Buying Windows

Miroslav

What is the cheapest, legal way to buy Windows for a machine with no OS on it?

Looking at Windows 7 or 8. No OS so don't qualify for Windows 10 on it and I guess I won't be able to take the Windows 10 download from another machine and put it on the machine with no OS instead?

Or should I try Linux on the spare machine?

Many thanks.

System

You can get a copy of Win 7 from the likes of Ebuyer, Dabs etc for about £68.

It's probably cheaper on Ebay but personally I wouldn't trust it to be genuine

esuhl

Miroslav wrote: »

Or should I try Linux on the spare machine?

It depends what you need to use the PC for, and how easy you think you'll find it to install, configure and use a GNU/Linux distribution.

Ubuntu seems to be popular with people who want a rich OS out-of-the-box and aren't interested in tweaking the OS too much. If you're the type that likes to tweak/customise the system, Ubuntu will drive you crazy, however!

Arch Linux is great if you care about performance and don't mind using a text shell to configure your perfect system. If you're technically-minded, know what you want, and know the absolute basics of Linux, you'll love Arch. If you just want an OS that works immediately without manual intervention, Arch ain't for you.

There are plenty of other distros too. If you have the time, I'd definitely suggest trying a GNU/Linux distro. You've got nothing to lose, and about £75 to gain (by not buying a Windows licence).

Sam_Fallow

Why not try Linux for free and then go for W7 if you don't get on with it.

Ubuntu or Mint versions are very user friendly.

henm2

I would go down the Linux route.

Which distro you choose depends a lot on how old your machine is. For modern machines built in the last 5 years I would go for Linux Mint Cinnamon 17.2. For anything older but less than 10 years old I would go for LXLE 12.04.5

http://www.lxle.net/articles/?post=lxle-14042-12045-released

Either of the above operating systems are easy to use, safer than windows and come with lots of good free software including Libre Office, Firefox, VLC media player.. If however you are into video editing and gaming I would go down the windows route as these are the two areas in which linux based systems are weak in my opinion.

Fightsback

No harm in trying Linux as it's free and you will have expanded your computer knowledge. Do remember it isn't Windows and things work differently just in the same way Mac OSX isn't Windows. Plenty of folks here to help you so give it a try.

Fightsback

esuhl wrote: »

Arch Linux is great if you care about performance and don't mind using a text shell to configure your perfect system. If you're technically-minded, know what you want, and know the absolute basics of Linux, you'll love Arch. If you just want an OS that works immediately without manual intervention, Arch ain't for you.

.

I wouldn't recommend Arch for a Linux newbie even though I like Arch with Opensuse my personal distro of choice. Mint would be the recommended start point for a first distro.

esuhl

henm2 wrote: »

If however you are into video editing and gaming I would go down the windows route as these are the two areas in which linux based systems are weak in my opinion.

I don't know anything about video editing, but the BBC video editing suites exclusively use Linux for performance reasons. Maybe they use their own proprietary editing software...?

Fightsback

henm2 wrote: »

If however you are into video editing and gaming I would go down the windows route as these are the two areas in which linux based systems are weak in my opinion.

Most major studios (especially animation) use Linux:

https://www.lwks.com/

http://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/news/news-articles/linux-hollywood/381003

Miroslav

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

I wouldn't trust eBay for DVD's/Licenses. Too many horror stories. If I was to pay £68 for a license, I could get a refurb machine on there for not much more than that, so i'll possibly do that and install Linux on this.

I've never used Linux or anything other than Windows. It came into my head to give it a go on the machine I acquired as some kind of project to learn really and to see how I would get on. If I didn't like it, nothing lost and as already stated, I could add Windows afterwards.

It won't be for anything major. Browsing websites, maybe watching video/streaming TV/YouTube, facebook games at a push would be the only games someone would play on it.

My biggest concern is the security. Does it have Firewalls/Anti Virus etc on it so it would be safe to internet bank on it etc?

NiftyDigits

Details?
Brand name and model number?
Motherboard description?