Selling some laptops next month, have a question about upgrading the OS.

ComputerGeek

[H]ard|Gawd
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Hello, guy's I have a question about upgrading a few Laptops OS's. I have about 12 laptops that I am planning on selling with different OS's on them, ranging from XP and Vista, to Windows 7. And I want your guy's opnion on which one's I should upgrade if any to Windows 8, if I would get more money with 8 and what not.

1. All of them except, the Windows 7 machines
2. Leave the XP machines alone, and upgrade only the Vista's to Windows 8?
3. Leave all of them alone I won't get my money back for Windows 8.

I was planing on leaving the Window 7 Machine's alone as some people prefer that OS. :confused:

Also, how does the Windows 8 upgrade work do you get a product key to install, or not? Most of the problem is I don't have HD's for them all. Can I just keep installing Vista or XP with different Product Key's and Upgrading them to Windows 8 on the same Hard Drive? How can I work that. Does it use the same product key as you had before? Thanks!
 
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Ask the people you are selling them too what they want. That is the best advice in my opinion.
 
Good god don't put windows 8 on ANY of the laptops.

Just leave the legitimate OS installed on each laptop, if the customer wants to upgrade, well you can do that at a later time, and also charge a extra fee to do so. ;)
 
Good god don't put windows 8 on ANY of the laptops.

Just leave the legitimate OS installed on each laptop, if the customer wants to upgrade, well you can do that at a later time, and also charge a extra fee to do so. ;)

There is nothing wrong with putting Windows 8 on any of those machines as long as they are compatible. Also, the older XP and Vista machines may run better as a consequence of installing Windows 8 on them.

That said, if the customer does not want it, there is little reason in spending the money on it.
 
Ask the people you are selling them too what they want. That is the best advice in my opinion.

Well I am planning on either putting them on eBay or on [H]ardFourm so I don't really know who will be buying them. It's not like I will be selling them to a company, because I don't have many clients.

Would Windows 8 be a Upgrade over Vista?

How does the Windows 8 upgrade work? Can I buy five download copies now and install them later? How much time do I have? Most of the problem is that I don't have HD's for all the Laptops. Where do I put the Vista and XP COA's in?

Thanks!
 
I personally wouldn't "upgrade" the OS.

Vista is fine, just had a rough start.
Nothing is wrong with 7.
XP has about a year left of security updates, but depending on the system's specs might not be worth it if they can't handle 8 so it might be best to offer another OS option.
 
OK, I planned on leaving 7, The Laptop's with XP are a little older and I probably won't get that much for them so I probably won't get any return on the $40 upgrade, so I think I'll leave those.

I was only thinking that if I upgraded the Vista's that I might get a little More for them since average people just think XP, Vista = Old PC, Windows 8 new PC. OR am I mistaken?


How does the Windows 8 upgrade work? Can I buy five download copies now and install them later? How much time do I have? Most of the problem is that I don't have HD's for all the Laptops. Where do I put the Vista and XP COA's in?

Thanks!
 
I would sell them as is, assuming they have been cleaned of personal info ie clean install.
If i were in the market for a used laptop I would not pay more for one with windows 8, i do not think you would get even the $15 upgrade price back. In my opinion you would be wasting your time and effort.
 
OK, I planned on leaving 7, The Laptop's with XP are a little older and I probably won't get that much for them so I probably won't get any return on the $40 upgrade, so I think I'll leave those.

I was only thinking that if I upgraded the Vista's that I might get a little More for them since average people just think XP, Vista = Old PC, Windows 8 new PC. OR am I mistaken?


How does the Windows 8 upgrade work? Can I buy five download copies now and install them later? How much time do I have? Most of the problem is that I don't have HD's for all the Laptops. Where do I put the Vista and XP COA's in?

Thanks!

Yes, you can re-run the upgrade advisor multiple times on the same pc and get multiple codes to use when installing from a disk on another computer.

You'll need to delete the upgrade advisor and its directory each time to let you 'start fresh'.

