[KayEyeDoubleDee]

I’m running VISTA Home Premium, 1.5 Core2 Duo w/2mb L2 cache and 866mhz FSB, 3Gb Ram, 160Gb 5400 rpm drive, and an Intel 965 Graphics Chip. It runs well and although I have had to do some tweaking it is really no better or worse than any of my XP Pro installs.

The two things I'd look at would be the Intel graphics and the 5400 rpm drive.

I wouldn't touch Intel graphics with a 10-foot-pole, and the difference just between 5400rpm and 7200rpm is simply amazing.

I honestly think that the harddrive is the limiting reagent on almost all systems these days.

That and bloatware/malware - I'd uninstall anything which wasn't absolutely necessary.

[Woodman]

It is just a baseline for the masses. Thing is, it’s a laptop and I had to make price/performance compromises. I didn’t upgrade the graphics because it’s not important to me, and the drive is fast enough.

I have a Windows Experience Index of 3.4 on the laptop because of the Graphics. It would most likely have gone to a 4.2 with a card upgrade that would have cost another $100+ dollars. The H/D is fast enough and sometimes the transfer rate and the buffer make a bigger difference than the spin rate.