Windows 8 upgrade for 40.00 through January 2013

[yoda313]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/258674/windows_8_upgrade_offer_40_even_if_upgrading_from_win_xp.html

Damn!

Not bad.

I might have to consider this. I'd have to look into the upgrade assistant to see if either of my computers are ok with it.

I have an xp and a vista pc. I'd have to run a thorough search of my programs on my xp machine to see what if any I might lose on an upgrade from xp to 8. Also given the age of the machine itself I'd at least consider buying a new harddrive for it since its an older replacement drive - not original.

For 15.00 you can get the backup dvd mailed. So for 65.00 you get the download and then a backup dvd less than the 70.00 it says a store bought copy would run you.

It says can upgrade from xp through 7. Though it mentioned that only 7 would be a clean pass with everything. Settings would carry over from vista but not the applications. And only files would carry over from xp.

This is really interesting. Really interesting.....

[jagabo]

At that price I might buy one just to have it for testing. From what I've seen, I expect I'll be running Win7 on most of my computers for a long time.

[Constant Gardener]

I see the local big-box store is selling Win7 Pro upgrades for $250. That should change...

[jman98]

As always with Windows, it remains to be seen if the upgrade will really and truly work as planned. I'd advise anyone to back up important files prior to attempting it and to be prepared to have to do a clean install anyway.

I commend Microsoft for actually trying to offer attractive pricing for the first time in their history. I am kind of skeptical about whether users will like Win 8 though. My hunch is that it will fail like Vista did, but it won't matter any more than Vista's failures did.

[jagabo]

I commend Microsoft for actually trying to offer attractive pricing for the first time in their history.

They've had $40 upgrades (very limited time) in the past.

I am kind of skeptical about whether users will like Win 8 though.

That's why they're offering this $40 upgrade for such a long period of time! Gotta suck people in.

My hunch is that it will fail like Vista did, but it won't matter any more than Vista's failures did.

I agree that Win8 will have prolems. But a flop from Microsoft would be pure gold for most other companies. Vista sales weren't that bad, even if a few people downgraded to XP.

[MOVIEGEEK]

If you buy a Windows 7 PC between 6/2/12 and 1/31/13 you can upgrade to 8 for $14.99USD.

https://windowsupgradeoffer.com/en-US/

I'm still not impressed with 8 so I'm going to stick with 7.

[FulciLives]

I plan to stick to Windows 7 myself. Microsoft has said that it will be supported through 2020 and by then I'm sure Windows 9 (or whatever is to come after Windows 8) will be out by then!

[handyguy]

It's just a upgrade. Sounds like a patch kind of thing.

[yoda313]

It's just a upgrade. Sounds like a patch kind of thing.

Its supposed to be the same thing as the real deal. It should be the metro interface. However as long it has the desktop interface that is all that matters.

[epsilonalpha]

lol, so MS do know of the strong internet backlash of 8.

[lordsmurf]

I'll probably end up using Server 2012 at some point,
but for now 2008 and 2008 R2 are fine.

I still use XP on the main desktop.

Ain't broke, not fixing it.

[PartingShot]

This offer from MS is also a good way to migrate from XP to Win7 Professional, for those who don't wish to go to Win8.

From Anandtech:

On that note, for those of you still on Windows XP, the fact that Microsoft is offering Windows 8 Pro as opposed to Windows 8 (consumer) should be of particular interest. Windows 8 Pro comes with downgrade rights, which allow the owner to legally install older versions of Windows. So for those of you needing to upgrade from XP but still wanting to hang back with Windows 7, this is a de-facto $40 Windows 7 Professional upgrade too.

Source:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6065/windows-8-upgrade-will-cost-just-3999

I am one of those holdouts who still uses XP, but I am seriously considering making the jump to W7Pro, using the upgrade offer from MS. But some feedback from this group would be appreciated.

