Switch Win 7 OS from HP to Pro - New Laptop & Old Laptop

I have 5 year old Vista laptop (Compaq) that was upgraded to Win 7 Pro retail copy. I just bought a new laptop (Acer) that has OEM Win 7 HP installed on it. I was thinking of installing the old Win 7 Pro on the new laptop - Acer (only if there are any performance differences) and transfer the OEM Win 7 HP to the old one - Compaq.
I have two questions-
1. Is it worth in terms of performance and day to day usage to upgrade to Win 7 Pro from HP?
2. Can switch OS licenses around without any trouble? I should technically be able to do that because both are legally mine. Are there any issues doing the switch?

I will create an image of both HDD and also burn recovery disks for the new laptop before making this switch.

Thanks for the help.

There is no performance difference whatsoever between Home Premium and Pro, just a few expensive extra features. I would always go by whether I need the extra features or not.

You cannot migrate Windows 7 factory OEM to another machine - it lives and dies on the machine it came on.

You can however migrate a WIn7 upgrade to the machine of your choice as long as a qualifying XP or Vista OS came on it, or there is a retail copy that won't be used while it is qualifying for Upgrade version.

To upgrade a lesser WIn7 version to a higher version use Anytime Upgrade which will accept both Anytime keys (which cost less) or Win7 retail keys to unlock the extra features in just a few minutes time.

Thanks so much for the reply Greg. As for the performance differences between HP and Pro, I read that boot time, resume from sleep time is much faster on the Pro than HP.

I downloaded install key information from the Belarc free tool. They key on the bottom of the laptop is different than the one Belarc shows. Which one is valid for install?

Also how easy is it to install a pre-installed software from the recovery disk? Can I individually install the software that I need? Do I need the install key for installation?

The installed key is a factory activated OEMSLP one used to mass activate.

When you change to OEM-COA key from sticker, it is administered by MS Activation Servers.

Check on your computer's Support Downloads webpage for available software to see if what you need is there for reinstalling after clean reinstall. If it's not there you might want to use Anytime Upgrade to unlock the Pro features so that everything else from Home Prem remains in place.

Thank you Greg. I gather from what you said is that I can use install keys on the bottom of the laptop.

I made the application and backup disks from the laptop, that didn't have the Photoshop elements that came pre-installed.

One question then, if I make a image backup of the hard drive then can I install just photoshop from that backup after the clean install? I would hate to lose photoshop after the clean install. One of the reasons why I bought the laptop was that photoshop came pre-installed.

Yes the COA sticker has the key you'd use for Clean Reinstalling Windows 7.

Unfortunately you can't break a Program or App out of an Image or the Recovery Disks, but they must be reinstalled.

It's very rare to have Photoshop Elements preinstalled on a factory OEM rig and I'd think they would provide a disk as well as the program's own Product ID for software so valuable.

You can audit all of the installed Programs' Product Keys using Belarc Advisor - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com.

Then if you know for sure the Photoshop program's key is good, you can reinstall using it by finding the Photoshop installer for that exact version.

That was quick. Thanks again Greg. Dell and Acer have Photoshop elements pre-installed on some of their models.

I did use Belarc tool to get the keys for Windows and Photoshop elements. How can I be sure that the key for photoshop is good for reinstall? I guess I could call Adobe and find out. I don't want to take the risk of losing it because I bought this laptop for editing raw pictures of the family.

Yes, I would ask Adobe Tech Support about the key and how to get reinstall media. They may refer you to your OEM. If so query them about what is different about the OEM installer. You may find it on the web.

The Win7 product key is not the key on COA sticker because it was mass activated at factory using OEM-SLP method. When you reinstall and activate with the key on sticker it will change to OEM-COA activation administered in MS Servers.

Ok thanks. Thats begs the question if there is any reason if I should do image backup of the HDD. I already have the restore disks that were made. I dont have any data on the laptop that is important. That rules out one reason why I should do an image backup.

It's a good idea if you have the storage to have a secondary backup since Recovery disks can fail. That way if you want to migrate your Pro key elsewhere you can quickly restore or reimage HP.
Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup
Macrium - Image your system
With a WD or Seagate HD you get free Acronis premium imaging app.

The HP key represents a $100+ value that is not being used while you Upgrade to Pro, which is why I would only do so if I need the extra features since there is no performance upgrade whatsoever.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...oducts/compare