Two Windows 7 Questions.

One is more personal, and the second is more of a logic question.
1. I have the option of waiting for my free windows 7 home premium upgrade or I can get windows 7 ultimate upgrade for 15 dollars through my university. I am wondering if Ultimate is worth the shorter wait but 15 dollars. :]
2. Would your recommend a clean install or an upgrade install?

 

hmm if you're not planning to Boot VHD , Encrypt your HDD using Bitlocker or join a domain then i would say stick with Home Premium

Always a Clean install is the best way to avoid issues

 

I did an upgrade install and had great results. In the past I always did and recommended clean installs. But this time I decided to try an upgrade install, because of the time and hassle it would have taken to inventory all the apps I have installed, locate installation media for all of them and record the configuration info for each. Then to have to apply all of that. I was looking at several days to get that accomplished. So I imaged the C: drive, fully expecting Id be back to that image to do the above, and then proceeded to do the upgrade install. Man was I surprised at how well it went.

See my signature line below for a link to a thread I started here on NBR with lots more detail of what I did and my results. It includes the fact that I recovered over 6 gb of disk space in the process!

Gary

 

You're forgetting Windows XP Mode and Remote desktop. Either one is worth more than $15. If you think there is a chance you might want those in the future get ultimate.

 

Yeah $15 is a pretty good price. I would go for it.

Oh, and do a clean install.

 

In this particular OS transition unlike all others in our pasts, the underlying architecture of the OS has not changed. Therefore for a lot of folks, the in place upgrade of Vista to Win7 has worked incredibly well. I have ALWAYS recommended a clean install in the past, dating all the way back to Win 3.1 and beyond. But not this time. This time I am recommending folks at least try an in place upgrade, before they spend the days it takes to inventory all their apps, locate all the install media, record the configuration info for each app and then apply all that stuff. The last time I did this from WinXP to Vista it took me four solid days. This time with an in place upgrade total time was two hours. With an additional couple of hours to transition a bunch of Virtual PC 2007 instances to the new Win7 equivalent.

There is an entire thread devoted to this topic: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=430700

It starts with the same assertion that you for some reason MUST start with a clean install. But several other folks have added to the discussion. Check out the details there before you decide one way or the other. An in place upgrade is not for everyone, but it is working very well for a lot of folks.

Gary

 

1. you're probably going to have to pay shipping for the home premium upgrade (unless the seller you bought from is super nice so it'll cost you ~$15 either way.

 

Well the upgrade had no shipping cost because it was from Toshiba Direct itself. SOOO. But anyway. I ended up wanting 7 badly enough that i payed the 15 dollars today and have done a clean install to Ultimate and, needless to say, I am in love.