I use my XP desktop to do MPEG2 cutting, post-processing, and compression/transcoding. The tools I would like to bring from XP to W7 are the following:

VideoRedo TV Suite, 3.x (latest beta)
CCE 2.70 SP
x264, latest
CCExtractor 0.55
Avisynth 2.x (32-bit), latest stable release

There may be others, but these are the most important. As most of these tools were either released, or have had significant development (or reached maturity) during XP's heyday, I am concerned that changing my desktop OS will have a negative impact on my ability to maintain my present toolset and workflow.

So... has anyone had *ANY* issues AT ALL with any of the above programs on Windows 7? Are there any 64-bit issues to be aware of (assuming I use the 64-bit version of W7)?

I thank the community here in advance for any feedback on the XP-to-W7 issue. Convince me to make the switch

[usually_quiet]

I am one of those holdouts who still uses XP, but I am seriously considering making the jump to W7Pro, using the upgrade offer from MS. But some feedback from this group would be appreciated.

I use my XP desktop to do MPEG2 cutting, post-processing, and compression/transcoding. The tools I would like to bring from XP to W7 are the following:

VideoRedo TV Suite, 3.x (latest beta)
CCE 2.70 SP
x264, latest
CCExtractor 0.55
Avisynth 2.x (32-bit), latest stable release

There may be others, but these are the most important. As most of these tools were either released, or have had significant development (or reached maturity) during XP's heyday, I am concerned that changing my desktop OS will have a negative impact on my ability to maintain my present toolset and workflow.

So... has anyone had *ANY* issues AT ALL with any of the above programs on Windows 7? Are there any 64-bit issues to be aware of (assuming I use the 64-bit version of W7)?

I thank the community here in advance for any feedback on the XP-to-W7 issue. Convince me to make the switch

I either have or had everything on your list except CCE installed on my Windows 7 32-bit machine. No problems running any of them.

[FulciLives]

@PartingShot

All that stuff works with Windows 7

I've been using Windows 7 64-Bit for about 2 1/2 years now. Got it in December of 2009 as I recall. Originally I had the Home Premium version (64-Bit) but then I did the upgrade where you can do a download from Microsoft and it upgrade your Home Premium to Ultimate (again 64-Bit). It worked. Not sure if I really needed to do that though. Home Premium seems to work fine.

Honestly Windows 7 really rocks. There's no reason to stay using XP anymore. My only word of caution is that you should have 8GB of RAM if you are going with the 64-Bit version of Windows 7. I'm amazed how many computers I see (usually in retail outlets or in ads for such places) that come with Windows 7 64-Bit but have less than 8GB of RAM. That's just sad.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[usually_quiet]

Check that your hardware, especially video capture hardware, is supported before leaving XP behind. You may own some irreplaceable piece of hardware for which Windows 7 drivers either don't exist, or do exist but don't include all of their former controls.

[PartingShot]

Okay, I'm really looking forward to moving up. Actually, in case you missed it on Slickdeals, the Windows7 Home Premium Family Pack (3-User license) is currently on sale through Amazon (3rd party seller, but fulfilled by Amazon, so free shipping applies) for $94.99. I just bought one yesterday.

Link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002MV2MG0/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8

Then I read about this new upgrade announcement from Microsoft. Now I'm wondering if I should cancel the order I just made w/ Amazon, and just pay the extra $ (per upgrade license) for Win7 Pro, instead of using a 3-license pack for Win7 Home Premium.

Originally I had the Home Premium version (64-Bit) but then I did the upgrade where you can do a download from Microsoft and it upgrade your Home Premium to Ultimate (again 64-Bit). It worked. Not sure if I really needed to do that though. Home Premium seems to work fine.

Thanks FulciLives. So what would you do... spend $39.99-per-upgrade-license for PRO, or stay with the $31.66 I just paid (per license) for Home Premium???

I'm inclined to go with Pro, simply because it costs a major grip compared to Home versions... or maybe I just have $8.34 burning a hole in my pocket???

[MOVIEGEEK]

PartingShot,
If your PC specs are correct on you profile then you should buy a new PC, 2GB of RAM and an Athlon II 250 won't do well on Windows 7. XP will be supported with updates until 4/8/14, buy a new quad core 8GB+ RAM PC then because Windows 7 will be still be around. Or buy a new Windows 7 PC now and enjoy faster encoding.

