• Acer Aspire 5552
  
• AMD Athlon II X2 processor P320 clocked at 2.1 Ghz
  
• 15.6" HD LCD display with a 1366x768 resolution
  
• ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 with 256 MB dedicated video RAM
  
• 4 GB DDR3 Memory/RAM upgradeable to 8 GB maximum
  
• 500GB HDD
  
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

It isn't the best laptop, but it was pretty fantastic for the time of purchase approximately two years ago when considering the price also. Of course, laptops have gotten even cheaper now, but I don't see much of a reason to upgrade at the moment and want to spend money instead on a new television. I will likely wait another year or two, then just purchase a proper desktop since I want to do some light gaming. I want to know whether or not this laptop could run Windows 8. How much will it cost me to upgrade and what are the risks? Like, will Windows 8 just pick up all the drivers and work well? Will the performance be as fast as Windows 7 on this laptop? What do people also think of Windows 8? I haven't seen a lot of how its desktop works, is it appropriate for non-touch devices?

There won't be a noticeable performance increase, so unless you have a very good reason for upgrading to Windows 8...I'd just stick with Windows 7

I don't care about a performance increase, but rather I mean will there be a performance decrease? Like, I know newer versions of operating systems tend to be more power hungry, so does this mean Windows 8 will start and run slower than Windows 7 on this laptop?

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/10/gentlemen-start-your-benches-measuring-windows-8s-performance/

Short answer: no
Long answer: http://arstechnica.com/discipline/windows-8/

It'll be the same. Windows 8 has a slightly better startup time than Windows 7 though

Windows 8 is extremely new, So new I would expect it to Lower your performance due to bugs and simple compatibility issues, Windows 8 is more of a Tablet/Phone UI, personally I dont think ill ever upgrade to it, I enjoy my windows 7 and don't think its UI could be improved.

If you really want a performance boost.. I dont think laptop GPUs can be replaced, so.. id get a SSD or a hybrid harddrive, other than that, a OS is never going to drastically improve your performance.

And yes there could easily be a drop in performance, Most games are not designed to run on Windows 8 yet.

Brad, quit making threads about your laptop. Seriously. The whole forum knows its specs by now. If anything, post it in the Tech thread or something.

Any performance increases you get will be better earned through saving for an entirely new laptop (or desktop), that might even come with Windows 8 on it from the beginning.

try installing a small linux distro

I was about to say that. But, I'm not bothered a performance increase - rather just don't want to upgrade if there'll be a performance decrease from it. I'm only asking because, until January, Windows 8 Pro is discounted to ￡25 pounds (around 40 dollars) for current Windows users.

No.

can I ask why you want to upgrade? Is there any exclusive Windows 8 feature you want?

Hah.

Windows 8.

No. Do not "upgrade" to Windows 8.

I "upgraded" to windows 8, they hassle you into using M$ apps such as bing maps, IE, etc.. I uninstalled most of them as they svck! M$ doesn't know how to design apps, for example ill open the news app and there is a giant front page cover of an article. Ill have to swipe 3-4 on my touchpad to get to what i want. If you have a Xbox360 then you'll know, MASSIVE icons & it takes forever to get to what you want. I have an 17inch screen and the space isnt used well at-all. Its also very weird jumping back & forth from Metro to windows(original) as app's don't carry information over. Ex. saved passwords on Chrome(on windows) wont carry onto the metro version of the app, same goes for internet sites. Its works well with a mouse but not touchpad(its awful!!!)

ps i got it for $15 & thats all its worth.

Upgrading to Windows 8 would be a massive waste of money for you at this point in time at least.

http://i.imgur.com/qSUlR.png

Exactly. If you use a mouse/touchpad and a keyboard, don't bother.