically make them better. If you’re running Windows XP and must have Windows 10, it’s a better choice because at least it’s a supported OS. If you’re on Windows 7 or Windows 8, the move isn’t a bad idea, either, as you get access to a more modern OS.

A “real” laptop

The last machine I tried was a 2008-vintage Lenovo X61 that originally came with Windows Vista. Equipped with a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo T8200 and 3GB of DDR2 RAM, I literally rescued this laptop from an e-waste bin, where it may have been sent because of problems with its Wi-Fi card. All I know is the X61 worked fine except for the Wi-Fi, so my browsing was done over the LAN port.

Of the three here, it felt the fastest and snappiest. That’s no surprise: The dual-core T8200 is a good little CPU, and for general computing tasks is very usable. Drop an SSD in there and for most people, they’d never know the difference between this seven-year-old PC and a modern laptop.

It’s far from it, though. Opening the five media-heavy sites in the Edge browser put a hefty load on the CPU, while a 2015 laptop would almost idle.

My verdict: This is a very usable experience. If I ran on a tight budget, a Windows 10 upgrade over, say the original Vista, along with cheap SSD, would give me another couple of years’ service for general computing.

My recommendations

Windows 10 on an older PC is a compromise, at best. The 2006-era Pentium D is a borderline lost cause for all but the most basic computing tasks. Even there, it’s almost useless, as the CPU seems to be under heavy loads constantly. The same goes with 2009-era Netbook: Underpowered even when they first came out, you’d better take meditation lessons or you’ll find yourself smashing it into the ground in frustration. Windows 10 loads and runs, but it’s pretty painful once you start actually doing anything.

However, my perspective comes from someone who drives SSD-equipped, multi-core, tier-1 GPU-equipped computers all day. If it doesn’t snap to in a second, I’m upset. For someone who’s actually used to waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the machine to respond to a command on these two old dogs, a Windows 10 upgrade would feel the same—and also give you a new, more secure OS.

The 2008-era X61, though, is another story: It’s actually very usable. For someone on a budget, Windows 10 on this laptop would be tolerable.

This may be why analysts are predicting that Windows 10 won’t goose PC sales: You can get by with a seven-year-old laptop and the new OS if you really have to. You give up a lot, though, from battery life to performance and overall weight.

Would you run Windows 10 on your old beater PC? Let us know in the comments.

One of founding fathers of hardcore tech reporting, Gordon has been covering PCs and components since 1998.

Installing Windows 10 on an old laptop

#1 justindaniels

I plan to install Windows 10 32-bit on my old Dell Latitude D610 laptop. Currently it has a single-core 1.73 GHZ CPU, 1 GB RAM, and 80 GB hard disk space. I will upgrade the CPU to 2.26 and the RAM to 2 GB. Currently, my computer runs Windows 2000, XP, and 7, but Windows 7 runs very slowly. I plan to install Windows 10 in addition to these current OSes. Can I expect Windows 10 to run any faster than 7, or will it be worse? (Even if I get a new computer, I still plan to use this one, so don’t just tell me to get a new computer.)

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#2 JohnC_21

You may want to check out this post.

You may want to consider putting a linux distro that is good for older hardware like Mint Xfce if you plan on only doing some browsing and online purchases. Windows 10 license on this computer would be about $100 so I don’t think it’s worth putting that money into it. That being said some people have posted that installing Windows 10 will still get you an activation for free.

Edited by JohnC_21, 18 June 2018 — 11:35 AM.

#3 mikey11

Can I expect Windows 10 to run any faster than 7, or will it be worse?

#4 justindaniels

OK, thanks for the help. I probably will install windows 10, but not until I upgrade the CPU and RAM.

#5 eLPuSHeR

I also recommend you installing some Linux distro there, but you can always check w10 specially if you have 2GB+ RAM.

#6 Rocky Bennett

If it is a Dell laptop you may not be able to change the RAM and CPU. Best to stick with a good Linux as your OS.

Mr. Rocky Bennett

Linux User and Windows 10 Lover.

#7 MasterNe0

Agreed using a linux or stick with Windows 7 or even consider getting a new machine as it might as well cost a little more from upgrading your machine to buying a new one that decent enough.

Also would check your dell tag to see if drivers are available for your machine on Dell site to see if it worth the trouble because it might not even be supported depending on your hardware and age of the machine.

Edited by MasterNe0, 20 June 2018 — 12:55 PM.

#8 pcpunk

I can’t believe you have enough disk space left over to install 10 at this point?

IMO, Windows 10 will be slower than 7, almost for sure. Then when Windows 10 does it’s next Upgrade it may hose the whole pc, so consider that. And how many Primary Partitions do you have currently? You can only have Four so I assume you’ve already fixed that issue? I would assume XP runs best on that machine and Linux would run well also.

