OEM or not?

Jak3 Mac

Jak3 Mac

Jak3 Mac

Associate
Joined
14 Apr 2012
Posts
213
Location
Liverpool, England
Hi, I'm going to buy windows 7 and I'm not sure if I should get OEM or not, I'm aware of some of the differences but I'm not sure if I should get it, I've never needed support from MS before and I'm not aware of any other differences, any help?
Thanks in advance. :)
 
The main and only real one to consider is that OEM can only be installed on one machine. You can't reuse it if you were to buy another PC or rebuild that one.

Retail you can use as many times as you want - As long as it is only installed on one at a time.
 
I'm on a retail version simply because i upgrade my pc like i change clothes.

Only you can really answer that question - are you likely to upgrade the motherboard in the lifespan of windows? If so then go retail, if you're likely to stick with the same hardware then you can save a few pennies and go oem.
 
I've stuck OEM on my No2 rig and changed the MB and CPU in the last 12 months and just reactivated it ... no bother

Got retail on No1 and no bother with that one either

It's a very grey area

If you want risk free... dig deeper and go retail :) Home Premium is about the level to go. Pro and Ultimate have extra bells and whistles but are way overpriced for retail versions and unless you are a total power user your unlikely to use the extra features
 
I'm inclined to say that statement is not entirely true m8, I have changed the HDD to a SSD
and the motherboard in my system as well since I have had an OEM copy of Windows 7 and
it has activated fine no problem.

If it doesn't activate either you can just ring MS and they will give you a code to activate
it over the phone as well.
 
Shadz/Essexraptor - it's not a grey area. What you're both describing is what normally happens, but the MS license restricts OEM to the original machine (determined usually by the motherboard).

If, and it's a big if, MS were to clamp down and only activate in accordance with their licence you'd be stuffed with no come back.

Can't say it's likely to change, but it's worthwhile understanding before going retail/OEM.
 
The answer to 99.9% of the times this question is asked is retail. In fact that should be a rule, if you're asking the question, you need retail.
 
ChileanLlama said:
Shadz/Essexraptor - it's not a grey area. What you're both describing is what normally happens, but the MS license restricts OEM to the original machine (determined usually by the motherboard).

If, and it's a big if, MS were to clamp down and only activate in accordance with their licence you'd be stuffed with no come back.

Can't say it's likely to change, but it's worthwhile understanding before going retail/OEM.
Click to expand...


Yup your absolutely correct and it states exactly that in the EULA. In practice though ........ as 2 of us have stated ... if you follow the correct procedure it's perfectly POSSIBLE to reactivate YOUR OEM lisc.

However as Burnsy has correctly stated 99.99999999% of the time if you are asking this question in the first place......... the answer for you should be retail every time :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom