That last question is the easiest one to answer. If you need a new PC now, you shouldn't wait. On the flip side, remember that any PC purchase is out of date almost the minute you get it home, because PCs are updated so frequently these days. For example, suppose you just purchased an expensive new Pentium M-based laptop. I've got bad news for you: Intel is now shipping the Core Duo processor, which will replace the Pentium M in the marketplace. Or perhaps you're the proud owner of a new Intel Pentium D-based desktop PC. More bad news: AMD's dual-core chips are more powerful. You know the drill.

As for Vista, here's what we know. Microsoft says, vaguely, that Vista will run on any system that includes a dedicated, DirectX 9-compatible 3D graphics card. Beyond that, Microsoft isn't saying much. However, thanks to my insider contacts and some Microsoft internal documentation, I can tell you exactly what you need to get the best Vista experience. The good news is that you don't have to wait. It's all available right now.

Microprocessor
If you're buying a desktop computer, Vista will work just fine with a 3GHz Pentium 4 processor with HyperThreading, but these days you can't even find such a system. Intel's successor to the Pentium 4, the dual-core Pentium D, is even more powerful, and AMD's dual-core designs are the best yet. Any mainstream microprocessor will form the basis for a great Vista system, so you have no worries there.

Another thing to consider on the desktop side is the x64 processor extensions, which add 64-bit capabilities to the chip and let you run one of Vista's 64-bit versions. I do recommend x64-compatible chips, but those who upgrade to Vista in the next year or so will likely want to stick with the 32-bit Vista versions for the short term. However, going x64 today will ensure that you have the ability to upgrade to an x64 Vista version in the future. All of AMD's mainstream desktop microprocessors are x64-compatible today, as is the Intel Pentium D and certain Pentium 4 versions.

On the notebook side, Microsoft recommends a 1.86GHz Pentium M processor 750 or higher, or an AMD Turion 64 Mobile Technology, Mobile Sempron, or Mobile Athlon 64 processor. Intel has recently switched over to the Core line of processors, so I'd recommend that. The Core Duo features dual-processor cores and will give you the best performance. That said, only AMD offers an x64-compatible mobile processor right now.

RAM
Microsoft says that Vista will run acceptably with 512MB of RAM, but that's a low-ball figure. My personal recommendation is to go with 1GB of RAM or more. Understand that Vista, like all Windows versions, is a RAM hog: It will utilize whatever you throw at it, to the physical limits of the system. Those limits are 4GB for 32-bit systems and 128GB for x64.

Graphics
As noted above, Microsoft says a DirectX 9-compatible 3D video card is necessary to use Vista's gorgeous Aero UI. (Otherwise, you'll see a bland Windows XP-like interface.) However, it's not that simple.

First, most integrated graphics chips (common on notebooks) aren't capable of displaying Aero, although Microsoft is working on making Intel's very latest integrated graphics chipset (available on some Core Duo systems) work with Aero.

The amount of dedicated graphics memory is also important. Although a 64MB graphics card is adequate for a 1024 x 768 display, you'll need 128MB or more for higher resolutions. My recommendation is to get a graphics card—whether it's for a desktop or notebook—that includes at least 256MB of RAM.

Display
Early in Vista's development, Microsoft was touting widescreen displays and noted that Vista would run best on such a system. Although I do believe that widescreen displays offer huge advantages over standard 4:3 aspect-ratio displays, Vista is no longer being architected to work best on such a display. So, virtually any monitor should work, as long as it's capable of 1024 x 768 or better resolution. That said, you'll still be more productive with a widescreen display, and certain Vista features, such as the new Sidebar, actually do work best on a wide screen.

Hard Disk and Storage
Today's PCs—both desktops and notebooks—typically utilized Serial ATA (SATA) hard disks and IDE-type optical drives, and this scenario won't likely change for the foreseeable future, although optical drives should slowly move to SATA as well. As with most system components, faster is always better. Therefore, you should shoot for a 10,000rpm drive on a desktop or a 5400rpm or 7200rpm hard disk on a notebook. With an optical drive, less is more: Get a single rewriteable DVD drive that can read and write to every available optical disk format.

Why Upgrade?
Even when Vista ships later this year, you probably won't want to upgrade. First, Vista will run more slowly than XP does, and it will be less compatible with your hardware and software. Also, you might find some of the changes in Vista jarring. My advice is to hold off on Vista until at least mid-2007. By that time, most of the initial bugs and incompatibilities will have been worked out, and software and hardware makers will finally be directly supporting the new system in droves. That said, I know this advice won't be particularly well heeded: You guys want to upgrade, and you want to do so as soon as possible. Hopefully, this guide gives you all the information you need.