[PartingShot]

PartingShot,
If your PC specs are correct on you profile then you should buy a new PC, 2GB of RAM and an Athlon II 250 won't do well on Windows 7. XP will be supported with updates until 4/8/14, buy a new quad core 8GB+ RAM PC then because Windows 7 will be still be around. Or buy a new Windows 7 PC now and enjoy faster encoding.

Yep, the PC specs are current. And I hear ya. A new build for the current desktop is being planned and budgeted. And I'm switching back to Intel. Should I go with Ivy, or get it on with Sandy, while she's still available

[epsilonalpha]

PartingShot,
If your PC specs are correct on you profile then you should buy a new PC, 2GB of RAM and an Athlon II 250 won't do well on Windows 7. XP will be supported with updates until 4/8/14, buy a new quad core 8GB+ RAM PC then because Windows 7 will be still be around. Or buy a new Windows 7 PC now and enjoy faster encoding.

Sorry but no. It will do well on 7, better than XP which degrade over time. Of course, if encode is his aim it will be slow, as slow as it is on XP, but not slower.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Sorry but no. It will do well on 7, better than XP which degrade over time. Of course, if encode is his aim it will be slow, as slow as it is on XP, but not slower.

I think you misunderstood me, I meant a quad core PC with 8GB of RAM will be faster than a dual core with 2GB of RAM. As for which Intel chipset to get, I'm not an expert but I would go to Anandtech and take a look at their benchmarks:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/2

[fritzi93]

Win7 Pro SP1 64-bit here with 16 GB of RAM. (RAM is cheap and I run VMs). I skipped Vista entirely.

As mentioned Win7 is really good; I don't see the point in upgrading unless one is currently running XP or Vista.

[usually_quiet]

PartingShot,
If your PC specs are correct on you profile then you should buy a new PC, 2GB of RAM and an Athlon II 250 won't do well on Windows 7. XP will be supported with updates until 4/8/14, buy a new quad core 8GB+ RAM PC then because Windows 7 will be still be around. Or buy a new Windows 7 PC now and enjoy faster encoding.

A quad-core is always going to be better than a dual-core for any software that can use the additional cores.

...but I have been running Windows 7 for the past 3 years quite successfully using that same CPU. I did upgrade to 4GB of memory after a year though. Even running Windows 7-32-bit, it helped. No, I don't do a lot of encoding. Never have and never expect to even if I get a quad core next time around.

Yes I did read your next post, but the initial one was so absurd, I had to say something.

[hello_hello]

Win7 Pro SP1 64-bit here with 16 GB of RAM. (RAM is cheap and I run VMs). I skipped Vista entirely.

As mentioned Win7 is really good; I don't see the point in upgrading unless one is currently running XP or Vista.

I'm currently running XP and still struggling to find a reason to upgrade it. Are there many good ones?

I hate Vista as much as the next person, but I've not used Win7 much. I didn't mind it when I did, it just seemed like Vista without the need to be constantly exclaiming "FFS" because it endlessly annoys you. Not hating Win7 hasn't been a good enough reason to upgrade though.

[fritzi93]

I'm currently running XP and still struggling to find a reason to upgrade it. Are there many good ones?

Most members here could probably explain it better, but I'll take a stab at it:

Cons of Win7....I can't think of any. Okay, I turned off UAC, but that's easy enough to do. Now that's out of the way.

Pros of Win7:

1) It's more robust than XP, just as XP is more robust than Win98. After a couple years on XP, I had my procedure down: Clean install, set up all my programs, get everything configured and image it. Because I'd need it.

XP was a big improvement over Win98 in stability and how long one could go between fresh installs, and in the same way Win7 improves on XP. (Of course I still maintain images, but my base OS hasn't needed re-imaging on the office computer, 2 years now, or this computer, 8 months now. VMs are a different story, but they're essentially disposable if you keep copies.)

