I am not (and wasn't) trying to convince you to get Windows 8.  I was simply replying to your post with regards to (potential) performance gains on your somewhat older hardware. 

I just wanted to put forward my personal experience that I did in fact see some pretty major performance gains that's all.  A 'for what it's worth' kind of statement...... 

Leo, that's funny.

Your avatar is blurry....you been drinking? 

Question...I have an old Dell laptop I plan on refurbishing (another toy) It originally came with XP but it says its Vista capable. If it can run Vista I figure it can also run 7, If that's the case will it be able to handle 8?

Yeah, absolutely.  It's not as resource intensive as Vista so you'd have no worries installing Win 8 on it.

Not necessarily true starkers.   As evidenced in that thread I made about my experience doing the same thing with my old DELL notebook (shipped with XP Pro, was later reformatted to Vista Business, and then Win7 Pro) the CPU advanced instruction-set (PAE, NX and SSE2) just met the requirements for Win8 installation.  If I had had the same CPU with the slightly slower FSB I'd have been hooped.

Here is the link to that thread again:

https://forums.stardock.com/439592

The question isn't "can it handle Win8"?  Because as I've pointed out to exhaustion Win8 actually runs far better on older hardware than any other MS OS (in my opinion).  The question is, does your old CPU have the necessary instruction sets (PAE, NX, SSE2 etc.) to be able to even install Win8.   Without those instructions it is my understanding that the installation itself will fail.

You could visit the Intel website and check your DELL CPU against their archives.  They should have a listing of which CPU models have those instruction sets.  Also, as I pointed out in that thread, you will likely have some driver issues.  I can maybe help you out there (depending on your notebook model) as I still have tons of old DELL drivers archived for just this sort of occasion. 

I sit corrected... my hips hurt like buggery today and standing exacerbates that.  Anyhow, point taken.  It's not just hardware performance but also the ability to process advanced system instruction sets.

Well...before I could do anything like that I'd have to replace the hard drive (its toast), battery (doesn't hold a charge) and charging cord (missing). Picked it up for ten bucks a few months ago and thought it might be fun to play with. I think its about five or six years old and since I know not that much about fixing laptops it could be a learning experience.

Hot shower and keep moving... will lessen the pain, old friend. I know the motion makes the vertigo worse, but perhaps moving your hips while seated will help some...

My best to the Missus... that was one helluva thing she did to support cancer victims, mate. I'm seriously proud of her!

ditto!

I do get up and walk around regularly/frequently, as prolonged sitting is neither healthy or advised... deep vein thrombosis, etc.  Even while I'm sitting I'll jiggle my legs up and down and from side to side to keep things moving and prevent seizing up due to inactivity.

It's just one of those things, I have arthritis and some days are better than others.  As for the vertigo, I'm listed to see an ENT specialist to investigate further into it.  Various scans and x-rays have not revealed much thus far, but my sister recently had surgery for similar symptoms and issues with taste/smell, so my doctor [our doctor] raised my referral status so I'm seen more urgently.  Hopefully, they'll get to the bottom of it and these constant feelings of motion sickness are a thing of the past.  My sister had a tumor [non-cancerous] on the outer wall of her ear canal which was creating pressure and causing symptoms of vertigo, nausea and disorientation, etc.  She tells me those have gone since the surgery, so I'm hoping for the same result.

Yeah, Shaunna has always supported cancer funds and raising cancer awareness.  It's something she has done since losing her father and an aunt to cancer, so it is a thing that's close to her heart.  Yup, she's a pretty special woman who's always generous and willing to help where possible.

You're an ancient tree species from LOTR?

Wow...

Hoping for the best for you, mate... I'm guessing that new medication regime didn't help... sorry if that's the case.