Help with purchasing windows OS for Boot Camp

Strictly speaking you probably need the "retail" version.

An OEM version is meant to be sold with a new computer (OEM stands for "Original Equipment Manufacturer"). However, if the store will let you buy it, it's not different from the retail version in any way that you'll notice.

You can buy and install the OEM version from Newegg just fine. It's totally within the license agreement to do so.

tinydancer said:

Are the manuaels and lit worth $110.00?

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Nope. You'll find all the help you need online or in Windows help. Note that you also don't get any phone support from Microsoft either (also worthless).

The main practical differences between OEM and retail are.

1) You can transfer the retail license to another computer when you want to
2) You can actually perform "upgrade" installs with retail media, not OEM.

B

reflex said:

Strictly speaking you probably need the "retail" version.

An OEM version is meant to be sold with a new computer (OEM stands for "Original Equipment Manufacturer"). However, if the store will let you buy it, it's not different from the retail version in any way that you'll notice.

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Many stores will sell you an OEM version together with a hardware purchase. Seems like selling a Windows OEM version together with a MacBook would be legal. Many stores will sell you a Windows OEM version if you buy a USB cable with it. Should be the cheapest hardware that you can find.

gnasher729 said:

Many stores will sell you an OEM version together with a hardware purchase. Seems like selling a Windows OEM version together with a MacBook would be legal. Many stores will sell you a Windows OEM version if you buy a USB cable with it. Should be the cheapest hardware that you can find.

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The new OEM license does not require a hardware purchase anymore.

I've never heard of not being able to upgrade an OEM version of any windows product. As a matter of fact most builders, like gateway or dell will ship out an OEM upgrade OS if you buy a computer from them right before a new OS comes out.

Serpent

You can upgrade an OEM version all you want. I've gone through 3 full system overhauls with one OEM license, and the only problem I've had is I had to call-in the last time to speak to some drone in India to get the activation code. The same thing would have happened if I had been using a retail license as well.

pjarvi said:

You can upgrade an OEM version all you want.

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What I was saying you can't do with an OEM is upgrade an existing OS.

e.g. if you wanted to upgrade a Windows 98/2K install to XP, you could do it with media from retail product (upgrade version or not), but not with OEM.

OEM requires you to install to an empty drive or partition.

Whether you can upgrade that to Vista or beyond, depends entirely on the details of the OEM license and Vista's license when it is released. Unfortunately the individual OEMs all have variations on a theme, and the EULAs can be quite different. e.g. my Dell OEM license gives me downgrade rights, which usually are not granted with OEM licenses.

B

vista beta 2 will install over an oem version of XP. I do not see any reason why when its released that it wont either.

Serpent

I bought an xp pro oem version from new egg, still waiting on delivery so I haven't been able to try it out. Not that I am an expert but through my reading the only real difference I could find about using an OEM copy was once installed on a machine the license stayed with that machine even if the machine was no longer in use. Once I install it on my Mac Pro I can't legally uninstall it and install it on a different machine. Am I on the right track here?

serpent said:

vista beta 2 will install over an oem version of XP. I do not see any reason why when its released that it wont either.

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Read what I was saying carefully.

If it works like previous versions Vista Beta 2 Retail, i.e. full packaged product (Upgrade or not) will upgrade your XP install. However, it is very unlikely that you can upgrade to Vista using a copy of Vista OEM, as OEM discs have typically only allowed for clean installs.

piltupso said:

Am I on the right track here?

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You're on the right track, even though some folks have been able to transfer apparently non-transferable licenses. It's entirely up to MS what they will do.

B

reflex said:

Strictly speaking you probably need the "retail" version.

An OEM version is meant to be sold with a new computer (OEM stands for "Original Equipment Manufacturer"). However, if the store will let you buy it, it's not different from the retail version in any way that you'll notice.

Click to expand...

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I buy the OEM versions. For two reasons. They are far more cost effective than retail boxes in the stores, and they are FULL VERSIONS, without exception, according to MS. For BootCamp you must have a FULL version with SP2. I recently set up two computers with the OEM versions from NewEgg. The OEM version does lack a couple of set up features that the retail box version has, but they are minor.

Cheers -- Bob ---