Windows 7 Home Premium - XP/Vista Upgrade pack

marco_polo

For anyone who is tiring of Vista, this is the best price I have seen for a Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade package.

Amazon £63.12 (69.29 Euro) and qualifies for free delivery to Ireland.

broker2008

I have Vista Home, will this upgrade do the ob, what is the difference between this and full version ?

marco_polo

broker2008 wrote: »

I have Vista Home, will this upgrade do the ob, what is the difference between this and full version ?

It is the same, but you need to have a full retail version of XP or Vista home premium to install it.

Unfortunately it will not work with OEM versions of Vista or XP Home. If you bought a PC with Vista or XP preinstalled (ie off Dell or another retailer) then that would be an OEM version and this upgrade would not work (OEM is basically a restricted license). A full retail version is a copy of windows that would have been bought seperately to the PC.

*EDIT:* I was wrong, it can be used to upgrade either an OEM or a Full version.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=1505

You originally purchased a PC with a copy of Windows XP or Windows Vista.

You qualify for an upgrade on that specific PC. Any version of XP or Vista qualifies for an upgrade to any version of Windows 7. So if you bought a Dell in 2007 with Windows XP Home preinstalled, you can buy a retail upgrade of Windows XP Professional and install it on that PC. This is true even if along the way you wiped the hard disk clean and installed a beta of Windows 7. The license for Windows XP was permanently assigned to that machine when you first turned it on and accepted the license agreement. The fact that the original operating system isn’t currently installed on the PC is irrelevant.

Johnny Storm

FWIW and IMHO Windows 7 is great. It just works.
I have only found one little complaint with the Home Premium version which is that the built-in back up utlity will not back-up over your home network. IE your back-up drive has to be physically connected to your Home Premium PC to do the back-up. Probably not a biggie but I found it disappointing.

trooney

marco_polo wrote: »

It is the same, but you need to have a full retail version of XP or Vista home premium to install it.

Unfortunately it will not work with OEM versions of Vista or XP Home. If you bought a PC with Vista or XP preinstalled (ie off Dell or another retailer) then that would be an OEM version and this upgrade would not work (OEM is basically a restricted license). A full retail version is a copy of windows that would have been bought seperately to the PC.

*EDIT:* I was wrong, it can be used to upgrade either an OEM or a Full version.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=1505

AFAIK you cannot upgrade XP to 7 without a full clean install of 7.
With Vista you can just run the upgrade. No need for a ground up install.

gpjordanf1

marco_polo wrote: »

For anyone who is tiring of Vista, this is the best price I have seen for a Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade package.

Amazon £63.12 (69.29 Euro) and qualifies for free delivery to Ireland.

Had a look at this and it does charge for delivery and bumps price up to 65.99 at checkout. The total converted is €83 and some change.

Or was I doing something wrong?

mcgovern

gpjordanf1 wrote: »

Had a look at this and it does charge for delivery and bumps price up to 65.99 at checkout. The total converted is €83 and some change.

Or was I doing something wrong?

Amazon charge the Irish VAT rate at checkout if you are getting anything delivered here.

bmaxi

gpjordanf1 wrote: »

Had a look at this and it does charge for delivery and bumps price up to 65.99 at checkout. The total converted is €83 and some change.

Or was I doing something wrong?

Did you select "free supersaver delivery"? It's coming in at just under £67 for me. Select GBP as payment currency, Amazon's exchange rate can be a rip off.

gpjordanf1

bmaxi wrote: »

Did you select "free supersaver delivery"? It's coming in at just under £67 for me. Select GBP as payment currency, Amazon's exchange rate can be a rip off.

Dang!

I went with one click shopping! The price of convenience!

Oh well!

Dublinstiofán

If your a student or a lecturer you can get it for €49.99 here

Sounds like a great offer if your not though!

cdb

Bargain alerts is probably not the place for this but how does the Windows 7 upgrade compare with the standalone install, has anyone experience of the two? I've Vista x64 installed but would generally do a clean install - is there much difference going down the upgrade route?

marco_polo

cdb wrote: »

Bargain alerts is probably not the place for this but how does the Windows 7 upgrade compare with the standalone install, has anyone experience of the two? I've Vista x64 installed but would generally do a clean install - is there much difference going down the upgrade route?

Maybe it is better nowadays but from past experience (98->XP) I would go with the clean install route every time.

marco_polo

trooney wrote: »

AFAIK you cannot upgrade XP to 7 without a full clean install of 7.
With Vista you can just run the upgrade. No need for a ground up install.

You can do a full clean install with this upgrade media disk exactly the same as a with a brand new copy of Win 7, this is an also an option for vista but you can do the in place upgrade either.

