vista upgrade

caff

Parents PC had vista on it, so upgrade to 7 or jump to 10 ? End of life is Nov 2017 so bit of time left.

FSL

If you upgrade to 7 you will be able to upgrade to 10 for free. I don't know if any pricing has been announced regarding changing from any pre Windows 7 OS to 10 yet to enable you to compare the costs.

PropJoe10

I'd take any option possible to get away from Vista to be honest. 10 runs lighter on my laptop than 7 does, but 7 is also a solid OS. 8.1 is also an excellent OS. Its really a matter of preference.

duffman3833

upgrade them to win7 if they not great with change in tech, going to win8 might be a bit much for them. When win10 is available upgrade to that and see how they got on, will be a bit easier to manage than win8

PropJoe10

duffman3833 wrote: »

upgrade them to win7 if they not great with change in tech, going to win8 might be a bit much for them. When win10 is available upgrade to that and see how they got on, will be a bit easier to manage than win8

Windows 8.1 with the Classic Shell Start menu is the best OS that Windows have done so far in my book. Lovely to use, secure and snappy.

CatInABox

PropJoe10 wrote: »

Windows 8.1 with the Classic Shell Start menu is the best OS that Windows have done so far in my book. Lovely to use, secure and snappy.

Fully agree with you, 8.1 really is the best one that they've put out, the fact that people will spend hours complaining about it online, but won't take the ten minutes to customise it into something that works boggles my mind.

HOWEVER, in this case, because parents are involved, I'd recommend either 7 or 10, not 8. It's just that in 8.1, even with start 8, you can click on the wrong thing and be thrown into a UI that is totally unfamiliar. I know how to get back to the desktop in a second, but good luck teaching any shortcuts to parents.

duffman3833

PropJoe10 wrote: »

Windows 8.1 with the Classic Shell Start menu is the best OS that Windows have done so far in my book. Lovely to use, secure and snappy.

i have a windows 8 laptop and i customized it but i still think its all just a bit gimmicky, that's all and i know for a fact my parents wont like it as there too use to win 7, my dad would probably throw laptop out window haha

Capt'n Midnight

TBH if the PC came with Vista I'd be backing it up and checking how old the hard drive is and locating the recovery disk if there is one.

Remember if you upgrade an OEM version of windows the license is then bound to the original hardware which has to be getting long in the tooth if it's Vista.

Keep an eye out for bargain laptops on the bargain alerts forum over the next year or so, especially if they are still selling off old stock.

unkel

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

the original hardware which has to be getting long in the tooth if it's Vista.

Keep an eye out for bargain laptops

Chances are the original hardware is just fine and perfectly able to run W7 / W8.1 / W10. Why spend many hundreds to get a replacement?

My own main PC is about the same age (7.5 years old) and working very well (running W10). OP, if you install W10 from the last ISO and let it update itself, your parents will have a completely free operating system.

Hoagy

unkel wrote: »

Chances are the original hardware is just fine and perfectly able to run W7 / W8.1 / W10. Why spend many hundreds to get a replacement?

My own main PC is about the same age (7.5 years old) and working very well (running W10). OP, if you install W10 from the last ISO and let it update itself, your parents will have a completely free operating system.

Not free upgrading from Vista though?

Capt'n Midnight

unkel wrote: »

Chances are the original hardware is just fine and perfectly able to run W7 / W8.1 / W10. Why spend many hundreds to get a replacement?

My own main PC is about the same age (7.5 years old) and working very well (running W10). OP, if you install W10 from the last ISO and let it update itself, your parents will have a completely free operating system.

Many hundreds ?
I'd be thinking about three at the very very most. After all this isn't about buying a cheap laptop this weekend as there's plenty of time to wait for a bargain.

By the time you've bought the upgrade and a new hard drive you may still be stuck with a 32 bit CPU and 1.5GB of RAM.

It's a consideration.

funkey_monkey

FSL wrote: »

If you upgrade to 7 you will be able to upgrade to 10 for free. I don't know if any pricing has been announced regarding changing from any pre Windows 7 OS to 10 yet to enable you to compare the costs.

You might not be able to upgrade to 10. I got this message, but when I ran the checker it told me it was not compatible with my laptop.:(