Hi

I'm seriously considering changing from Windows Vista to Windows 7.
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windows/buy/default.aspx
My question is what's the best to buy an upgrade or Full Version & what is the difference between them.

Things to take in to account is the fact I already have Vista pre-installed on my laptop.


Thank you.

This post has been edited by manicd: Oct 26 2009, 03:38 PM

A full version is required if you don't have an acceptable earlier operating system installed.

The difference - price.

If you qualify for OEM system builder licensing you may benefit from purchasing an OEM version which is a full version of the software but much cheaper than retail.

However, you might want to read here: http://www.usnews.com/money/business-econo...-windows-7.html

I agree with the writer. If you have a working Vista installation there is little compelling reason to spend the time and money to upgrade to Windows 7.

This post has been edited by appleoddity: Oct 30 2009, 09:33 AM

Good article I'm incline not to upgrade now

Would my OEM Vista qualify?

Do M$ do this on their site, if not could you suggest a site please.

Hiya appleoddity, not seen ya in a while. But as to what you said, and I agree, been testing 7 for over the last 4 months and to me its all nothing but a beefed up version of Vista, nothing more but with a few extra bells and whistles to make it look better IMO. As for upgrading or clean install, hummm always been a fan of going with a clean install over upgrading less of pain and problems. Buying an oem copy of 7 is cheaper way and you get a coa sticker to put on your machine but make note it just for that machine only you cannot use it on another machine.

Now as for me will I give up on XP, so far I am leaning of going to 7 and saying goodby to XP cause as I said I been testing and using ultimate and have it looking like windows xp and been pushing the limits of 7 with all my software I use to try and crash the system, so far so good. Plus the fact I am in the process of going to a quad core 3.0 with 4 gigs of ram, and 1tb drive

The second part to this yes I usally wait a month or 2 before switching, back in the days of xp I did not upgrade cause I hated it and stuck with 98, but when I saw what it could do for gaming, I went over to xp, but when I saw the problems vista had, I stayed away.

So who knows mabey 7 might be ok, can not hurt to wait before jumping on the band wagon.

This post has been edited by Jimbo1: Oct 30 2009, 03:32 PM

Upgrades are problematic, because your installing twice in a way, this can also make recovery an issue, don't know enough to say for sure, but an upgrade disk may not be man enough to do a recovery ?
As I say I can't be sure, but have a vague recollection of such an issue in the past with upgrade disks, so in simple terms if your paying out, get the full version, simples as, no surprises ahead that way, you can get Win7 Ultimate for just under £150, and only a couple of quid difference between 32bit and 64bit.

A quick thought, as Win7 was getting close they started releasing upgrade offers, I didn't pay much notice to them, but I thought they were like a full swap from vista where you gave vista up and went Win7 in full, did you have something like this on your vista deal ?
But an important note to remember when you do this, using Win7 to do a clean install will format the drive, by doing this your partition holding the vista files will be gone, forever probably, so the ONLY way back is to get a vista disk, as said in the other thread I think it was, you can borrow a disk and use the sticker on your system and it will work fine, the bonus is you gain another 10gig of drive, downside is when the partition is gone thats it.

Let me know the retailers selling OEM copies without new computers... I'd love a few more brownie points by firing off an email to Microsoft with that list.

If you do upgrade, yes it will work with your currently installed version of Vista. But, if you ever need to reload, you will need to install Vista first and then Windows 7 again. Better to just go straight to Windows 7 on a fresh install.

This post has been edited by appleoddity: Oct 30 2009, 09:35 AM

Newegg sells the OEM software without hardware.

There is the following disclaimer to its purchase:



This post has been edited by appleoddity: Oct 30 2009, 09:36 AM

TBH I think almost anywhere sells OEM on it's own, I can think of a few places who do.

Just a note:

The Upgrade is no different from the Full as to data.







This post has been edited by jephree: Oct 30 2009, 05:43 PM

Wow There's an abundance of helpful information here.

QUOTE (8210GUY @ Oct 27 2009, 12:17 AM)

A quick thought, as Win7 was getting close they started releasing upgrade offers, I didn't pay much notice to them, but I thought they were like a full swap from vista where you gave vista up and went Win7 in full, did you have something like this on your vista deal?

Yeah I know what you are talking about. Microsoft offered this update for anyone who bought a computer with Vista from June 26, 2009 through January 31, 2010. Unfortunately I bought my laptop just before this period.

QUOTE (8210GUY @ Oct 27 2009, 12:17 AM)

But an important note to remember when you do this, using Win7 to do a clean install will format the drive, by doing this your partition holding the vista files will be gone, forever probably, so the ONLY way back is to get a vista disk, as said in the other thread I think it was, you can borrow a disk and use the sticker on your system and it will work fine, the bonus is you gain another 10gig of drive, downside is when the partition is gone that’s it.

