Hardware Requirements for Installing Windows 8

0. Windows 8 takes advantage of new and powerful computing hardware. It also supports the latest innovative devices for an uncompromising user experience. However, Windows 8 also is capable of running on earlier configurations of computers, and many computers in enterprises today meet the minimum hardware requirements easily.

   The following sections list the minimum
   recommended hardware requirements for
   Windows 8. Windows 8 will install if some of these
   requirements are not met, but user experience and
   operating system performance may be
   compromised if the computer does not meet or exceed the following specifications:

• 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor

• 1 GB RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)

• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)

• DirectX® 9 graphics device with a Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) 1.0 or newer driver

The Windows 8 kernel has been refined and improved from Windows 7 and, in many cases, you may see improvements in general performance on the same computer in several different areas.

Hardware Requirements for Important Features

In addition to the requirements listed in the preceding section, Windows 8 contains several features that require a specific hardware configuration before they will install or run correctly:

• The Windows 8 secured boot process requires a BIOS based on Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). The secured boot process takes advantage of UEFI to prevent the launching of unknown or potentially unwanted operating-system boot loaders between the system’s BIOS starting and the Windows 8 operating system start.

  While the secure boot process is not mandatory for Window 8, it greatly increases the integrity of the boot process.

• Client Hyper-V requires a 64-bit processor architecture that supports second level address translation (SLAT). SLAT reduces the overhead incurred during the virtual-to-physical address mapping process performed for virtual machines.

• The BitLocker feature requires a computer that supports Trusted Platform Module (TPM) to provide the most seamless and secure BitLocker experience. TPM allows the storage of BitLocker encryption keys within a microcontroller on a computer’s motherboard.