Is it better to have pre-installed Windows 8.1 over a Windows 8 to 8.1 upgrade yourself?

[Vermeer]

Hi all,

Thanks for reading this. I am looking at buying either of two laptop, which are pretty comparable, but one has Windows 8 in it and the other one has Windows 8.1.

Is it correct that the Windows 8 can be updated to Windows 8.1 free of charge? So that would mean that, if I buy that laptop and once I've started it up, I can immediately use Windows Update to update it to 8.1. However, I am afraid that such a big update will immediately be a big change to my computer. I know from past experiences that updates from computer systems take up a lot of disk space and also seem to slow down the laptop a bit.

Will that be the case when I update an Windows 8 to a Windows 8.1? Is is therefore better to buy a laptop which has 8.1 already installed (in terms of keeping your laptop speed/sanity and not f**ing it up a little already one day 1?)

Many thanks,

Vermeer

 

[USAFRet]

Either way will work. The 8 to 8.1 update is free.
Assuming it goes well, and it probably will, it will not slow anything down.

I'd probably get the 8.1 already installed, unless there is a significant price difference either way.

With a preinstalled system, what you really need to do is create whatever recovery/restore/reinstall disks that the manufacturer sets up. They generally do not give you the physical disks, but rather just have a Recovery partition.
When/if that drive dies, however...it is then too late to make them.

Do this soonest.