Windows Vista Aero : Requirements

Windows Vista Aero | Aero Windows Flip | Configuring Aero | Aero Dynamic windows

You have to use any of the activated version of Vista Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate Edition so as to go for Windows Vista Aero. If you purchase a retail version of Windows Vista then you will need to activate its features.

Display adapter must meet technical requirements like, it should support DirectX 9.0 with Pixel Shader 2 in hardware and also it should be supported by a new Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) driver. The WDDM driver requirement is main cause, 'why Aero is so much more reliable than other Vista user experiences'.

Also graphics card should have enough memory (RAM) and it should be dedicated to drive your display. Table below gives you the explanation about how much video RAM needed to run Windows Vista Aero at particular screen resolutions.

Video RAM	Display resolution
64 MB 128 MB 256 MB	Lower than 1280 x 1024 (fewer than 1,310,720 pixels) 1280 x 1024 to 1920 x 1200 (1,310,720 to 2,304,000 pixels) Higher than 1920 x 1200 (more than 2,304,000 pixels)

Even though it sounds to follow Microsoft requirements for Aero but virtually every single 3D graphics card on the market, and also the Intel's Graphics Media Accelerator 950 integrated graphics chipset, itself capable of running Windows Vista Aero. Mostly now a day graphics cards come with at least 128 MB of RAM.

But it is also true that the older integrated graphics chipsets, like those found on notebooks and Tablet PCs before 2005, are not compatible with Vista Aero. In order to have Aero on a system with integrated graphics required is at least 512 MB of system RAM should be available.