Windows 10's performance depends on updates and usage. Recent improvements may enhance speed, but results vary.
Windows 10's performance depends on updates and usage. Recent improvements may enhance speed, but results vary.
Windows 10 may perform better on slower machines compared to faster ones. Your system with a 1.6Ghz AMD dual-core processor and 4GB RAM should handle basic browsing without major issues. Upgrading from Windows 7 to 10 could improve speed, but it might still require more resources depending on the changes. You’ve already secured Windows 10 for your setup.
You'll see improved performance from Windows 8.1 and 10, especially since they're designed for tablets too.
I've used the Windows 10 tech preview on my laptop (4GB RAM, 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo T7600) and it's clear your CPU will have trouble. It was running at full capacity most of the time, which made many Windows services useless.
From what Im reading at Microsoft, some cpus and other hardware are not compatible. Microsoft is telling people to update the BIOS and chipset drivers. This is all fine, but some are not going to be able to update this software due to them not supporting that hardware anymore.
Windows 7 runs quite heavy right out of the box. It feels smoother than Vista but still uses a large kernel. Switching to Windows 8.1 and probably Windows 10 later should ease the load on older machines. If you're mainly browsing the web, consider running Linux instead—it performs better on older hardware.