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Reader Comments
Thanks for the informative article. One thing which is puzzling, the "core-duo that you refer to, Intel's latest offering, is this not 32 bit only? Thanks, Stuart Stern Stuart Stern -February 22, 2006 He mentioned directly in the article that AMD has the only mobile x64 processor right now. RTFM Josh Sundquist -February 22, 2006 ATI's Mobility Radeon chipset is good enough to display the Aero GUI. Dave -February 22, 2006 Great article. Very informative. Look forward to more discussion on this. Eric Iverson -February 22, 2006 You might want to point out the HDCP issue. Whether your graphics card actually supports HDCP (as opposed to being HDCP ready) may well determine if you can watch HD movies on your computer. Of course this will generally apply only to HD DVD and BluRay, so hopefully the issue will be worked out before such drives come pre-installed, but early adopters beware! Just slapping a new optical drive in your computer will not be enough to watch HD with Vista! Curtis Carmack -February 22, 2006 Thank you very much for your acticle.It is very helpful to me.I am learning computer hands on. When I brought my laptop 3 years ago,I did't know anything about a computer. I learned 90% of it from people at a truck stop who knows about computers.(I am a trucker driver) and the rest from people like you. I have got pretty good at it.I would not trade it for anything,it is very valuable to my job.I am looking to upgrade and your article justed help me a lot.1)It told me what kind of laptop to buy 2)It told me what system I need to have on my laptop.I know that the easier way to upgrade is to get a laptop with the right system already program in.Once again THANK YOU for your valuable information.You are a BIG help.ALA.NIGHT RIDER paul tony tucker -February 22, 2006 Why cant more articles be written in this clear unequivocal style ? No more "on the one hand this & on the other hand that" stuff just the advice of a knowledgable, independant person, which we can either choose to follow or ignore as we decide. Lets have more update articles on this theme of Vista & hardware infrastructure requirements from Paul Thurrott over the next 18 months as we move into the next generation of 64 bit software & hardware ? I've included my e-mail address & would love to be included on any circulation list of Paul's future articles or updates. Regards & thanks. JBD John B.Dillon -February 23, 2006 I think at that time this article is very usefull to all new Computer Hardware Buyer or who can upgrade/Replace a new PC. Microsft & Intel combine promote HD-DVD format. I think next version of Windows compatable HD-DVD. Because HD-DVD player available these days. Khalid Kamal -February 23, 2006 Thank very much for this article. It is what I suspected and well laid out. I repair / upgrade computers for a living and can now point my customers to this article {rather than take my word for it}. This article concisely takes the guess work out of the equation for Vista requirements. Fine job, Paul {again!}. Christopher J. Spilker -February 24, 2006 This article is very usefull to me.Thank you for given this Article.My PC is ready to install windows vista ultimate.vista also comes wth a firewall includind inbound and outbound filtering.vista is a more secure operating system in the world. Aloy Niresh -March 13, 2006 I Love You.Bloddy Bugger. Manonithy -March 13, 2006 Your Comments (required): Name (required): -March 27, 2006 Your Comments (required): Name (required): -March 27, 2006 Yeah thats great and stuff, explain a little more to people the problems with DX10, and that some gamers might need a dx10 card to play games that are dx10, and that dx10 wont be backward compatibile. Also dx9down will probably be emulated and run like crap. I would be wrong. Othewise they are screwed. Mikhail -March 28, 2006 DirectX 9 and down will not be emulated. It will be supported natively through the DirextX 9L library in Vista. Kevin Menzel -March 30, 2006 Your Comments (required): Name (required): -March 30, 2006 Hallo I'm a young italian Windows fun! I have a PC with the Intel 915GL Graphics Express Chipset, but I want to buy a new graphics board ( example: ATi Radeon X700 XT on PCI-Express attachment... ), then I must buy a 512MB DDR2 RAMboard! Is that right? Please, gine an answer, thanks! Matteo Rivolta -March 31, 2006 "Vista will work just fine with a 3GHz Pentium 4 processor with HyperThreading, but these days you can't even find such a system..." Umm... wrong. I just had a top-of-th-line HP dv8000 laptop custom built to my specs and it has a Pentium 4 3.4GHz processor with HT. My question: is this processor 64-bit ready? Contrary to popular belief, you CAN build a system, be it desktop or mobile, that will last 6 years or more. I did it with my recently retired Pressario 5000Z desktop which gave me 7 years of excellent service. And, surprise surprise - it was an excellent gaming machine because I took a little extra time to make sure it was built to my uber-geeky specs. Is this expensive? It can be. But I'll take a gem of an HP laptop (ok, it's a monster and weighs a ton...)that costs 4K but lasts 6 years over a cheap piece of you-know-what Dell that is little more than a drink coaster after 6 months. Let's use a little intelligence here, folks, OK? Frank Boyle Washington Co, MD Frank Boyle -April 4, 2006 Your Comments (required): Name (required): -April 5, 2006 Thank you... very informative and well knowledgable writer. BD -April 8, 2006 Your Comments (required): Name (required): -April 9, 2006 Your Comments (required): Name (required): -April 10, 2006 Your Comments (required): Name (required): -April 