Renzatic on 3/6/2010 at 05:22
Quote Posted by Enchantermon
I am (finishing college), but he is not, and he's the one purchasing the parts. Plus, we're trying to spend as little money as possible; it's best not to put the money into something he won't need, even if it is a steal.
You will be spending as little as possible. I haven't been in college since...gawwwddd forever, and it's how I got my copy. You just send in an email from your .edu account and instantly save him some cash. Basically $35 if you're getting him a Home Premium upgrade through normal channels, or $135 against the true price of a Pro upgrade. Either way, you're golden.
And don't worry about any legal issues or potential grey areas. You're only allowed to use your email address once for the discount, so you're not really abusing anything. If you've already got a copy of Win7 for yourself, then just give him the cheap copy instead.
Oh, and no matter which way you go, make sure you get x64. There's practically no reasons to stick with 32-bit these days, specially not with a new computer.
Enchantermon on 3/6/2010 at 15:39
Quote Posted by Renzatic
You will be spending as little as possible. I haven't been in college since...gawwwddd forever, and it's how I got my copy. You just send in an email from your .edu account and instantly save him some cash. Basically $35 if you're getting him a Home Premium upgrade through normal channels, or $135 against the true price of a Pro upgrade. Either way, you're golden.
That's just an upgrade, though; this computer is going to have a completely fresh OS, which means I would need to buy and install the full retail version in order to use the upgrade (at least, that was the impression I was given).
EDIT: Well, okay, maybe not...anyone know if this works? (
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/how_use_your_windows_7_upgrade_disk_fresh_pc?page=0,1) How To: Use Your Windows 7 Upgrade Disk on a Fresh PC
Renzatic on 3/6/2010 at 18:25
You have three options.
The first is the most time consuming. Install your old copy of XP/Vista first, start the Win7 install from inside the OS, then reboot and continue on as usual. This is the intended method of installing an upgrade. You can still do a complete wipe/reinstall, but you have to launch from your old OS first.
The second is the easiest. Boot into the installer just like you would if you were installing a full copy, but when it prompts you for the key, don't enter anything and skip to the next step. Once it's all done and you're on your desktop, go ahead and activate your key. Best case scenario is it works and you've got a brand new copy of Windows 7 to play with. Worst case...
You install as stated above, but you end up having to tweak a couple of registry settings and rearm the activation from the command prompt before it'll accept your key. It takes all of 10 seconds to do, and, as far as I know, works 100% of the time. The link you posted shows you exactly how to do this.
Enchantermon on 3/6/2010 at 18:46
Quote Posted by Renzatic
The first is the most time consuming. Install your old copy of XP/Vista first, start the Win7 install from inside the OS, then reboot and continue on as usual. This is the intended method of installing an upgrade. You can still do a complete wipe/reinstall, but you have to launch from your old OS first.
:o
Oh, duh. Wow, I feel dumb. I swear school fried my brain... :sweat:
Okay then, out of those three, at least one of them should work. Sweet, thanks. :)
Enchantermon on 5/6/2010 at 00:17
Well, my friend decided to buy the iBUYPOWER anyway. Regardless, I appreciate all of the information and help you all provided; it will be very useful when I prepare to build my machine in the not-too-distant future. Thanks! :)
gunsmoke on 6/6/2010 at 22:45
I knew it.
Enchantermon on 8/6/2010 at 03:32
Meaning...?