Windows 7 Ruler of all Windows Desktops

#9 britechguy

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I will join the chorus that says that even making the attempt to install Windows 10 on hardware that was never, ever, ever designed for it, certified to run it, nor envisioned by its own designers to have the firepower to run it is simply a bad idea.

The best move, if one wishes to keep ancient hardware afloat, is to find a Linux distro that fits the hardware and one’s personal preferences as far as the user environment is concerned.

In the end, whether we’re talking Windows, Linux, or something else, hardware does have a functional service life. Even if it continues to run, perfectly, it is no longer really fit to run what the world currently provides. That’s just a fact of life in the computing business.

Brian AKA Bri the Tech Guy (website in my user profile) — Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit
A lot of what appears to be progress is just so much technological rococo.

#10 MadmanRB

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Yeah that hardware is quite old, perhaps even linux is going to push it unless you use say puppy linux or something.

I would just get a new (or newer) laptop, this kind of hardware really is too old for a lot of modern OS’s

You dont need latest and greatest I mean even if you get a laptop with a core2duo would be better than this old thing

Proud Linux user and dual booter.

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#11 pcpunk

I think you guys are missing the point, it seems as though the OP is just playing around with this pc, and just asking some general info about installing Windows 10. I think it’s a waste of space and time and will be slow as dirt but if the OP wants to play around and install it then it’s all good.

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#12 britechguy

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If that’s the case then have at it. It’s still foolish and an exercise in futility in my opinion.

The comment about still using the machine leads me to a different reading than yours.

Brian AKA Bri the Tech Guy (website in my user profile) — Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit
A lot of what appears to be progress is just so much technological rococo.

#13 pcpunk

I don’t disagree Brian

It seems that ALL these OS’s will be installed all at once, or at least that’s the way I read it?

Currently, my computer runs Windows 2000, XP, and 7, but Windows 7 runs very slowly. I plan to install Windows 10 in addition to these current OSes.

Windows 7 Ruler of all Windows Desktops

#14 Raian

on your old laptop will work better Windows 7

#15 justindaniels

If it is a Dell laptop you may not be able to change the RAM and CPU. Best to stick with a good Linux as your OS.

I checked the maximum RAM and CPU. It can definitely be upgraded to 2 GB RAM and a 2.26 GHZ CPU.

Will My Old Computer Run Windows 10?

As with so many things … it depends.

I’ll review what’s necessary to run Windows 10, and then we’ll examine a couple of alternatives.

Minimum requirements

The first thing to do is see if your computer meets the minimum requirements for Windows 10. You’ll find the full list here on the Microsoft web site.

The short version listed there includes the requirement that your computer have:

Now, let’s be clear, those are the minimum requirements. In fact, I’d call them the bare minimum. Windows 10 may work, but will it work well? I’m guessing not.

I would much prefer to see just about everything doubled:

• A 2 gigahertz (GHz) or faster CPU
• 2 gigabytes (GB) of RAM
• A 64GB or larger hard disk
• A 1920×1080 display

If your computer meets those requirements, and especially if it exceeds them, upgrading may be an option.

You should be able to download Windows 10 and run the installer to have it confirm that your computer is compatible.

Consider a switch

If your machine doesn’t meet the minimums for Windows 10, you might consider a switch to Linux

There’s a learning curve, and the software you currently have for Windows will not work, but the concepts are the same, the interface is similar, and there are lots of free alternatives for many popular software packages.

This is mostly a personal preference thing — are you up for the switch? It is definitely “geekier” than Windows 10.

I generally point people at Linux Mint. You can see the minimum requirements for the latest release here. Interestingly, their minimum requirements aren’t that different than Windows 10.

• 1 gigabyte (GB) of RAM
• A 15GB or larger hard disk
• A 1024×768 display.

While those, too, are the bare minimum, my experience with Linux is that it still tends to run well(ish) in low resource situations.

If your machine doesn’t meet even those requirements, then there are most definitely other distributions of Linux around that require less. You can check this roundup for a variety. Puppy Linux is one I’ve played with in the past and seems quite capable. Quoting from its Wiki: “People have succeeded in running Puppy with a 333MHz CPU and 64MB. However, having 256MB RAM and a 512MB swap file is more realistic.”

Do nothing

The final option, albeit less popular, is to do nothing.

Yes, you’ll hear dire warnings from people (including me) about the ramifications of no longer getting security updates and the like, but honestly — as long as you practice excellent security habits and the software you care about continues to run, it’s an option.

Let’s face it, we regularly see people running Windows XP, and their world hasn’t collapsed.

Just make sure you’re backing up regularly.

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