Albert from TX writes: I have a Panasonic CF-30 Toughbook, and now that XP is being dumped, I won\’t be able to get updates etc… What I need to know is there an upgrade that my laptop can support, its and awesome computer and I don’t want to retire it yet.. Thanks
Albert, I would suggest downloading and running the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor from Microsoft.
The program will scan your PC for potential issues with hardware, devices and all of your installed programs and will make suggestions of what to do before you upgrade.
Before you start, make sure to plug in and turn on all of your USB devices, like printers, external drives and scanners. You’ll want to check out any device you regularly use on your PC
You can download Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor by clicking here.
~ Cynthia
If the Windows 7 advisor says you are no good or marginal then your options depend on what you want to do on the Toughbook. If all you want to use it for is Web browsing, Word processing, spreadsheets, stuff like that then installing some version of Linux should add some years of life to the machine.
There are several free distributions of Linux and they tend to require a lot less computer to run than Windows does. The interfaces are GUIs like Windows and are similar enough that the learning curve is not too bad. I have used Ubuntu, and Fedora, but there are many others.
Put Open Office, Libre Office, or Symphony (all are free) on it for the word processing, spreadsheet, etc. and Firefox for a Web Browser, Firefox may come pre-installed.
If there are other things you use it for, like keeping your finances then you can probably find applications that will do those jobs, also maybe for free, but they may take a little longer to learn.
FYI, While I have used Linux to extend the life of a machine I prefer Windows, XP and Windows 7 to any of the Linux’s I have used.