which windows 7

djinuk · 4 Sep 2009 at 19:28

Ok im going to be building up my new gaming rig soon

im just wondering which windows 7 version should i ideally buy?

Django x2 · 4 Sep 2009 at 19:30

Home Premium

aaron333 · 4 Sep 2009 at 19:31

Lucero said:
Home Premium

Agreed. Unless you need XP mode and some other shizzle, not necessary for a gaming rig. Be quick though, prices are slowly increasing.

djinuk · 4 Sep 2009 at 19:34

pricese increasing ? do they actually do that with windows.. that sux

theheyes · 4 Sep 2009 at 19:43

Rule of thumb is if you have to ask, buy Home.

Raumarik · 4 Sep 2009 at 20:40

Home premium and yes prices are going up as it nears release date. Doubtful that you'll get it this cheap again for quite some time too. If you'd posted a month ago it was even cheaper!

Subtlesnake · 4 Sep 2009 at 21:11

You were (still are) paying less than usual, because you were getting the European 'E edition' version, that was to come without Internet Explorer. As there was no way to upgrade regular copies of Vista to the IE-less E edition, Microsoft decided to sell the full version of Home Premium for upgrade prices. This meant that you could pick up a copy of the OS for £65 (as the others mention, you could pick up a copy for £50 for a brief time).

Since then, Microsoft have decided to ship the OS with a choice of browsers (including IE), which eliminates the need for an E edition, and the need for discounted pricing. On September 1st Microsoft was meant to replace the 'E edition' with the full version (which was going to sell for I think £125) and an upgrade version.

However for the time being, you can still pick up a 'full copy' of Home Premium for the same price as before. In fact I've seen the Upgrade Editions priced £15 above the full version!

So I would buy a copy ASAP before things change.

If you do miss the window however, note that the upgrade version will let you 'upgrade' from XP, albeit in the form of a clean install (I believe you just have to enter your XP CD key into the installation program).

Kennysevenfold · 4 Sep 2009 at 21:18

theheyes said:
Rule of thumb is if you have to ask, buy Home.

KWJay · 4 Sep 2009 at 23:37

Subtlesnake said:
You were (still are) paying less than usual, because you were getting the European 'E edition' version, that was to come without Internet Explorer. As there was no way to upgrade regular copies of Vista to the IE-less E edition, Microsoft decided to sell the full version of Home Premium for upgrade prices. This meant that you could pick up a copy of the OS for £65 (as the others mention, you could pick up a copy for £50 for a brief time).

Since then, Microsoft have decided to ship the OS with a choice of browsers (including IE), which eliminates the need for an E edition, and the need for discounted pricing. On September 1st Microsoft was meant to replace the 'E edition' with the full version (which was going to sell for I think £125) and an upgrade version.

However for the time being, you can still pick up a 'full copy' of Home Premium for the same price as before. In fact at Amazon...

So I would buy a copy ASAP before things change.

If you do miss the window however, note that the upgrade version will let you 'upgrade' from XP, albeit in the form of a clean install (I believe you just have to enter your XP CD key into the installation program).

Mate, competitor info! Better remove it before the mods see!

_SBradley_ · 4 Sep 2009 at 23:50

I've pre-ordered Home Premium. I simply don't need any of the extras in Professional, so why pay extra?

_SBradley_ · 4 Sep 2009 at 23:52

By the way, Wikipedia has a nice comparison of the Windows 7 editions.

Subtlesnake · 5 Sep 2009 at 00:20

KWJay said:
Mate, competitor info! Better remove it before the mods see!

Thanks - my brain just didn't recognise I was doing that!

djinuk · 5 Sep 2009 at 00:23

sweet thanks for all that info guys, i will get a copy preordered