Operating systems, my son needs one

Marcus · 27 Nov 2004

My oldest, Nolan, just built a gaming PC. I'm amazed because I'm not sure I could build one. He needs an OS for the PC, He's looking for Windows 7 but it's very expensive. He is thinking of trying to bid on eBay for one but I wondered if there is a better way to get an OS for a reasonable price.

Steve · 21 Oct 2004

Hmmmm. Depending on the game, it might run on XP, which can be had for next to nothing.

Marcus · 27 Nov 2004

Thanks! I'll suggest that.

Jeff · 05 Oct 2006

If he's building a new PC there is probably hardware that isn't supported by XP, and it's really, really old now. I'd ebay for windows 7 or see if his school offers discount software (many do).

Hank · 01 Dec 2004

If he has any more parts to buy, get them at Newegg, and you can then qualify for OEM pricing wof Windows. I think it's $100 for Home Premium, which is half price.

Steve · 21 Oct 2004

Jeff wrote:

If he's building a new PC there is probably hardware that isn't supported by XP, and it's really, really old now. I'd ebay for windows 7 or see if his school offers discount software (many do).

As long as his network card has a driver disc, he can patch XP to support any current hardware. Otherwise he'll have to side-load a network adapter driver alongside the install.

Marcus · 27 Nov 2004

Jeff wrote:

If he's building a new PC there is probably hardware that isn't supported by XP, and it's really, really old now. I'd ebay for windows 7 or see if his school offers discount software (many do).

That's what he is trying to do.

Marcus · 27 Nov 2004

Hank wrote:

If he has any more parts to buy, get them at Newegg, and you can then qualify for OEM pricing wof Windows. I think it's $100 for Home Premium, which is half price.

Newegg? I'll ask him. I'm not sure where he got his parts.

Chris Abel · 30 Dec 2006

AmazWAN has the OEM (System Builder) versions for sale. The 64 and 32-bit versions are around $99.

Go here and search for Windows 7 OEM
http://www.amazon.com/?tag=imwan-20

Jeff · 05 Oct 2006

Steve wrote:

Jeff wrote:

If he's building a new PC there is probably hardware that isn't supported by XP, and it's really, really old now. I'd ebay for windows 7 or see if his school offers discount software (many do).

As long as his network card has a driver disc, he can patch XP to support any current hardware. Otherwise he'll have to side-load a network adapter driver alongside the install.

Unless, you know, he wants to play new games which use DirectX 10 or higher, which XP doesn't support. Installing Windows XP, today, is a bad idea.

Steve · 21 Oct 2004

I'm ignorant of the latest latest games, because I hate FPSes, but the last couple new games I tried (SWTOR, Dragon Age II, Torchlight), all had XP support. I think.

Marcus · 27 Nov 2004

He's watching the AmazWan Windows 7 but he may end up getting at Newegg.

Steve · 21 Oct 2004

Be sure he gets Ultimate if he can. Home Premium is annoyingly missing several features.

Jeff · 05 Oct 2006

There's nothing he will miss with Home Premium. It's just fine for 99% of people.

Steve · 21 Oct 2004

Well, if he's a gamer, he might. Not being able to open the Group Policy Editor, the Microsoft Management Console, run Windows XP Mode, etc are all big omissions for gamers that like to tweak their system configurations.

Jeff · 05 Oct 2006

You can run MMC and XP compatibility mode*. I've been a pretty hardcore gamer in my day but I've never had to change group policy settings to do so. If I did, everything you can do there can be done by changing the registry directly.

*The only thing you can't do is XP native mode, which is running a virtual XP within Win7; unless he plans to play games or run applications more than a decade old, this should never be a problem.

Judge WAN · 01 Aug 2005

If he's a student, he can usually get a student discount:
http://www.academicsuperstore.com/produ ... /Windows+7

Steve · 21 Oct 2004

Steve wrote:

Well, if he's a gamer, he might. Not being able to open the Group Policy Editor, the Microsoft Management Console, run Windows XP Mode, etc are all big omissions for gamers that like to tweak their system configurations.

You can open the MMC in Home Premium, but there's nothing in it. The computer management tabs and ability to add snap-ins are completely missing.

Operating systems, my son needs one

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