wasbo

Hey guys, so I was planning on putting windows 7 on my laptop. However, on Dell's website the driver options are either for windows vista 32-bit/64-bit with no windows 7 option so what drivers should I be downloading? (That will actually work well! )

Thanks,
Wasbo

ComGuards

Match the version of Windows 7 that you're installing. 32-bit Win 7, then get the Vista x32 drivers. 64-bit Win7, get 64-bit Vista.

I'd be a little bit cautious about installing the Vista drivers - they may still be significantly out of date. You may have to poke around some of the the other Dell laptops to get Windows 7 drivers. You might be able to find better drivers for some of the hardware devices from the Studio / Studio XPS line. For some of the devices, you can find better drivers from the original manufacturers. NVidia probably has valid drivers for graphics, or else maybe laptopvideo2go.com.

Look around, you should be okay. I dropped Win 7 Ultimate on a friend's XPS M1330 without a problem.

JessicaD

Wasbo,

The Windows Vista drivers should be compatible with Windows 7 and perfectly acceptable. However I strongly suggest you download and run the Windows 7 upgrade advisor to determine compatibility. Please go to the following link to do so: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...e-advisor.aspx

Jessica
Microsoft Windows Client Team

wasbo

Thanks for the replies guys +rep,

As for Jessica, I have run the upgrade advisor and everything looks smooth except for the 8600gt.

ComGuards

You shouldn't have a problem with the 8600GT either. Nvidia doesn't list Dell as "unsupported" on their website when you go poke around for Win7 drivers. Performance might not be the hottest anymore, but should be enough.

My friend's XPS M1330 runs with the 8400M and it's relatively decent at the 1280x800 resolution of the screen.

I've also got Win 7 installed on an old Dell Precision M70 laptop with a Quadro FX1400 Go, roughly equivalent to a 6800Go. It's just about to power the full Aero effects at my laptop screen res of 1920x1200.

1) NVidia.com
2) Laptopvideo2go.com

Anyways, just reassurances =P.

Oh, and if you're feeling up to it, you can try loading RivaTuner to tweak out a bit more performance - Might want to put the laptop on an active cooling pad if you do that though =P.