When Microsoft released the official beta for Windows 7 a while back, it also published a set of system requirements. These were a general overview, and it seems that they have been updated to match the Windows 7 RC recently made available.

Here’s the list of initial system requirements Microsoft made available:

• 1GHz processor (32- or 64-bit)
• 1GB of RAM
• 16 GB of available disk space
• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128MB of memory (for the Aero interface)

And here, you will find the updated and final list of requirements:

• 1 GHz processor (32- or 64-bit)
• 1 GB of RAM (32-bit); 2 GB of RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB of available disk space (32-bit); 20 GB of avaiable disk space (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

However, according to ZDNet, “If you are planning to run Windows XP Mode along with Windows 7, Microsoft is recommending a PC with a minimum of 2GB of memory and 15 GB of additional disk space.” Microsoft stated, “In addition, Windows Virtual PC requires a PC with Intel-VT or AMD-V enabled in the CPU, as it takes advantage of the latest advancements in hardware virtualization.”

If you’re interested here is the list of final specifications for Windows Vista:

• 1 GHz processor (32- or 64-bit)
• 512 MB of RAM (for Home Basic); 1 GB of RAM for all other versions
• 15 GB of available disk space
• Support for DirectX 9 graphics and 32 MB of graphics memory (for Home Basic); 128 MB of graphics memory plus WDDM support for all other versions