can a family pack upgrade be used on an XP netbook?

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Newmarket2

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I called Dell support to find out if their aggressively priced ($120) Family Pack home premium upgrade could be used on an XP netbook.
The agent went away and came back and said that it cannot - an XP machine requires a full-price W7 license.
Then, someone on Aardvark told me they had upgraded their XP machine using a family pack product.

Can anyone clear this up for me with certainty?
 

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windows 7 home premium
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windows 7 home premium
An upgrade disk (family pack or whatever else it may be called) can be used to install win7 on a computer as long as you possess a valid qualifying, underlying OS. So if you legally own that win xp, you can do a clean install of win7 completely legally. Only technical issue is theres no upgrade path from xp to win7, you'll need to do a clean install i.e. format the hdd and wipe all data, then install win7. So make sure you back up all important data beforehand.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html

In case you are wondering, no, you cant do an upgrade even if you have the full version.
 

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Windows 7 x64 pro/ Windows 7 x86 Pro/ XP SP3 x86
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Too many to describe...
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Windows 7 x64 pro/ Windows 7 x86 Pro/ XP SP3 x86
Bill,
Good to hear. I was aware of the problems moving from XP to 7 but was very unclear on this narrow question.....

NEXT QUESTION:
What do people think about upgrading a 2GB atom-based netbook to 7? Does that make sense? Will it run slower? faster? or no big diff but at least they'll all be the same os?
 

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windows 7 home premium
OS
windows 7 home premium
I dont know about people but personally I am fine with win7 on that netbook. 2 gb is the recommended minimum for win7 so you're fine. As for OS, all win7 editions have the same hardware requirements, the main question when it comes to netbooks is whether win7 (starter) or XP.

There are pros and cons of using either but I would go for win7- better driver support, continuing MS support by way of updates (remember xp support is set to be phased out) etc. Some folks have reported better battery life with xp but thats not universal and in any case depends on usage pattern.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 x64 pro/ Windows 7 x86 Pro/ XP SP3 x86
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Too many to describe...
OS
Windows 7 x64 pro/ Windows 7 x86 Pro/ XP SP3 x86
Bill2 said:
I dont know about people but personally I am fine with win7 on that netbook. 2 gb is the recommended minimum for win7 so you're fine. As for OS, all win7 editions have the same hardware requirements, the main question when it comes to netbooks is whether win7 (starter) or XP.

There are pros and cons of using either but I would go for win7- better driver support, continuing MS support by way of updates (remember xp support is set to be phased out) etc. Some folks have reported better battery life with xp but thats not universal and in any case depends on usage pattern.
Click to expand...
+1, you will be a lot better off with Win7 - in all regards.
 

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Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8from 1.6GHz Duo to i7
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HP, Dell, Gateway, Toshiba - 4 laptops and 2 desktops
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from 1.6GHz Duo to i7
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Newmarket2 - I'm running WIndows 7 Ultimate on an Atom netbook (an MSI Wind U100 with a 1.6GHz N270, and 1.5Gb RAM).

In day-to-day use, it honestly feels much more responsive than XP ever did on the same unit.

Go for it!
 

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Windows 7 Ultimate x64Intel Core 2 Duo E85008GbnVidia GeForce 7950 GX2
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Self-built
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500
Motherboard
Asus P5Q Pro
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8Gb
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nVidia GeForce 7950 GX2
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On-board
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2x Samsung B2330 TFT panels
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2x 1920x1080
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2x200GB SATA RAID, 2x1TB SATA RAID, 1x1TB eSATA/USB2
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700W
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Logitech Internet Navigator
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Logitech Performance MX
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20Mbit
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Also use an MSI Wind U100 netbook upgraded to 2Gb RAM, and running Windows 7 Ultimate (x86).
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