There are instructions online for performing a 'clean' install of 8 onto a blank HD, I don't think it will ask you for vista/xp keys. When I upgraded my laptop (which originaly had 7) all it had at the time was the windows 8 release preview and I had no activation issues.

As for whether you should upgrade or not. Its up to you, but my Wife's laptop originaly came with vista (1.8ghz pentium dual core, intel graphics and 2gb ram) and 8 made a huge difference to that. Windows 8 with + start is back does run quicker on my laptop than 7 did, but but the improvement isn't as marked.

If they have intel graphics check what drivers are available for windows 8. The intel installer seems a bit more picky than other vendors about what OS it installs on, it won't like putting vista drivers on 8 even if they'd work.
 
Yes, you can re-run the upgrade advisor multiple times on the same pc and get multiple codes to use when installing from a disk on another computer.

You'll need to delete the upgrade advisor and its directory each time to let you 'start fresh'.

There are instructions online for performing a 'clean' install of 8 onto a blank HD, I don't think it will ask you for vista/xp keys. When I upgraded my laptop (which originaly had 7) all it had at the time was the windows 8 release preview and I had no activation issues.

As for whether you should upgrade or not. Its up to you, but my Wife's laptop originaly came with vista (1.8ghz pentium dual core, intel graphics and 2gb ram) and 8 made a huge difference to that. Windows 8 with + start is back does run quicker on my laptop than 7 did, but but the improvement isn't as marked.

If they have intel graphics check what drivers are available for windows 8. The intel installer seems a bit more picky than other vendors about what OS it installs on, it won't like putting vista drivers on 8 even if they'd work.

Thanks for the help! Anyone else want to chime in on if the upgrade would be net me more than the $40 upgrade price? I seem to be getting mixed reviews.

Wait what Raxiel, you don't have to put the XP / Vista keys in? So what does Microsoft just expect you to be honest?

Could you point me to where the instructions are to install it on a blank Hard Drive, that would be really helpful.

Also, does anyone know if it is OK to buy upgrade copies from say a member on here? I'm just thinking if someone had a copy that they didn't want.
 
Thanks for the help! Anyone else want to chime in on if the upgrade would be net me more than the $40 upgrade price? I seem to be getting mixed reviews.

Wait what Raxiel, you don't have to put the XP / Vista keys in? So what does Microsoft just expect you to be honest?

Could you point me to where the instructions are to install it on a blank Hard Drive, that would be really helpful.

Also, does anyone know if it is OK to buy upgrade copies from say a member on here? I'm just thinking if someone had a copy that they didn't want.

I can only speak from my own experience, the upgrade was happy to install over the preview versions (although you were limited as to what you could keep of course) and I know of someone who installed a legit 8 upgrade over a cracked windows 7 install. I suspect MS don't really care, as long as you've actually given them money. It increases the market share for the store after all.

I've never done a completely clean install of 8. I liked installing over 7 because that kept most of the file type defaults (images etc) set to the desktop viewers and it doesn't seem to have come back to bite me yet.
If I were to do it though I'd probably follow Paul Thurrott's guide:
http://winsupersite.com/article/windows8/clean-install-windows-8-upgrade-media-144648

I'm not sure if the EULA prohibits reselling, but provided you could trust them not to re-use the code themselves at some point in the future I see no problem with buying a code from someone else. Of course if it ever was disputed in the future, I'd guess MS would side with whoever's name was on the original order, unless resale is permitted, in which case a copy of their email sending you the code should be (in theory) your reciept.
I'm just guessing about all this though.
 
EULA here:

http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/en/us/intellectualproperty/useterms/default.aspx

I can't be bothered to read it all, and IANAL, but skimming the first page...

If you buy the OS directly and not OEM (The wording seems to cover both full and upgrade versions), you can sell it. - Which to me obviously means you can also buy it second hand and expect the rights the EULA grants.

Oh look, they also stuck one of those now 'industry standard' arbitration clauses, no surprises there...

I'm not suggesting its likely that if you bought a code from someone else they might claim it back later. Just that it's technically possible, seeing as there's no physical disk to transfer.

Personally I wouldn't loose any sleep over it.
 
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