2) Organization. I confess I never warmed to how XP was laid out and used the Classic view the whole time (8 years) I used it. I felt the same way at first with Win7 and briefly flirted with a program that mimicked Classic in Win7. But I switched back and within a couple days had fully adjusted. What I especially like is how one can maintain an uncluttered desktop and still have instant access to anything used frequently.

3) Fragmentation. I rarely check on it any more. Even on big storage drives that have had a lot of writes/deletes of big files, it just doesn't happen, not to extent I'd see it with XP.

4) Stable drivers, especially video drivers. With XP, I could count on a video driver re-install every couple months, and probably a re-install of my Hauppauge HD PVR drivers too.

4) Desktop Gadgets. A guilty pleasure. I have a CPU monitoring gadget, a weather gadget, and a slideshow gadget. Lots of them are available. Desktop themes too, if you like that sort of thing.

Like I said, others can probably do better. That's just a few things off the top of my head.

Good luck.

[El Heggunte]

Just for the notes, and to whom this may interest...

My notebook doesn't use XP, but only because I was too lazy to look for XP-compatible drivers ( besides, probably I would not find them anyway ). It came with Windows 7, but I downgraded to Vista SP2, only because Vista is less annoying than Seven. Power-users have no need for the so-called "libraries", we prefer the Classic Start menu, we don't like Aero, and we don't like that stupid "feature" when we search for files. Not to mention that the default owner of the computer YOU BOUGHT is not you, it's something called "Trusted Installer".

[NICEBUD]

yoda
Have you thought about getting a full OEM copy of W7 ?
Only there usally half the cost of full retail.
Plus you can dual boot your system and keep your Xp as you want it.
From my years dealings of upgrading any windows ive always had problems later on.
Best to install full version every time keeps the problems smaller (you no all that driver sh*t)
Here`s a link to show you what mean about OEM versions in the UK.


http://www.digitalpromo.co.uk/-c-3_294.html

This is just a suggestion

[usually_quiet]

Just for the notes, and to whom this may interest...

My notebook doesn't use XP, but only because I was too lazy to look for XP-compatible drivers ( besides, probably I would not find them anyway ). It came with Windows 7, but I downgraded to Vista SP2, only because Vista is less annoying than Seven. Power-users have no need for the so-called "libraries", we prefer the Classic Start menu, we don't like Aero, and we don't like that stupid "feature" when we search for files. Not to mention that the default owner of the computer YOU BOUGHT is not you, it's something called "Trusted Installer".

You can try to hang onto XP and Vista, but eventually there will be no new hardware made that supports them, not just laptops.

Although you are not one of them, there are Windows 7 power users.

[wulf109]

My own expierence is that Windows after XP gets slower for DVD and BR conversion. Vista crawled,W7 was slightly faster,and W8 in beta looks no faster than W7. It just seems to get larger and more bloated with each new version.

[FulciLives]

A quad core CPU (and for video encoding it really doesn't matter if AMD or INTEL in fact you really only "need" INTEL if you are a hard core gamer as that is where it really shines) and 8GB of RAM should run Windows 7 64-Bit extremely well. I suppose you could do 4GB if you go with the 32-Bit version.

It is heavier on resources but with a fast CPU and enough RAM it runs very well and you can always run WinXP in VirualBox if you need some piece of software that doesn't work in Windows 7 but that's pretty rare I think (except of course for some old drivers for some old hardware in which case I don't think a VirtualBox solution will really help).

I'm not pushing for the latest and greatest all the time. I plan on avoiding Windows 8 for as long as possible (and perhaps even skipping it for what comes after just like I went straight from XP to 7 and skipped Vista). So yeah I'm not a new jump-on-the-bandwagon Microsoft lover but at the same time XP is like REALLY old now and Windows 7 runs VERY well. So avoiding Windows 7 at this point is useless unless your computer is so old that it can't handle the requirements of Windows 7 and if that is the case then you probably need a new computer anyway (which will run it well).

Also you better get Windows 7 while you can still buy it. Windows 8 is coming real soon ... (cue threatening music)

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[hech54]

XP Pro for me.