Help with purchasing additional licenses for VISTA please

hethmar

Son bought himself a gaming computer (from ebay?!) but it arrived with no operating system

To just see if its working Ive let him put my Windows Home Premium vista on it - although he tells me he really needs 64 bit not the 32 bit. Thats by the by. I was told that you can use one licence key for 3 computers in a household (networked) but I dont think thats so? I have done some googling and find that I have to pay for another computer to use the OE.

Can anyone tell me the best place to do this please?

Ive looked at the MS site for UK but having filled out the enquiry it tells me they are unable to deal with this at the moment.

Im a bit horrified to see the prices I think they require for an additional person to use the same OE - Im hoping there are cheaper places to buy this?

cfbc

Firstly, go back to the people you bought the PC from and ask if they can sell you a "genuine" Vista.. Many have offers and are cheaper than buying from retail outlets.

Secondly, go to somewhere like Ebuyer.com and have a look.. You will have to pay for a Vista O/S as Vista can only be run on one PC (one licence per PC) at a time I am afraid as far as I am aware....

Ok, you can buy corperate versions, etc, but thats gonna cost you!

Good luck.

gjchester

hethmar wrote: »

Son bought himself a gaming computer (from ebay?!) but it arrived with no operating system

To just see if its working Ive let him put my Windows Home Premium vista on it - although he tells me he really needs 64 bit not the 32 bit. Thats by the by. I was told that you can use one licence key for 3 computers in a household (networked) but I dont think thats so? I have done some googling and find that I have to pay for another computer to use the OE.

Can anyone tell me the best place to do this please?

Ive looked at the MS site for UK but having filled out the enquiry it tells me they are unable to deal with this at the moment.

Im a bit horrified to see the prices I think they require for an additional person to use the same OE - Im hoping there are cheaper places to buy this?

The licence is PER machine, You are not licenced to put it on more than one machine at all. Where that cofusion may come form is you can buy Office Home and student and put it on 3PC's, or if you buy a regular copy of office it can go one a desktop and laptop, assuming they are used by the same person. Unfortunatly you need to buy a new licence.
You really should buy a retail version as yout not buying it with new hardware so it will be around £200.

Yes it's expensive, but MS know most people get it bundled with the PC so don't normally see the cost, and the big companies will be paying a few pounds a copy as they buy in the millions and you only want one copy.

You can buy a OEM version that should be sold with some hardware, usually a Hard Drive, but even so you are looking at £100 or so. Try www.scan.co.uk. You could buy an upgrade licence but as you don't have anything it's not an upgrade, so technically it's invalid.

hethmar

Oh dear, thats expensive isnt it. The computer cost him nearly £700 as it was, without a monitor or anything - he assumed (!) that an OS would be included.

So isnt just adding his puter to my licence going to be cheaper than buying a whole new program?

Psychofly

You can't add his computer to your license. You need a completely separate copy of Vista. Volume licensing is only available for large scale business agreements.

Unless the gaming PC has 4GB or more of RAM then Vista 64 bit isn't really required in my opinion. If you can post the PC specifications here then we could let you know which version is best. I'm a little concerned that given he's not sure how to license or buy an operating system he's maybe just repeating facts he's overheard about needing Vista 64. It's an expensive bit of software to make a mistake with... chances are Vista 32 or Vista 64 will both be suitable but it's probably best to be sure.

[Deleted User]

hethmar wrote: »

So isnt just adding his puter to my licence going to be cheaper than buying a
whole new program?

You can't do that. The license you have got grants you permission to use the copy you have on your machine only, it doesn't make provisions for use on other any other machines.

DatabaseError

at £700 for a desktop, it should be a decent PC, so would benefit from vista64
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Windows-Vista-Premium-OEM/dp/B000MFIPDC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1231498179&sr=8-1

Psychofly

Yeah but my point is, not necessarily. Really with any less than 4GB (and I'm assuming it probably has 4GB at least given the price) then Vista 64 is more resource hungry than anything else and there won't really be much advantage - particularly on the gaming side of things. Once you hit 4GB then it becomes worth it but without knowing the specs I'm not going to recommend going one way or the other and will stick with saying you need a fresh license for Vista for every PC you install it on and the link in DatabaseError's post is an example of what you may require. Alternatively you could install Vista on the new PC using your current disc and then choose to purchase a license online during the install - this sometimes saves you a little money since you don't have to buy the media again however being Microsoft that's not always the case.

hethmar

Many thanks data, but this is on that advert - does it mean I cant buy it?

This software is not intended for purchase or installation by consumers.

hethmar

I just checked - the puter is 8 GB

but Im concerned about that ad on amazon saying the software cant be purchased or installed by consumers?

[Deleted User]

Psychofly wrote: »

Yeah but my point is, not necessarily. Really with any less than 4GB (and I'm assuming it probably has 4GB at least given the price) then Vista 64 is more resource hungry than anything else and there won't really be much advantage - particularly on the gaming side of things.

There's no performance difference between x64 + 2GB RAM running 32 bit software and x86 + 2GB RAM doing the same. There's more to a 64 bit operating system than just how much memory it can address. Now 64 bit is becoming more prominent with software vendors both hardware and software, you are starting to see anywhere between 5-25% increases in performance over x86 in the same conditions. Don't forget that x64 offers more security measures over x86, and x86 is going to limit you if you decide to throw another 2GB of RAM in when it tumbles in price again.

Alternatively you could install Vista on the new PC using your current disc and then choose to purchase a license online during the install - this sometimes saves you a little money since you don't have to buy the media again however being Microsoft that's not always the case.

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Microsoft won't undercut the prices of their partners, it'd be commercial suicide, so you really should be looking around and away from MS to purchase it.

There's no reason to stay behind with x86 any more.