10, 2006 Do you think my system will run Windows Vista? I have an Intel Celeron D processor, 256MB RAM(will upgrade), 40GB hard drive, and a DirectX9 compatible video/graphics card. Please e-mail me at thearmbut@yahoo.com. Oh, and by the way, the article really helped. Derek Armstrong -April 18, 2006 I have a Windows Vista Beta 2 Build 5231. (Not installed yet) I was wonderng, would it work on a P4 3.00 GHz, 768MB RAM, 256MB Vid Card, and an 80 Gig HD? Mikey -April 28, 2006 vista mashi -May 3, 2006 Your Comments (required): Name (required): -May 12, 2006 Your Comments (required): Name (required): -May 13, 2006 Your Comments (required): tony riss -May 13, 2006 i am have xp athlon and 512MB can i install windows vista. thanks zia jan -June 5, 2006 Your Comments (required): Name (required): -June 5, 2006 Your Comments (required): Name (required): -June 5, 2006 i got windows vista beta 2 i was wondering if a 3200+ amd processer 160 gig hard drive 512 mem, anvidia GeForce4 MX Graphics card will run windows vista with everything working someone please answer me john -June 10, 2006 I was wondering ehhhh, a Celeron 2.40 even budge for this new windows? Eric Pavlik -July 18, 2006 hey thanks a lot for this article, it helped me very much! see ya. tiago -July 24, 2006 Your Comments (required): john smith -August 12, 2006 Your Comments (required): Name (required): -August 19, 2006 Your Comments (required):i want download windows vista Name (required):abosamy -August 19, 2006 One thing, why would anyone on the planet want vista?!?!? just use linux or stick with xp. Vista stinks. Virus infiection spyware trojan adware. Currently i am running vista on a 3 year old intel celeron 1.8 ghz processor intel 815 chipset and a peice of crap Nvidia Riva 128. with only 16mb graphics ram!!!!!!!!!!! i can say vista is better than xp but only a copy of mac os x. OS x86 Guru -September 10, 2006 suck my dick ur father -November 16, 2006 i am w8ing to steal windows vista from da net ur father again -November 16, 2006 Your Comments (required): Name (required): -December 15, 2006 Thanks for your clear and advisiable article. I was going to by a new PC, en now know som more about what to demand from it. Exspecialy about RAM and Graphics. Zeth -January 19, 2007 I wanted to know if Windows Vista will run smoothly with 768MB of RAM,ATI RADEON 9250, and Intel celeron 2.40Ghz..Thanks and please reply.. SoiL -January 24, 2007 I find the video card memory requirements for running the aero features of Vista to be less than you recommend. I have a Nvidia Gforce FX 5200 with only 128 megs of ram on the board working perfectly with Aero. As to soiL's question about his system running Vista- I am quite sure it will, but running the Aero graphics is borderline. Microsoft's offical Radeon model series that is verified for Aero is(the 9500 series), but if it has 128 mg mem on the video card it may work. Your CPU is fine. Ram looks ok. I have run Vista nicely with an imbedded S3 Chrome vid chip that steals 64 megs from the system ram which was only 512 to begin with, but forget about Aero at that low end setup. Bill Krebs -February 5, 2007 For all who are asking if they can run Vista on theirs Puters: As of 2/5/06 Microsofts official guidance is: *a CPU speed of at least 800MHz *a half a gig (512 MB) of system memory *a graphics processor that supports DirectX 9.0 I checked on soiL's Radeon 9250 and found it does not support DirectX 9 and therefore will not run Vista according to the above requirements. The oldest series of Radeon cards that supports DirectX 9 is the 9500 series and the oldest Nvidia series to support it is the GeForce FX 5200 series. There is one single exception in the earlier GeForce series and that is the NVIDIA GeForce MX4000 only if it has 128 megs on board and if MS sees fit to provide a WDDM driver for it should even do Aero graphics. To my knowledge they have not done it yet. It does support DirectX 9 and shader 2.0. For the premium features of Vista you need: *a 1GHz processor *1GHz ram *a 40 gig harddrive with 15 gig free *WDDM driver support for your video card from MS (the GPU series mentioned above are pretty much covered). Bill Krebs -February 5, 2007 Hey, thanks for writing that article. I want to ask you a question. Can my Intel 815 graphic with 256 ram with 16gb free space support vista?I could remove some stuff to get more space.Email me at eddie123168@hotmail.com , thanks. Eddie T -February 24, 2007 www.datingdiva.com/news Stuart Sterm -February 28, 2007 i ran it on 390ram pentium 3 80gig just fine without aero? lol pc is 6yrs old mojo -March 1, 2007 I've run Vista on a machine with 512MB RAM, a 3.2GHz Celeron D, and a non-DX9 video card. The performance is just as good as with XP. There isn't any sort of pretty aero interface, but "Vista Basic" doesn't look so bad either. People made such a big deal about Vista's requirements, and now that it's out, it's not so bad. It should be noted that my PC is certainly not my chosen method for playing HD-DVD or Blu-Ray discs, so YMMV. Jordan -April 15, 2007 HI I M FINE ISHWER PAL -July 19, 2007 Your Comments (required): Name (required): -July 19, 2007 Your Comments (required): Name (required): -September 21, 2007 Your Comments (required): Name (required): -February 29, 2008 Your Comments (required): Name (required): -December 7, 2008 READER COMMENTS: We want to hear what you have to say about this article!     Acceptable Use Policy Your Comments (required): Your email is only used if our editors need to contact you. It is not used or stored for any other purpose, nor posted with your comments. Enter the text from the image below Please refresh the page if you have trouble reading this text.