DEAL: Preorder Win 7 for Less Than Half Price

[eyemaster]

Can you upgrade from W2K? Or WinXP?

 

[fooldog01]

[citation][nom]eyemaster[/nom]Can you upgrade from W2K? Or WinXP?[/citation]

You can upgrade from XP according to MS but there was no mention of 2K.

 

[viceroy69]

I wonder if you can upgrade from a pirated copy of XP?

 

[cregan89]

[citation][nom]Greg_77[/nom]But these prices are for the upgrade CD. I am assuming you can't use these these upgrade disc for a clean install?[/citation]

Well you can. But you still have to have a copy of XP or Vista installed first. But when you start the installation for Windows 7, click on "Clean Install" instead of "Upgrade".

 

[grieve]

my copy is ultimate RC and runs till next March just fine. I am sure a long time before March I will have a downloaded copy.... for 0$

 

[grieve]

^ sale price...

 

[scooterlibby]

[citation][nom]tayb[/nom]Eh. I'll get Ultimate from UT for $7. Anyone close to a big state university... go hit up a college student and get a nice cheap copy.[/citation]

Dude UT has a gigantic oil endowment that allows for sweetheart deals such as the one with MS. Other big schools in Texas like UNT or Texas State are SOL in that regard.

 

[Maxor127]

Eh, I don't like the idea of spending money on Win 7 before it takes a few months to settle. One thing I'd like to know is if Win 7 Upgrade eats up your activation code like Vista does with XP. Would be nice if Win 7 still included that loophole Vista had where you could basically use the upgrade version as a full version.

 

[tayb]

[citation][nom]scooterlibby[/nom]Dude UT has a gigantic oil endowment that allows for sweetheart deals such as the one with MS. Other big schools in Texas like UNT or Texas State are SOL in that regard.[/citation]

Any of the Texas satellite schools have the same deals. Texas Arlington, Texas Dallas, Texas SA, Texas El Paso. A&M and Texas Tech have deals like that as well. If someone came up to me on campus and asked me if I could get them a copy of Windows and they paid me $30 bucks (plus the item) I would definitely do it for them.

 

[Gin Fushicho]

Damn... I got all excited for no reason. 1st I notice the complete version isnt going for that deal then I notice its just upgrades....

 

[tipoo]

I'll pass, my student torrent discount is 100%

 

[rekta]

Hi,

I have a Sony laptop that has Vista Home Premium 32bit on it (sadly, including bloatwares and $hit) . Can I clean install Windows 7 in this system with the upgrade DVD/CD? Sony didn't give any OEM disks with it. It only has the restore DVDs that I burned myself. I have a bad habit of reformatting my hard drive from time to time. I really don't want to install those darn restore dvds first then plug in the upgrade cds to get 7. I don't want those freaking bloatware that Sony installed when I upgrade to 7.

Let's say you can use the CDkey from the sticker below, can I just use a cdkey from any laptop that has Vista? Isn't that unfair? Or does the upgrade cd has an OEM detection utility.

Anyone?

 

[Caffeinecarl]

[citation][nom]viceroy69[/nom]I wonder if you can upgrade from a pirated copy of XP?[/citation]
Hmmmm... while not necessarily something I'd exactly condone, I once advised a friend of mine to buy the "upgrade" version of XP home for $99 and then when the installation asked for the Win 98SE CD, we popped in a pirate disc and it worked!

Oh yeah, while it's not quite as shady, I've also done clean installs of Vista with an upgrade disc, using the upgrade key, and called MS when I ran into troubles with my activation. They let it slide.

Like I said, I don't condone this but it works!

 

[IzzyCraft]

[citation][nom]viceroy69[/nom]I wonder if you can upgrade from a pirated copy of XP?[/citation]
Most likely not... Microsoft can usually tell when you have a pirated copy, just because you get updates doesn't mean they don't know Microsoft gives everyone updates regardless so computers don't get viruses that were patched better for the computer econ.

 

[eddieroolz]

Man, I'd like to get into this pre-order scene, but I need to make sure that my university store won't offer it for less...

Jeez, it puts me in a tight spot.

 

[harlequin6791]

I just contacted Microsoft directly and confirmed that the discs DO contain the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of the product.

The sales associate that helped me stated that...

That the upgrades must be made on the corresponding versions of the originals. For example:
• Upgrading from Vista 32bit you can only upgrade to a 32bit Win 7 OS.
• Upgrading from Vista 64bit you can only upgrade to a 64bit Win 7 OS.
(which makes sense but I just wanted to clarify with them since both the 32bit and 64 bit are included on the disc unlike before)

 

[harlequin6791]

If you're looking to upgrade to a 64 bit system and you currently have a 32bit vista or xp OS... Check out Newegg.com

They are packaging vista 64 bit retail discs with win 7 upgrade coupons. I'm assuming the codes upgrade you to the respective Win 7 Version. Home to Home.. Business to Pro and Ultimate to Ultimate

Vista Home 64bit $109
Vista Business 64bit $149
Vista Ultimate 64bit $189

This worked out great for me since my old license was 32 bit and my new rig I want to run 64bit on it for the increased mem. So I was going to have to buy the 64 vista and upgrade or the full retail Win7 in order to do it.

 

[Guest]

@harlequin6791,

Where exactly on newegg are they packaging the two together? Do you mean that you can simply buy those respective versions for $100+ like you always could along with your Win 7 purchase? I ask because I don't see an option for them to package it with my pre-order anywhere.

 

[iamthewalrus528]

Ah, Vista discs packaged with Win 7 coupon, not the other way around, I should learn to read.

 

[eaclou]

So i just called microsoft as well. The person I spoke to didn't seem to know her stuff, so i'll probably call again tonight to confirm her answers with a different rep.

Anyway, she stated that:

1. If you have Windows XP x32, you CAN upgrade to Windows 7 x64 bit.
2. You CANNOT install the upgrade version of Windows 7 on a blank HDD, you must have XP installed.
3. Any copy of Windows is fine, OEM or Retail.

I really don't know what/who to believe on these issues.
*to the posters saying you can install on a blank drive with no OS currently installed, where are you getting that information?
*to the poster who mentioned a Microsoft Rep said that Vista x32 can ONLY upgrade to Windows 7 x32, it seems like the two Reps are almost contradicting each other... wth?

 

[Milleman]

WTF
Would be most grateful if Tomäs could stop spamming about Windows 7!!

 

[Milleman]

Would be most grateful if Tom's could stop spamming about Windows 7!!

 

[JDocs]

Huh... $200 for a clean install of Windows 7... Hell that'd push the price of my netbook up to... Oh... About $400...

As a software developer understand Windows costs money to develop but the costs are split of 1,000,000,000 plus licenses so unless things went horribly wrong somewhere they are trying to gorge us for hundreds billions...

Sadly Linux ain't reading for gaming yet...