(I think this could be exactly what you meant, I am just clarifying for others posters in case there is confusion that this product will work for XP )


However with with the upgrade license, if you do not have a valid existing XP/Vista license then you will not be able to activate the product. (It will also fail if you have a OEM license and try to install the upgrade on a different machine)

marco_polo

gpjordanf1 wrote: »

Had a look at this and it does charge for delivery and bumps price up to 65.99 at checkout. The total converted is €83 and some change.

Or was I doing something wrong?

mcgovern wrote: »

Amazon charge the Irish VAT rate at checkout if you are getting anything delivered here.

Oops forgot the VAT rate, still not too bad as the base price online I have been seeing is about 80 sterling from UK retailers and about 90 euro in Ireland, all before delivery.

gpjordanf1 wrote: »

Dang!

I went with one click shopping! The price of convenience!

Oh well!

If it is any consolation you are still probably saving at least 5-10 Euro.

mcw92

how many pc's can this be installed on?

marco_polo

mcw92 wrote: »

how many pc's can this be installed on?

Home edition is just the one

Do-more

If you have a few machines to upgrade (Like me, desktop, laptop, netbook, bargain alerts responsible for them all ) then it's worth going for the Family pack with 3 licences not in stock in Amazon at the mo, I got it at launch time in PC World in Sprucefield for £129.99 probably available elsewhere on the net aswell.

bmaxi

Dublinstiofán wrote: »

If your a student or a lecturer you can get it for €49.99 here

Sounds like a great offer if your not though!

This is Professional. I don't think you can upgrade from the home editions to this but I'm open to correction.

Liam O

what's the difference between pro and home?

Effluo

Dublinstiofán wrote: »

If your a student or a lecturer you can get it for €49.99 here

Sounds like a great offer if your not though!

Or the home premium version here for around €35
http://windows7.digitalriver.com/store/mswpuk/en_GB/DisplayHomePage?resid=6W@9igoHAioAADMHu6gAAAAQ&rests=1259954451476

bmaxi

Effluo wrote: »

Or the home premium version here for around €35
http://windows7.digitalriver.com/store/mswpuk/en_GB/DisplayHomePage?resid=6W@9igoHAioAADMHu6gAAAAQ&rests=1259954451476

Appears only to be available in the U.K.

Effluo

bmaxi wrote: »

Appears only to be available in the U.K.

nope

bmaxi

bmaxi wrote: »

This is Professional. I don't think you can upgrade from the home editions to this but I'm open to correction.

I upgraded from Vista home to 7 pro.

bmaxi

Effluo wrote: »

nope

Well I based my reply on this.

http://drh.img.digitalriver.com/store/mswpuk/ContentTheme/pbPage.Terms

Do you intend to enlighten us?

bmaxi

Deleted User wrote: »

I upgraded from Vista home to 7 pro.

Good news. Any difficulties? Did you upgrade an OEM or a retail issue?

OEM copies can be upgraded. The problem is that by upgrading an OEM licence, the upgrade inherits the same restrictions. So, if you replace the motherboard, both of your Windows licences (the previous version and the new Windows 7 upgrade) are void.

nephster

bmaxi wrote: »

Well I based my reply on this.

http://drh.img.digitalriver.com/store/mswpuk/ContentTheme/pbPage.Terms

Do you intend to enlighten us?

Tried my TCD address and it appears to be eligible. So it implies it's now available to us here!

Johnny Storm

nephster wrote: »

Tried my TCD address and it appears to be eligible. So it implies it's now available to us here!

<Insert stale West Brit joke here>

bmaxi

Liam O wrote: »

what's the difference between pro and home?

http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/windows-7/compare/default.aspx

bmaxi

bmaxi wrote: »

Good news. Any difficulties? Did you upgrade an OEM or a retail issue?

Student edition so I presume its retail. Also went from 32-bit to 64. No difficulties at all. I just had to do a clean install instead of an upgrade, which I know isnt technically an upgrade. It still cost me the same price which is all that matters.

bmaxi

nephster wrote: »

Tried my TCD address and it appears to be eligible. So it implies it's now available to us here!

When you go to buy it doesn't give an option except UK. I'm not comfortable with the download only option, too much room for error.

nephster

I got an upgrade download of Win 7 Pro on the first day it came out using the gf's UK e-mail address, paid for on an Irish card. Lots of hiccups on that first day but I believe all sorted now.

It's the serial that's important not the download itself. That is available from pretty much anywhere on the Net, or indeed you could prolly use the disc off a friend.

Effluo

bmaxi wrote: »

I'm not comfortable with the download only option, too much room for error.

Not sure what could go wrong that couldn't go wrong with any other installation method.

Capt'n Midnight

mcw92 wrote: »

how many pc's can this be installed on?

Only one at a time. Not running one at a time, only installed on one machine.

