Upgrading windows on an older laptop

[Fire&Rain]

Upgrading to the latest Windows version can be tricky if your laptop isn’t compatible. Sometimes you can’t even install it without serious tweaks, and forcing it can slow your machine or cause errors. Older laptops just weren’t built for new system demands. In these cases, it might be better to stick with the current version or consider lightweight alternatives. Anyone else faced this and found a smooth workaround?

 

[gwolf666]

I've definitely been through that, and it's frustrating. My laptop is quite old, and when I tried to upgrade to the latest version of Windows, the process was a real headache. The installation kept failing, and every time I managed to force it, the performance became incredibly slow, with frequent errors. In the end, I opted to stick with the current version and look for lighter alternatives like Linux Mint or Ubuntu, which run much better on older hardware. I also disabled several Windows features to improve speed and reduce errors. I think that in many cases, if the machine isn't compatible, it's best not to risk a forced installation.

 

[eLdavis]

I wanted to upgrade my windows sometime back, it had all the requirements needed but just lacking one. I just decided to use the laptop like that.

 

[Trush Jodie]

It might happen that the laptop doesn't have TV hardware to run the upgraded windows version. I won't try this though.

 

[Alberello75]

In my opinion, not on a laptop, I think it's absolutely impossible since these devices have inherently inferior features to PCs and in any case it wouldn't be worth it at all, especially since the new software would almost certainly be incompatible and even in the unlikely event of success, at best the system would be practically unusable due to the slowness with which such a device would work.​

 

[oliver991]

It really depends on the hardware specs of your machine. If you've got an old HDD, even the smallest update will make it crawl. I'd check if you can upgrade to an SSD first, as that usually makes a bigger difference than the OS version itself

 

[Alberello75]

It really depends on the hardware specs of your machine. If you've got an old HDD, even the smallest update will make it crawl. I'd check if you can upgrade to an SSD first, as that usually makes a bigger difference than the OS version itself

You know that I didn't know there were still PCs or laptop with old HDD drives around? Well, I certainly assumed that every device even the oldest ones still in use had at least an SSD.