Cheapest place for Win 7 professional?

Moreilly

Where the cheapest place to get win 7 pro retail?, was looking at elara €212 .... seems steep..?

Nothingbetter2d

microsoft maybe?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-IE/windows/shop

Nehaxak

Technet

Moreilly

Nothingbetter2d wrote: »

microsoft maybe?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-IE/windows/shop

€309 euro there

Monotype

Upgrade edition for €45.45 if you're a student or have kids going to school.

AirsoftAndy

torrentz.com :L

Unregistered.

OP, do you know the difference between a retail copy and an OEM copy?

JCW

Unregistered. wrote: »

OP, do you know the difference between a retail copy and an OEM copy?

I dont can you please explain for me??

Edit: Never mind Google is a wonderful tool!

Elara: Kin

Main factors I usually tell customers.

OEM
Needs to be installed on a new machine
Licence expires with the PC it was installed on
No support from Microsoft

Unregistered.

Elara: Kin wrote: »

Main factors I usually tell customers.

OEM
Needs to be installed on a new machine
Licence expires with the PC it was installed on
No support from Microsoft

...

CHEAPER!

Tea_Bag

Monotype wrote: »

Upgrade edition for €45.45 if you're a student or have kids going to school.

interested in that upgrade thing. presumably you cant "upgrade" from a 32bit OS (to a W7 64 version) so how do you go installing it unless you've vista 64 already. is there any way to do a clean install of an "upgrade" edition windows?

can i just copy the serials over to a working standard iso image?

Elara: Kin

You can clean install but you still need an existing copy to upgrade. You cannot go from 32 to 64 bit or vice versa for upgrade.

Tea_Bag

Elara: Kin wrote: »

You can clean install but you still need an existing copy to upgrade. You cannot go from 32 to 64 bit or vice versa for upgrade.

thats weird. ive no idea why you'd want to upgrade without a fresh format anyway?? just looking for registry corruption troubles.

Monotype

From the discussions around the net on this topic, it seems that you can do a boot from the disc but it will scan to ensure that you have a previous copy installed. There's a work around where you can install a trial without activating and then upgrade and reinstall over that. However, you'd be still bound by the legal requirement of owning a retail XP/vista or an OEM copy on that computer.

Nehaxak

In regards Technet itself, cost is roughly €215 for the standard subscription.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/bb892756.aspx

If you've a family member or friend you really trust a lot not to mess about, you can split the costs and subsequent licenses between you, though that's not particularly allowed by Microsoft.

Product keys last forever, not just the length of the subscription period and they don't expire if you don't renew your subscription.

You've all the versions of Windows 7 to choose from and download directly and legally from Microsoft plus get 2 licences for each to use. As well as all the other good stuff from Microsoft, server software, office and so on.

Anyway there ye go, it's a very good option direct from MS themselves, all legal and above board.

I used it myself as I needed Win 7 licenses for 5 computers at home inc 2 netbooks, and the server stuff to install and learn from. Was well worth the investment.

AlmightyCushion

Elara: Kin wrote: »

You cannot go from 32 to 64 bit or vice versa for upgrade.

If you are doing a clean install yes you can.

Solitaire

Impressive how Technet costs nearly 50% more here than in other countries...

the untitled user

Solitaire wrote: »

Impressive how Technet costs nearly 50% more here than in other countries...

Ah tis the rates and rent don't ya know? :pac:

Nehaxak

Solitaire wrote: »

Impressive how Technet costs nearly 50% more here than in other countries...

I know, pretty crap in all honesty. They've also cut out the ability to order the US version of Technet sub, and all the discount codes you can apply to same which don't work when applied to the Irish technet. Sucks tbh.

tman

Any particular reason why it has to be Pro? (or indeed retail as discussed above?)

Home Premium should do the job just fine (imo) unless you need to connect to a domain or something like that...

sink

I recently bought Windows 7 upgrade family pack through Microsoft store.

http://emea.microsoftstore.com/europe/en-US

3 home edition upgrade licences for €149.99, which works out at €50 each, significantly cheaper than any other option I looked at. Mind you it is only home edition.

I had been using pirated windows 7 ultimate and found I never need to use any of the additional features. I was able to clean install no problem.

Unless you want to connect to a windows server domain you don't need professional.

I previously made the mistake of upgrading from XP to Vista and was very wary of paying for another upgrade until I knew what I was in for.

Moreilly

tman wrote: »

Any particular reason why it has to be Pro? (or indeed retail as discussed above?)

Home Premium should do the job just fine (imo) unless you need to connect to a domain or something like that...

it is possible i might be connecting to a domain in the future, the reason for the retail rather than oem is is that i don't want it tied to a particular machine, my new build is completed and all that's left is win 7 install, my motherboard is the sandybridge type which is getting recalled and i think the oem version is linked to the motherboard in the machine ( could be wrong, not sure about this) so it might just be hassle to get the oem, but not sure

tman

Fair enough... If you're buying it for the other features, then you'd be pissing money away, but if there's a chance that it'll connect to a domain in the future you might as well play it safe.

It'll only take a quick phone call to MS to sort out the OEM licensing issue (one of those occasions where you won't have to lie about "spilling coffee all over your motherboard":p)
You're not going to get it much cheaper than this, unless you go down the legal grey area route of lying about being a student...
If I were you I'd save £50+ and get the OEM version, but that's your call really...

Tomk1

tman wrote: »

Fair enough... If you're buying it for the other features, then you'd be pissing money away, but if there's a chance that it'll connect to a domain in the future you might as well play it safe.
...

But doesn't pro support XP programmes? that would be the only reason I'm thinking of getting W7-pro

tman

Tomk1 wrote: »

But doesn't pro support XP programmes? that would be the only reason I'm thinking of getting W7-pro

Every version out there supports XP programs as such
Pro and Ultimate have XP mode, which is just a virtual machine and (imo) isn't really as useful as it sounds

There are numerous free alternatives such as Virtual Box, the only positive point about XP Mode is that it comes with a legitimate XP license...