Windows 7 system requirements: You can probably run it

Windows 7 system requirements: You can probably run it

Microsoft has made the release candidate of Windows 7 available to TechNet subscribers, and next week the company is expected to let the general public download and install the pre-released operating system. While Windows 7 won't be officially released until later this year (most likely), it's not expected to look dramatically different from the release candidate.And that means if you can run the release candidate on your computer you can probably run the final build. So what does it take to run Windows 7 RC? Not much:

1GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor

1GB of RAM

16GB of disk space (or 20GB for 64-bit users)

DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driverIf you want to use Windows XP Mode (which lets you run Windows XP programs), you'll need at least 2GB of RAM and 15GB of additional storage space as well as a CPU that supports hardware virtualization.The system requirements aren't actually much higher than those for Windows Vista. The difference is that all versions of Windows 7 will run well on machines with the minimum specifications, whereas the higher end versions of Vista really worked best on machines with more RAM and better video cards.

A large part of the difference is due to the fact that Windows 7 was designed to run on slower systems such as netbooks, which are the fastest growing segment of the PC industry

Download the Windows 7 RC from Microsoft now!

Download the Windows 7 RC from Microsoft now!

Microsoft's official download links for the Windows 7 release candidate are now live!

At this point, the downloads are still moving along at a good pace (560K/s in my case). Don't forget what happened last time, though.

The surge of Beta downloaders proved to be too much for Microsoft's servers and caused downtime and slow transfers for some users.The good news is that you'll have plenty of time after the initial rush to get your hands on the official DVD ISOs.

Microsoft announced yesterday that download links will be available through July 2009.Both the 32 and 64-bit version are available now in five languages: English, French, German, Spanish, and Japanese. You'll need to sign in with your Windows Live ID and fill out a brief form first, unless you already did so for the Beta. In that case, your previous details should be pre-filled.Just make sure to uncheck the subscription boxes if you don't want Microsoft bulletins showing up in your inbox. After that you'll be presented with your product key and two buttons - one for your download and one for installation instructions.

And don't forget - as I mentioned on a previous post, there's no need to burn a DVD if you've got USB hard drive handy.Also worth noting: While the RC won't expire until June 1, 2010 your system will begin shutting down every two hours starting March 1. It's Microsoft's way to "encourage" you to install an RTM version which ought to be out by that time.