If you upgraded OEM then you can never install on another machine
you can't even keep using that install if you change the motherboard.

Effluo

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Only one at a time. Not running one at a time, only installed on one machine.

If you upgraded OEM then you can never install on another machine
you can't even keep using that install if you change the motherboard.

Is it not if the motherboard craps out you can call them and they let you install it on a new one?

Effluo

Effluo wrote: »

Is it not if the motherboard craps out you can call them and they let you install it on a new one?

No, only with retail copies. With OEM you can only continue to use the licence if the new motherboard was provided as a replacement by the OEM who built your PC (and this usually only applies to the big names like Dell, HP etc).

suppafly

Dublinstiofán wrote: »

If your a student or a lecturer you can get it for €49.99 here

Sounds like a great offer if your not though!

You can actually get it for free if your a student or lecturer(edit: actually i think its only if your a computing student) through MSDN Academic Alliance. Just get onto the relevant people in your college and they'll sort you out. I've got windows 7 Pro 32bit and 64bit now for free. You can't beat free

I think they might be a multiple use licsence too, not sure though. Theres a bunch of other software on there too.

marco_polo

Karsini wrote: »

No, only with retail copies. With OEM you can only continue to use the licence if the new motherboard was provided as a replacement by the OEM who built your PC (and this usually only applies to the big names like Dell, HP etc).

Strictly speaking this is true, however they are usually fairly lenient on this point . I haven't heard of many being refused a re activation when claiming to have replaced a dodgy motherboard.

You don't usually don't need to call for a Retail Edition change.

Effluo

marco_polo wrote: »

Strictly speaking this is true, however they are usually fairly lenient on this point . I haven't heard of many being refused a re activation when claiming to have replaced a dodgy motherboard.

Also MS are/were/will be in a court case about the terms of use of their oem operating systems. The legality of it is in question

marco_polo

marco_polo wrote: »

You don't usually don't need to call for a Retail Edition change.

After 120 days this is usually the case. I did have to phone up to reactivate a retail Windows 7 Home Premium after replacing a dodgy motherboard (it had only been activated for a week or so) but all that happened was the automated system asked "on how many computers is your product currently installed?" Once I acknowledged that it was only on one machine they accepted the entry without needing to talk to anyone.

Capt'n Midnight

Karsini wrote: »

After 120 days this is usually the case. I did have to phone up to reactivate a retail Windows 7 Home Premium after replacing a dodgy motherboard (it had only been activated for a week or so) but all that happened was the automated system asked "on how many computers is your product currently installed?" Once I acknowledged that it was only on one machine they accepted the entry without needing to talk to anyone.

the 120 days / automated system are to reduce support costs

if you answered incorrectly then it's fraud / license infringement on your part

marco_polo wrote: »

Strictly speaking this is true, however they are usually fairly lenient on this point . I haven't heard of many being refused a re activation when claiming to have replaced a dodgy motherboard.

You don't usually don't need to call for a Retail Edition change.

the people you ring up probably don't work for microsoft since they outsource a lot of support


Bottom line, there is a reason why microsoft charge more for some licenses, it's not just a tax on stupidity

marco_polo

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

the 120 days / automated system are to reduce support costs

if you answered incorrectly then it's fraud / license infringement on your part




the people you ring up probably don't work for microsoft since they outsource a lot of support


Bottom line, there is a reason why microsoft charge more for some licenses, it's not just a tax on stupidity

I am not sure that it is an area they are losing too much sleep over.

As for license infringement I would be interested to see a test case whereby a customer with an out of warranty OEM motherboard was refused re-activation on a self bought replacement.

Anyway probably a bit off topic for bargain alerts, and I am sure the last thing you want to see on the windows forum is another thread on this topic.

Capt'n Midnight

Point is it's not a bargain unless you are aware of the possible limitations.

Likewise just because 98% of cars broke the old 30mph speed limit doesn't make it legal if they aren't all prosecuted.

Effluo

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Likewise just because 98% of cars broke the old 30mph speed limit doesn't make it legal if they aren't all prosecuted.

?

marco_polo

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Point is it's not a bargain unless you are aware of the possible limitations.

Likewise just because 98% of cars broke the old 30mph speed limit doesn't make it legal if they aren't all prosecuted.

Limitations which I very clearly pointed out in my second post on the thread.

Personally I think that if a product can purchased for £63 inc PP that is on average selling for about £80 + PP (at the time of posting) in other UK e-tailers then it is a bargain.

If you have an OEM version of XP or vista there are two ways of getting Windows 7 onto your PC, one is to buy the full retail version, the other is to buy the upgrade.

The latter is the cheapest way, and the amazon price is the best I have seen thus far.

Apologies for not taking the time to post a detailed synopsis of each possible variant of the EULA as well, will try do better next time.