Solved What are my options for upgrading OS from an old Acer lapt

I currently have an old Acer Extensa 4420 laptop with Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition (32-bit) with Service Pack 1 (SP1) preinstalled. I wanted to use it as an emergency laptop and put a new SSD 240GB hard drive in it and do a new install of a Windows OS, preferable Windows 8.1. I prefer to use the latest Windows 8.1 because I already have an official Windows 8.1 ISO file that I downloaded from microsoft.com when installing a new SSD to my current Lenovo laptop. I also have the old Windows Vista product key from the old Acer Extensa 4420 laptop.

Question 1: Is it possible to upgrade to Windows 8.1 with an old 2008 laptop given the specs below without any performance issues or general compatibility problems?

Question 2: If yes to the 1st question above, and my old laptop can indeed handle the Windows 8.1 OS, what's the best way to install Windows 8.1? Keep in mind I'm starting with a brand new 240GB SSD with nothing on it. I have both product keys, one from Vista and one from Windows 8.1 Thank you.

The Acer Extensa 4420 has the following specifications:

• Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor TK-57
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition operating system
• Memory: 2GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM
• Optical Drive: Multiformat DVD±RW/CD-RW drive with double-layer support
• Screen: 14.1″ WXGA TFT-LCD CrystalBrite widescreen display
• Hard drive: Hitachi 160GB 5400rpm SATA hard drive
• Graphics: ATI Radeon Xpress X1250 graphics with 256MB dedicated memory
• Audio: Acer 3DSonic stereo speakers with high-definition audio support
• Wireless: Acer InviLink wireless LAN (802.11b/g)
• Ports: 5-in-1 media card reader, Ethernet LAN with RJ-45 connector; V.92 high-speed modem

install windows 8.1 with windows 8/8.1 key, clean install, drivers - updates, done..

some older hardware may be any issue - but can't tell you if so.. as compatibility wizard will not run on vista..

my old dell vista machine - no problem
wife's newer dell win 7 machine - had to change wifi card

I should probably go with the Windows 8.1, 32-bit version since I have 2GB RAM and it's only upgradable to 3GB RAM total, do you agree? Microsoft's website shows below the system requirements a computer needs to run Windows 8.1. I'm not sure about my Graphics card that I have is compatibile (ATI Radeon Xpress X1250 graphics with 256MB dedicated memory) with the below one listed in requirements. It sounds like it would, but I'll have to try it.

• Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster
  
  
• RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
  
  
• Free hard drive space: 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
  
• Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver
  

For anyone else reading this post and are in a similar situation with upgrading from Windows Vista to 8 or 8.1, I found a helpful link at microsoft.com titled. Just search for the below title:
[h=2]"Upgrade to Windows 8.1 from Windows Vista or Windows XP"[/h]

I've installed 32 and 64 on my vista machine.. I keep 32 bit as 64bit crashed the system often due to hardware drivers..
Vista machines where never intended for 64bit, it just never took off..

Thanks so much!