OEM and retail?

tomparker95

tomparker95

tomparker95

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I have seen Windows 7 and 8 advertised online, and on here when people ask for "specs" for a new build PC, and people are using the OEM versions of Windows 7/8 and they seem to be considerably cheaper. Are you able to use them for a new build PC or do you have to use the retail copy?
 
tomparker95 said:
I have seen Windows 7 and 8 advertised online, and on here when people ask for "specs" for a new build PC, and people are using the OEM versions of Windows 7/8 and they seem to be considerably cheaper. Are you able to use them for a new build PC or do you have to use the retail copy?
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Yes of course you can ;) With oem the OS is supposed to stay with the hardware it was originally intended for and cannot be transferred.
 
OEM are locked to the machine you authorize the license on. But, sometimes motherboards go "pop" and you need to move your license to a replacement board, which is basically a new machine. In these instances you sometimes will be in luck calling MS and asking nicely to have your license moved. But I'm not sure exactly what their policy is on this. Retail is always able to be moved at will from one machine to another.

So of course you can use an OEM license of windows on a new PC.
 
Ah okay then. Well, the difference in price is almost half so I might as well take the risk and use OEM. If my board goes pop, then the money i've saved on the OS can go to getting a new board....if it doesn't (and shouldn't) then i've saved myself £60 odd. Go me :D Haha, cheers guys.
 
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