What is the cheapest legitimate way to get Vista x64

[Hachoo]

Just curious. I currently have a licensed XP professional (albeit 32 bit) and am hoping I can get a Vista x64 upgrade and not have to get the full version. Where is the cheapest place/way to get it that isn't illegal? I have friends in college and stuff if there are sites that will sell it cheap to students, and whatnot. Is it possible to get an "upgrade" version of vista x64 from xp 32?

On a side note, has anyone used XP 64 and is it any good as well? Does it support/handle >4GB of memory like Vista 64 does? Is it buggy?

Since memory is so ridiculously cheap I'm thinking about just getting 4x2GB sticks of DDR2-800 which will work in my motherboard, but would need to upgrade to a 64 bit OS to use it. If getting a 64 bit OS (Windows OS) ends up being too expensive then I can't really do it. I haven't paid for an OS...well, ever, really, since I've always worked at a job where I could get a Windows OS free for whatever reason, but unfortunately thats not the case right now :D

Edit: A couple extra questions. Looks like Home Premium 64 would be a better buy than Ultimate 64 as I can't see myself using any of the ultimate features. Is there anything keyclone/WoW related specifically that Ultimate can do that Home Premium can't? Also, the "system builder" version is always cheaper than retail. Anyone know what the ACTUAL difference is between system builder and retail? Looks like system builder just doesn't include support and can't be transferred to a new system, both of which are fine with me as I will never call MS for support, though I would like to make sure if I upgrade my motherboard/CPU in the future and rebuild the system I'll be able to keep using the software. Advice would be appreciated as I am a Sr. Unix admin and not exposed to Windows much since XP first came out.

[Rin]

Your friends in college should be able to get it through their student bookstore or IT dept... At least, that's how it was when I attended. It should be like $14-30 depending on the school's licensing agreements with Microsoft. You have numerous other options though, one may be to try and find a MSDN version of the 64-bit Vista (gray area on the legal side though)...

Cheers :thumbup:

[entoptic]

if you know someone in the non profit sector or IT field you are in.

Microsoft sells their O/S's to non profits for like 10 bucks. If you know someone in the IT Field that has an MSDN subscription then they can download it for you.

[Gizmo3k]

Edit: I just read what the actual question was, not what I thought it was. Please ignore!

[blast3r]

Your friends in college should be able to get it through their student bookstore or IT dept... At least, that's how it was when I attended. It should be like $14-30 depending on the school's licensing agreements with Microsoft. You have numerous other options though, one may be to try and find a MSDN version of the 64-bit Vista (gray area on the legal side though)...

Cheers :thumbup:

He said 'legitimate' way. That would violate the agreement between Microsoft and the university.

[blast3r]

I don't know if you can do this with XP but with Vista you can get the 64 bit install media using your 32 bit license key.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/1033/ordermedia/default.mspx

It might be worth contacting Microsoft to see if it is possible for XP.

[Halo]

I work at a state university (nonprofit, of course) and I checked our IT store. The cheapest x64 Vista would be an upgrade disk (70 bucks+ tax) which is actually x32 but you can use the key to send away for an x64 Vista DVD. Amazon has the same thing for 75 bucks (no tax, free shipping).

My hardware at least passes the test to run x64 (EVGA nforce 680i mobo, onboard soundcard, 2 x 8800GTS's in SLI running a DELL 3007, SATA RAID, 4GB PC3200 though I have 2GB more sitting around). However, I cringe at the thought of doing MS's upgrade path from XP32 -> Vista64 and finding everything broke, BSOD's what have you. My experience with installing OS's on top of other OS's (as opposed to just wiping the HD and going with a fresh install) has never been good. The thought of having to reinstall WoW (whether off an image or fresh+patches) also makes me cringe.

I'm actually less hesitant to try to go x32 XP to x64 XP because I 'heard' that it's easier to reverse that move should things go awry. (And by reverse, I don't mean "format C:/")

[Hachoo]

Oh I'm not planning on doing an actual upgrade.

From what I understand you can wipe the drive, install the Vista x64 upgrade and simply enter the XP professional key in when prompted during the install, effectively doing a from scratch install with an upgrade version.

[heffner]

I got an OEM version of Vista64 Home Premium for $150 CDN. Is that cheap? Didn't seem too bad to me.

My wife attends University and for some reason they didn't have academic licenses for any OS. Only Apps. Not that this is a typical scenario, just my experience.

[Starbuck_Jones]

One of the reasons the "system builder" is cheaper is that MS wont support it if you have problems unless you give them monies. OS support falls on the 'system builder' Basically OEM rules here.

Yes you can install a fresh copy using an update cd. During the install it will ask you to put in your old OS disk or product key to verify you are eligible for the upgrade path and thats it. As far as I know the vista dvd has all versions on it but you have to choose the one you have a product key for else you will be reinstalling again after the 30 day grace period is up.

The cheapest 'legal' way to get it, is going to buy either retail if you want MS to support it, or OEM if you support it yourself. Using the discounted software thats offered to students etc is against the EULA unless you are a student etc. Neither is getting an MSDN copy from someone else. If your looking to see what upgrade paths are available i would recomend searching MS website and it shouldnt be hard to find if you can go from x86 to x64 or not.

[Ualaa]

Cheapest legitimate method...

Have a friend or family member purchase the OS for you, for Christmas or your next birthday.

[Vicker]

First, recognize that Windows is terrible. Second, go to www.ubuntu.com , download the 64-bit version, and then install WINE. Better use of system resources, safer to use, and 100% free.

[Ozbert]

I'm also a UNIX sysadmin, but currently run Vista Ultimate 64-bit on my main multiboxing machine.

If I needed another copy of Vista 64, I'd buy the cheapest option of Home Basic OEM 64-bit.

OEM = No support from MS, but those of us who build our boxes ourselves probably don't need it
Home Basic = No glass effect in Aero (but framerate-concious multiboxers would turn that off anyway) and less miscellaneous other bloat.

Last time I checked Amazon, I could get it for about £60. Prices have risen a bit recently though.

[Kaynin]

I've noticed piracy is becoming less and less of a problem. Which is a good thing. I sure as heck didn't pay for all those dos versions when I was still in elementary school. :P

...It might be me getting more and more money though.

As for vista, legit. Apart from the MSDN copies. Could get an OEM version with a cheap-ass harddisk. :P

[Svpernova09]

First, recognize that Windows is terrible. Second, go to www.ubuntu.com , download the 64-bit version, and then install WINE. Better use of system resources, safer to use, and 100% free.Not everyone wants to learn linux. Some people just want to plug stuff in and have it work.



Yes I am devout Linux and FOSS advocate, but I realize Microsoft is a necessary evil.


/back on topic


OEM w/ Cheap hardware like an above poster said is probably going to be your best bet.

[zanthor]

The absolute cheapest way takes a lot of time, but it's 100% legal, 100% free, and 100% legit.

Find a Microsoft launch event thats giving one away and attend. Of course, this is about as feasable as a layman installing Linux, configuring Wine, and getting WoW to run in an unsupported OS... I'm a fairly technical person and after 3 days of working on it non stop, I abandoned the Linux path for WoW, not because of WoW, but because I couldn't find a clearly documented, easy to follow, way to put Flash on the machine. If I can't do something as trivial as browse the web, I certainly don't want it as my main OS.

I would suggest OEM as the best route for you, the problem with OEM is there is no upgrade, of course, if you didn't plan on upgrading then you are fine.

[suprafro]

going out on a limb here...but I'm pretty sure that the OP could easily configure a WoW on wine setup if that's what he wanted to do:


Advice would be appreciated as I am a Sr. Unix admin and not exposed to Windows much since XP first came out.

[Sam DeathWalker]

Ya just scane your local CL or ebay for something cheap, sometimes people dont know what they have and sell really cheap ... Ya OEM is da choice, what good is their customer service anyway, all they do is seach the ms knowledge base and you can do that yourself.

[heffner]

Gah, Ubuntu...why didn't I think about that before I purchased Vista =(

Sounds like a great suggestion though. Gonna toss that on one of my boxes and see how it works out.

Cheers.

[Duese]

I've tried and failed to install Ubuntu so many times I've given up on it. The initial install would error out on me and I would go to the ubuntu forums and stump anyone and everyone in there with the error messages. Then I would get an error message that seemed to be common and see many others with the same problem. The only advice they gave was to try redownloading the image. I've got through stacks of disks rewriting the image, different computers, different writers, different software... finally gave up and installed xp professional.

A few of my friends are big ubuntu users and didn't have the same problems as me, not sure what the deal was. I was even trying it on two different computers.

I think if I go back to installing ubuntu, I'm just going to have them send me the install cds. That may help, but for now, I'm content with xp pro.