I’ve actually managed to get hold of a Vista Disk.
Really!! So doing either a fresh install of Vista or Windows 7 will get rid of the hidden Partition (PQSERVICE) i.e. the partition that allows me to do a factory restore of Vista along with all of Acers Bloat/Cr*pware.
Isn’t there a way of doing an install & keeping this partition or even inserting the portion back via an Acronis backup after the fresh install?

QUOTE (appleoddity @ Oct 27 2009, 12:29 AM)

Windows 7 OEM offers at NewEgg

I don’t think they ship to the UK

QUOTE (8210GUY @ Oct 27 2009, 12:39 AM)

[TBH I think almost anywhere sells OEM on it's own, I can think of a few places who do.

Please do is there any that are based here in the Uk

QUOTE (jephree @ Oct 27 2009, 01:01 AM)

Just a note:
The Upgrade is no different from the Full as to data.
It simply asks you to insert a previous Windows disk if it does not find a previous OS installed.
You do not need to reload a previous OS you just need to show the installer the disk to verify that you qualify.
There are also ways around it such as:
http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/pa...the-answer.aspx

Then I might as well buy the upgrade disc as I can get hold of a vista Disc– does this have to be an OEM as well
If you used the work-around (I haven’t read it yet btw) then wouldn’t everyone buy just the upgrade & get hold of a Vista disc?

This post has been edited by manicd: Oct 27 2009, 08:29 AM

You can still do a clean install with the Vista disc. You simply do not delete the "recovery partition" during the install. One of your purposes of doing this, or one of the things you wanted to accomplish was to get rid of, or change the size of the two different partitions they created. You can do that during the initial stages of the Vista setup. However, you must not touch the recovery partition. If you don't, it will continue to function as it is supposed to if you want to do a factory restore.

The words OEM and Upgrade don't go together.

You can buy a full retail version (the most expensive and ridiculously over priced anyway you look at it), you can buy an upgrade retail version (still expensive but much cheaper) but requires a previous operating system or disc as suggested, and then finally the OEM version (probably the cheapest) which is a full version, does not require a previous operating system but is locked to the computer you initially install it on.

The benefit of buying a retail version is that you can remove it from one computer and legally put it on a different computer and activate it. With OEM you are legally supposed to lock it to one machine, it stays with that machines, no matter what.

My choice, if I were you, would be to buy an OEM version. But, if you want to save money and have to buy retail, use the upgrade as long as you have a qualifying operating system to upgrade from. Keep in mind that OEM versions do come with certain restrictions such as this NewEgg disclaimer:



I don't have a clue about Windows 7 licensing and anything I said here may have changed, but it is probably about the same. My only concern would be its requirements for validating a previous operating system during an upgrade. I'm not sure if it has been verified that the Windows 7 install will accept just a disc for verification? If I remember properly, I ran into this situation one time on Vista, and unlike XP, I had to fully install XP and then I could upgrade to Vista. During the upgrade I could destroy the previous XP installation and install "fresh," but it still had to be fully installed because the upgrade had to be started from the working operating system. I would find it unlikely this has changed in Windows 7. But, this is only one experience, I may be wrong.

This post has been edited by appleoddity: Oct 30 2009, 09:38 AM

Still a mystery to me. My initial reply was based on the XP procedure. I see posts that say you need XP or Vista installed but there is also Paul Thurrott's blog and I have always found him very reputable.

Anyway don't mean to go off on a tangent with this here. I did purchase a version of 7 Pro Upgrade and will test it out on another machine. See if I can load it on a blank drive.

Apologies for any mis-information.


Microsoft replied such as although "doable" it violates their EULA:

http://www.techtree.com/India/News/Windows...107186-580.html



...

This post has been edited by jephree: Oct 30 2009, 05:45 PM

Just going to point out that while you're saying what you've been saying in good faith, appleoddity, it is actually in breach of Microsoft's expected terms, hence we shouldn't really be condoning it here... but I guess that's for someone higher up that me to decide. See information below.


http://www.techiehq.net/computing/windows-7-oem-42955.html

OEM is tied to one machine and that's it.
If you add a new hard drive, mother board or any other new internal hardware, you have to call MS to reactivate your license key.

Posts ammended. My apologies for any confusion.

To the OP and future readers, please note that there are certain licensing requirements that a person is obliged to follow in order to use OEM software.

That information can be found here: http://oem.microsoft.com/script/contentpag...x?pageid=563841