okey here it goes, I am not an experimenting kind re kya @least with Microsoft products.. tesaile i do not go after latest MSFT products )O: I am happy with windows 2000 for my laptop.. hmm.. a lot old hoina ta .. (O: works well in lot of cases. and mero cygwin is compatible (O: and I do not need to recompile all the add-ons... hoina bhane pheri week nai waste hunchha.. )O: unless you use your laptop for GAMING and extensive memory using application [ like matlab, photoshop, cad). you should be fine with 1GB to 2GB memory and 1.75Ghz processor......