With Microsoft starting to talk more and more about Windows 8, many PC owners are wondering if the next version of Microsoft"s PC operating system will run on their own rig. However it"s looking like the system requirements for Windows 8 will be fairly conservative. PC Advisor reports that during last week"s Worldwide Partner Conference in Los Angeles, Microsoft corporate vice-president Tami Reller is quoted as saying, "In both of our Windows 8 previews, we talked about continuing on with the important trend that we started with Windows 7, keeping system requirements either flat or reducing them over time." She added, "Windows 8 will be able to run on a wide range of machines because it will have the same requirements or lower."
Just in case you are not aware of the system requirements for Windows 7, Microsoft says that the 32-bit version needs at least a 1 Ghz processor with 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of hard drive space. The 64-bit version still requires a 1 Ghz processor but the memory requirements go up to 2 GB and it also needs 20 GB of hard drive space. The system requirements are higher if you want to work in Windows 7"s Aero Mode and if you want to want to work in Windows XP mode. However. much like the Borg, Microsoft says that Windows 8 has a feature that will supposedly allow the operating system to adapt its performance to a user"s particular PC. Reller states, " ... whether you"re upgrading an existing PC, or buying a new one, Windows will adapt to make the most of that hardware."