OS purchasing advice
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I recently bought a new PC that came with Win XP home on it. I'd like to upgrade to XP professional however and thought I would buy the upgrade (£150 ish). Before I got round to it however I found this[^] site that sells the OEM version of Windows which is quite a bit cheaper. Would I be better simply buying the OEM version of Windows XP instead of the upgrade? What advantages are there to the retail version other than being able to upgrade? SuzyB If I had a better memory I would remember more.
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I recently bought a new PC that came with Win XP home on it. I'd like to upgrade to XP professional however and thought I would buy the upgrade (£150 ish). Before I got round to it however I found this[^] site that sells the OEM version of Windows which is quite a bit cheaper. Would I be better simply buying the OEM version of Windows XP instead of the upgrade? What advantages are there to the retail version other than being able to upgrade? SuzyB If I had a better memory I would remember more.
You can call MS support rather than having to use the OEM's support line. Full packaged product versions of Windows operating systems - including upgrades, I believe - include two 'free' support incidents. If you're buying from that site you will have no support. OK, hands up who's ever called MS Technical Support about a problem with Windows? Stability. What an interesting concept. -- Chris Maunder
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I recently bought a new PC that came with Win XP home on it. I'd like to upgrade to XP professional however and thought I would buy the upgrade (£150 ish). Before I got round to it however I found this[^] site that sells the OEM version of Windows which is quite a bit cheaper. Would I be better simply buying the OEM version of Windows XP instead of the upgrade? What advantages are there to the retail version other than being able to upgrade? SuzyB If I had a better memory I would remember more.
I recently upgraded a friends PC, the main difference as far as I can tell is that retail comes in a nice box, OEM does not. I bought it from my local shop http://www.mdcomponents.co.uk/ I am sure surfing the net you will find a price to beat overclockers. Actually I did have some real grief with overclockers, as it happens the hardware I was buying was for a firm of solicitors, so it was sorted very quickly!
"An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't." - Anatole France
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I recently bought a new PC that came with Win XP home on it. I'd like to upgrade to XP professional however and thought I would buy the upgrade (£150 ish). Before I got round to it however I found this[^] site that sells the OEM version of Windows which is quite a bit cheaper. Would I be better simply buying the OEM version of Windows XP instead of the upgrade? What advantages are there to the retail version other than being able to upgrade? SuzyB If I had a better memory I would remember more.
I upgraded two laptops from Hone -> Pro with an OEM version of Pro. No fuss, no muss, and a lot cheaper than any upgrade version....also no need to show it a 'real' Windows disk if you install onto a flattened PC. I got it from Ebuyer[^] - quick delivery, good price. Stuart Dootson 'Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p'
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I recently bought a new PC that came with Win XP home on it. I'd like to upgrade to XP professional however and thought I would buy the upgrade (£150 ish). Before I got round to it however I found this[^] site that sells the OEM version of Windows which is quite a bit cheaper. Would I be better simply buying the OEM version of Windows XP instead of the upgrade? What advantages are there to the retail version other than being able to upgrade? SuzyB If I had a better memory I would remember more.
Generally you need to purchase some item of 'Non-Trivial' hardware with OEM software. At least from the suppliers i use. Jon
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You can call MS support rather than having to use the OEM's support line. Full packaged product versions of Windows operating systems - including upgrades, I believe - include two 'free' support incidents. If you're buying from that site you will have no support. OK, hands up who's ever called MS Technical Support about a problem with Windows? Stability. What an interesting concept. -- Chris Maunder
Mike Dimmick wrote: who's ever called MS Technical Support about a problem with Windows? I spent a week on the phone with support once. :^) Top 10 Geek Resulutions: 5. To decipher what that big room is, which has the blue ceiling and poor climate control.