Two questions about buying Windows 7

[The Soft Attack]

I apologize in advance if these questions have already been answered, but I just need some clarification on these two issues. Okay, so I have a computer which came with the 32-bit home premium version of Windows Vista, and I plan to get the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Ultimate when it comes out. From my understanding, I will need to do a clean install in order to switch over to Windows 7 when the time comes. My question is: would I need to buy the full version of Windows 7, or can I still buy the upgrade version, even though i need to do a clean install?

Also, I am a college student, and I was wondering if there is a discount on Windows 7 ultimate, since from my understanding you can buy the Professional/Home Premium versions for $30.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Night Hawk]

Welcome to the Se7enforums! The Soft Attack

When using a 7 upgrade disk the installer will detect the existing Vista installation already activated and offer the custom install option since you can't perform an upgrade install from any 32bit Windows into a newer 64bit edition.

As far as any discounts on the Ultimate edition upgrade or full that will be mainly upto the vendor or retail chain since MS was offering preorder discounts only on the Home Premium and Professional Editions.

"I want my Ultimate!" You know how that goes where the Ultimate is the full featured edition they get to charge more for without any promotional discounts!

Attending a launch party however will include a kit with the "Not for Resale" copy of Ultimate there for attending the 9am to 5pm event! But there are a limited number of seats for each city those will be held in on October 30th past the retail launch on the 22nd.

 

[The Soft Attack]

Thanks for the help! I'm currently looking in to whether my college is going to offer a discount for buying windows 7 or not. Anyway, thanks again!

 

[Night Hawk]

Hope you find one! The launch parties themselves provided a special 7 Ultimate pressing for the kits seen at those. When the initial preorder offers were first seen those were strictly for the Home Premium and Professional editions there.

Hopefully you will run into a good student discount or some promotional offer on the Ultimate edition since we are both looking to get the same thing!

 

[harpua]

Don't know if this was already mentioned, but if you have a .edu email address, you can order Win 7 Pro (or home prem) for $30. There is a long thead on it with links in this site. My alumni.edu address passed muster, lol, although I didn't need to order it b/c already have it from other sources.

 

[Joan Archer]

I believe the OP already knows about that Peter as mentioned in his post, if possible he wants the Ultimate version and a 64 bit one at student rates if possible

 

[WindowsInformer]

I apologize in advance if these questions have already been answered, but I just need some clarification on these two issues. Okay, so I have a computer which came with the 32-bit home premium version of Windows Vista, and I plan to get the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Ultimate when it comes out. From my understanding, I will need to do a clean install in order to switch over to Windows 7 when the time comes. My question is: would I need to buy the full version of Windows 7, or can I still buy the upgrade version, even though i need to do a clean install?

Also, I am a college student, and I was wondering if there is a discount on Windows 7 ultimate, since from my understanding you can buy the Professional/Home Premium versions for $30.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

No, you can only switch in between 32 and 64 bit with a full install, the upgrade will only replace Vista with 7. So sorry, you'll have to pay up.

$30? I don't know where you heard that from, but that is a crazy price, even if it's for college people. It was 50% off a few months ago when pre-ordering started, but back then only Premium and Professional could be ordered.

 

[pparks1]

Make sure that you understand the differences between the other versions and Ultimate. Seems many want Ultimate just based on the name...but once they look at the feature set...they realize that these are features they won't use. Thus, buying some of the other versions does make sense.

 

[Night Hawk]

That's why you compare editions to see what you need before making any decision. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/14422-compare-windows-7-editions.html

I doubt you'll find a better comparison then the one made there. I ended up with the Home Premium for Vista the last time but not for 7 since I will have use for everything the Ultimate edition offers in the way of features despite the higher price.

 

[bobkn]

No, you can only switch in between 32 and 64 bit with a full install, the upgrade will only replace Vista with 7. So sorry, you'll have to pay up.

$30? I don't know where you heard that from, but that is a crazy price, even if it's for college people. It was 50% off a few months ago when pre-ordering started, but back then only Premium and Professional could be ordered.

Sorry, but I believe that this is false, at least for the retail upgarde versions.

The retail upgrade versions of Win7 are supposed to include both 32 and 64 bit versions. A 32 bit version of XP or Vista will qualify for the use of the 64 bit upgrade license, but an upgrade-in-place won't be possible. (The Vista retail upgrade was similar, although the 64 bit DVD was only included with Ultimate. The disk could be ordered separately, for a fairly nominal charge - it was $10 in the USA. That was my path to Vista Home Premium X64. OEM versions of Vista did not qualify for the free X64 DVD.)

Switching from 32 bit to 64 bit may not be permitted with the free upgrade that is available with a coupon for PCs purchased after 26 June. I thinks it's like-for-like: if you buy a machine with Vista Home Premium X86 (32 bit), you get Win7 Home Premium X86.

I'm not sure what additional restrictions apply on the $30 student version:

741

I believe that the student version is an upgrade, but whether it's the same as the retail version, I don't know.

I'm not sure why Microsoft makes things so confusing with their licenses. I suppose that I should apply the modern version of Occam's razor: never attribute to malice what can be explained by simple incompetence.

 

[Night Hawk]

You wouldn't be able to perform an inplace upgrade but likely a clean install with an upgrade disk once the installer saw an activated installation present or a genuine disk for the older version. The new installation would simply replace the present.

With a full install version disk you would simply select the custom install and see the former packed up as well into the Windows.old folder. The promotions seen for 7 however are still more or less geared at the HP and Pro editions not the Ultimate which stinks for people who couldn't attend a launch party.

 

[bobtran]

I apologize in advance if these questions have already been answered, but I just need some clarification on these two issues. Okay, so I have a computer which came with the 32-bit home premium version of Windows Vista, and I plan to get the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Ultimate when it comes out. From my understanding, I will need to do a clean install in order to switch over to Windows 7 when the time comes. My question is: would I need to buy the full version of Windows 7, or can I still buy the upgrade version, even though i need to do a clean install?

Also, I am a college student, and I was wondering if there is a discount on Windows 7 ultimate, since from my understanding you can buy the Professional/Home Premium versions for $30.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

No, you can only switch in between 32 and 64 bit with a full install, the upgrade will only replace Vista with 7. So sorry, you'll have to pay up.

$30? I don't know where you heard that from, but that is a crazy price, even if it's for college people. It was 50% off a few months ago when pre-ordering started, but back then only Premium and Professional could be ordered.

Not true...You CAN change from x86 to x64 with an upgrade disk but it must be a CLEAN install. This option is made available to you during the upgrade process.

 

[Night Hawk]

When moving into a newer version of Windows the best advice and end results have always been seen with a fresh clean install to start with. The thing to be looking at here however is the information on the upgrade paths available. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1818-upgrade-install-windows-7-a.html