oem pre installed windows 8 new laptop

If you buy from ACER, the Recovery of Windows 8 will automatically activate.

If you buy from MS, you will be buying the DVD & a Product Key.

whs said:

I guess they wanted to make it easier by complicating things. So those 8.1 PCs don't have a COA sticker any more ??

My ASUS has a sticker, there just isn't any product code printed on it, as shown in Theog's post. I guess the assumption is you'll never have to know what it is. You can activate an 8.1 install with an 8.0 code, you just can't install with it. You use one of the generic install keys that won't activate to get around that. It's in the link he posted. Finding out what you OEM key is can be a pain though. I won't go into that as I don't want to drag this off topic.

As Theog stated, if you buy from Microsoft you'll end up buying a key that you don't need and pay a lot for the media. They won't sell you just the DVD. The Microsoft Windows 8 DVD will read and use your embedded key. If you buy from Acer it should be a lot cheaper as your just buying recovery media. The Microsoft DVD will let you do a clean install. The Acer media likely only does the factory restore which will load all the factory bloat ware back on. It will be like it was the first time you turned it on after taking it out of the box.

SIW2 said:

Run this and see if it picks up your firmware key, and note it down. If it does , you will be able to install 8.0
( lord knows why you would want to ).

Download | RWEverything
Under ACPI > MSDM table the key will be at the bottom.

skeggy said:

sorry I did not explain propperly I did note make any back up or recovery formatted and deleted all partitions custom installed windows 7 ie clean install used windows 7 key and activated. what I am asking is if I purchase online windows 8 oem recovery usb stick will I need a key to activate or will the bios automatically activate the recovery stick is not from microsoft.ie no key

It can't hurt to know what it is but its not needed if your using unmodified official Microsoft Windows 8 install media. The Acer recovery media should detect it also. You'll want it though if you decide to go right to windows 8.1.