You might want to check as you may be eligible for a free upgrade to WIN7.
Found this out by pure accident.
And how does one check?
I went to the website of the manufacturer of my computer(for something entirely different) and saw they had this set up.
They are sending discs to load Win7.
I did the same for my Dell and I’m eligible also. Already have it ordered.
VISTA…BAH!!!
Thanks. I’ll go and see if they have the offer.
the link above is the united kingdom
heres the one that should be used
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/buy/offers/upgrade-option.aspx
Last day of January is the cutoff date for the free ( if you qualify) Win 7 upgrade for Dell computers
Eligability for the free upgrade depends upon the manufacturer of your system. In general it is only valid if you bought your system in the second half of 2009 (after the Windows 7 launch date was announced). I also noticed that in the case of Dell they will not accept additional requests for media after 1/31/2010 so if you are going to jump on this do it ASAP (date seems to vary by manufacturer).
With that out of the way I’ll state that Windows 7 is a huge improvement over Windows Vista and if you are currently using Vista and are eligable for this upgrade you should take the manufacturer up on it. I’ve been using Windows 7 since the public Beta starting early last year and have been running the final version since it became available to IT Pros in early July.
However if you aren’t eligible for a free upgrade you may want to hold off. The upgrade prices for Windows 7 are a little steep (depending largely on the version you have); so you may not want to spend the cash.
The upgrade process is straight forward (did it on both my laptop and on my parents’ desktop), but it does take several hours so plan accordingly.
Brian
Brain: I read on MS website that the installation wipes the HD clean… So evidently you cant install it over the top of Vista?? That makes it a pain to have to backup a whole drive prior to installation…but it makes it cleaner at the end.
When I get mine Im going to the PC shop and have them back up my drive. They have a 2 terabite worm drive they can do it on super fast…I dont want to have to go thru a stack of DVD’s to get the stuff.
Fortunately our’s was a Christmas gift and only used for e-mail and web surfing.
Wiping it won’t mean much to us.
ACER’s update is thru 1/31 also so this much be a “Windows thing”.
Sully,
The information on the M$ website is a bit misleading. I’ll see if I can lay out the upgrade process without confusing the issue.
-
If you have Windows Vista and you are upgrading to the same or a higher version of Windows 7 the upgrade is “in place” and doesn’t destroy your existing data. For example: if you have Windows Vista Home Premium and you upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium the upgrade is in place and no data is lost. The same goes for an upgrade from Windows Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate. The M$ matrix is correct on which versions can be upgrade to what.
-
If you have Windows Vista x32 and you want to upgrade to an x64 version the information on the M$ website is correct, you’ll need to format your HD and start from scratch. However if you are upgrading as noted above (from one x32 or x64 version to the equivalent Windows 7 version the upgrade is in place and no format is required).
-
If you want to upgrade from Windows XP (any version) to Windows 7 (any version) you will have to format your HD and start from scratch. M$ does provide tools to handle some of this but they are mediocre at best and you’d be best to look for a 3rd party tool.
As I noted I’ve upgraded multiple times from Vista to Windows 7 without issue. In each case though I did as noted in either #1 or #2 and upgraded like to like and didn’t have any issues with lost programs or data.
Hope this helps.
Brian
Big Bad Wulf,
See my notes to Sully. The upgrade in your case is like to like so you should be able to do the upgrade “in place” with no loss of data and no need to format the system.
Brian
It is worth the upgrade folks…Win 7 is MUCH better.
Ive got ya Brian. I checked with my PC man and he told me the same thing…it can be used for EITHER a full install OR an upgrade. I want to partition my drive to make images, but may just make them to the external HD I have
Dell should know what version of Vista they shipped…its on their build-up sheets
It CANT BE any worse!!!..:eek:…