By Ian Paul
Wed, May possibly 06, 2009
Personal computer World — Hoping to use
Windows 7's XP Mode on your new laptop? Better check your specs, because many big-name, Intel-powered notebooks including Asus,
Key Office 2007, Dell Studio, HP Pavilion, Sony Vaio,
Office Professional Plus 2007 Key, and Toshiba Satellite models might not have what it takes to run
Windows 7's XP mode.
Featured in the recent
Windows 7 release candidate, XP mode allows XP-specific applications to run inside Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise versions of
Windows 7.
Microsoft included XP mode to entice business customers to upgrade to
Windows 7 even if they're using custom-made programs that run only on XP.
To run XP Mode, your Intel-powered computer must support Intel Virtualization Technology. Problem is, many Intel laptops found on retail shelves aren't packing Intel VT. Affected chips include Intel Celeron, Pentium Dual-Core,
Buy Office Professional 2007, Pentium M, and Atom 270 and 280 processors. If you've got a Pentium D, Core,
Windows 7 Ultimate Sale, or Core 2 Duo chip you'll need to check your model number because P7350/7450, T1350, T2050/2250, T2300E/2350/2450, T5200/5250/5270/5300/5450/5470/5550/5670/5750/5800/5850/5870/5900 and T6400/6570 do not support VT, according to ZDNet. AMD-powered computers might also find difficulties running XP mode since Sempron processors and some Athlon 64 chips don't support virtualization.
That's a pretty big list of processors that can't support virtualization,
Buy Office Ultimate 2007, so it's no surprise that many laptops will be frozen out of
Windows 7's XP mode. However, for the everyday user this could not be as big an issue since XP Mode is targeted at a small segment of the market anyway -- gamers take note that XP mode was not built to support video games.
If you are a part of the XP-specific minority running a custom application or another XP-specific program, you'd better make sure your processor supports virtualization before making the switch to
Windows 7.
Can't find your processor's model number? Run GRC's Securable a free app that can tell you if your processor supports virtualization.
Connect with PCWorld's Ian Paul on Twitter (@ianpaul).
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Windows 7 Windows 7's 'XP Mode' Won't Run on Some
Hybrid Mode
