The first thing to consider is whether or not your computer is compatible with Windows 7. Despite the fact that my computer is 5 years old and started with XP SP2, it can still run Windows 7 quite well.
One key thing to know is that you need at least 1 GB of RAM for the 32-bit and 2 GB of RAM for the 64-bit. However, despite this, it is a good recommendation to have at least 4 GB to ensure all the other things in your computer run smoothly if you plan to go 64-bit.
I have a two years old notebook with 1,61GHZ and 2GB RAM... and 4GB is recommended?
Then I'll get problems because of programs which use a lot of virtual memory (Adobe Premiere Pro, Magix Music/Video Maker, Video conversion programs, DVD-Authoring, etc...)... I hope the 32bit version works.
Another key thing is that this will be far more than an upgrade for you, this will be starting over completely. Simply speaking, you will have to do a reformat.
Hahaha, that's not a problem for me, I formatted my notebook over 10 times in the past 2 years... every time, when I get problems with space, virtual memory, viruses, or just Windows itself, I format my hard disc completely ( I delete the complete partition (RAW-format) and then I format it one more time with the NTFS data system, and then I install Windows in the partition).
asically, you will want to make sure you have the latest driver updates for all your programs and make sure they will be compatible with Windows 7 by checking out the info on-line and mainly looking for the "Certified for Windows 7" logo. This is a huge deal as if you don't do it, you may find yourself without certain programs working and may not understand why.
That could be a big problem. 2 days ago I formatted my notebook completely and at that time I wanted to install the 64-bit-version of Windows XP Professional, because I thought that that version is better than the 32-bit one. But there were NO driver programs for my HP Pavillion dv6000 Notebook on the HP site... and when I tried to start the driver installation programs for the 32-bit version, there appeared an error message because they didn't know which operating system I use.
So I had to format my notebook again. And I don't think that HP will upload drivers for a 2 years old notebook for Windows 7...
Ah, okay. There are too much problems with it: the drivers, the performance of my notebook... everything. So I won't update the operating system to Windows 7 and still using the good old Windows XP! xD
Thank you very very very very much for the answer, it helped A LOT!