As we head closer to the official launch of Windows 7, you might want to make sure your PC meets the minimum requirements, as recommended by Microsoft, before splashing out on a copy. Those minimum requirements are as follows:
- 1GHz processor (32 or 64-bit)
- 1GB of RAM (32-bit); 2GB of RAM (64-bit)
- 16GB of available disk space (32-bit); 20GB of available disk space (64-bit)
- DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
Windows 7 does carry with it slightly beefier system requirements than Vista does, despite it being a better performer. From one incarnation of Windows to the next, Windows 7’s system demands do seem somewhat modest.
For reference, Windows Vista’s system requirements are:
- 1 GHz processor (32- or 64-bit)
- 512 MB of RAM (for Home Basic); 1 GB of RAM for all other versions
- 15 GB of available disk space
- Support for DirectX 9 graphics and 32 MB of graphics memory (for Home Basic); 128 MB of graphics memory plus WDDM support for all other versions

