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General discussion

upgrading from windows 98 to xp

by rose2948 Aug 17, 2007 1:12PM PDT

how much does it cost to upgrade from windows 98 to windows xp? and what all is needed to do it? thanks for any help.

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2 Posts

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At a minimum

by Jackson Douglas Aug 17, 2007 2:40PM PDT

You need a copy of XP Home... The upgrade version of which retails for about $100, though supplies in stores are likely to be limited since Microsoft is trying desperately to push people to Vista.

You probably also want a CPU 500MHz or faster, with 512MB of RAM to get acceptable performance out of XP. Also keep in mind that there will be a few programs that will not run with XP that did run on Win98. They should be few and far between unless they're DOS apps.

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A Few Additional Thoughts on Upgrade...

by tobeach Aug 17, 2007 4:27PM PDT

with so many of todays devices using USB 2.0 you may need/want extra ports. You might get away w/ a powered USB Hub. Your W98 machine may have only USB 1.0 outlets (possible).

Your Power Supply may need replacing &/or upgrading depending on what devices you may use/want (scanner/printers/cameras/USB Flash storage etc.) 450-550 watts should cover most people (MB limited?). If yours (PS)is original & 5 or more years old & not cleaned regularly could be on last legs. PS death surge trashed my 98 MB. Cost to replace both at shop was equal (+/-$100) to new P4 machine (I had XPPro OS available).

This week's add for Staples/ Business Depot had a Cisnet Pentium D machine 1 Gig Ram/320gb HD/ Multi DVD +/- RW/Intel Graphics w/ Vista for $389.95 Canadian.Shows Keyboard+speakers & mouse (no monitor).
Just for a reference point. Good Luck!!