Exactly how will free upgrade from Win or 8 work?

[Maineman]

I am in the market for a new laptop. All that is available now is Win 8. Will the FREE Win 10 be an upgrade only or will a "clean install" be available? In my experience, up grades never work as well as a clean install. Would I be better off waiting until new laptops are shipped with Win 10 installed or get the Win 8 laptop now and upgrade when Win 10 gets released?

 

[USAFRet]

Exact is unknown as of yet. Probably both, either clean install or upgrade.
Probably.

Buy now or wait? When do you need it?

 

[punahou1]

According to the Microsoft website you will have one year after initial release to upgrade to windows 10. While it does not specifically state that you will have the option of clean, my guess is that it will be available. The good news appears to be an indication that you will not need to reinstall apps. (Four months ago the Microsoft windows 10 site said you would have to do this). When I looked at the upgrade site on Monday this appears to have changed. Therefore if you need the laptop now, or can get a great deal, there is really no reason to wait for Windows 10....

 

[royalcrown]

I am running the 10 preview right now, unless you are buying the laptop for gaming (DX 12) just don't worry so much, there is not a whole lot of difference from 8 and their likely won't be. Unless there is a major delay, it's too close to release (by summer) to totally redo it.

DirectX 12 is the major draw for windows 10, but so far it's not really "better" than 8 besides that. I have a feeling that having "Cortana" built in is a hyped up gimmick that won't last; besides, it's tied to Bing, which we all know sucks !

 

[Maineman]

Not until September. We may go to Europe and want a smaller laptop with AC to take with me.

Exact is unknown as of yet. Probably both, either clean install or upgrade.
Probably.

Buy now or wait? When do you need it?

 

[USAFRet]

Not until September. We may go to Europe and want a smaller laptop with AC to take with me.

Exact is unknown as of yet. Probably both, either clean install or upgrade.
Probably.

Buy now or wait? When do you need it?

Buy now, with 8.1. Upgrade to Win 10 later.
You don't want the issues of a brand new laptop, along with moving to a new country. Get your device set up long before.

 

[johnbl]

I would not base it on the OS, I would base it on the CPU and chipset. It would be a shame to buy a new machine with a old chipset when new CPUs are about to ship. I tend to use Intel CPUs and just google "intel CPU release dates" and see if something looks like it is about to ship. OEM, tend to want to get rid of the old stuff first before you can get the new laptops with the new chips. For me, I will wait until the next generation of intel CPU chips ships.

I guess in any case, I would wipe windows 8.1 and put on windows 10.

I am in the market for a new laptop. All that is available now is Win 8. Will the FREE Win 10 be an upgrade only or will a "clean install" be available? In my experience, up grades never work as well as a clean install. Would I be better off waiting until new laptops are shipped with Win 10 installed or get the Win 8 laptop now and upgrade when Win 10 gets released?

 

[FALC0N]

This is not difficult question. You guys are overthinking this. The answer is yes, a clean install will be an option.

Microsoft will provide either be an upgrade key or full retail key. Since both versions allow a clean install, the answer is YES, there will be the option for a clean install. The only question is how many hoops/workarounds will be needed to perform the clean install if its an upgrade key. Since NT6 in general has been pretty good about this, I expect it to be fairly straight forward.

 

[orlbuckeye]

If imagine the upgrade from 8.1/8 will be through the store. They are going to be using the store more and more to distribute software.

 

[FALC0N]

That's certainly their goal. But that doesn't change the fact that there will be keys and install media. You might have to dig up your own media to do a clean install, but it will almost certainly be possible.

 

[James Mason]

The Windows 10 Preview let me do a clean install from within a Windows Server 2012 (Windows 8) with only a mounted ISO.

It gave me the option of "Keeping my files" or doing a clean install.

I first tried the keeping files, but it was wonky, possibly due to using windows server 2012, possibly due the fact I had a bunch of old programs/drivers that weren't communicating properly. But I ran a clean install from that and it works fine now.