? on OEM OS

Rubber314Chicken

Golden Master
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Curiousity has hit me. Reading Reviews on NewEgg for MS WIN XP OEM, some people said not to install until you test your system, and to just buy the retail because you can install again if your mobo get fryed, or you get a new vid card.

How would you test your PC with no OS?

How could the OEM work if you download driver updates?

I might be building my dad a comp soon, and he wants XP Pro, so if I can save him money bby buying OEM, then I will want to.
 
live CD OS, there are lots of linux live CD's out there that run soley from disk. no install required. however is not windows, and therefore the computer will still run differently
 
ohh... Still sucks that MS has basicall dropped in quality. I love 98 a lot more than XP, but everyone is using XP now, and MS is gonna drop support for 98 in a year or two. But maybe windows Vista will be better because MS will listen to the people who knows the flaws in MS (basucally everybody on this board)
 
I thought they dropped support for Win98 back in 2000. Oh yeah, I remember they added a year or so, because a lot of 3rd world countries were still running Win98 and it would cost too much for them to get WinXP. I agree with you Wood_Workur, I liked Win 98 a lot better than WinXP. Lol, WinXP has like a new patch every week. Microsoft needs to get its act together before Vista comes out or we'll be faced with WinXP's flaws all over again.
 
Lol, my bad forgot to answer the thread's q. I'd go with the retail version, OEM is probably missing something that the retail has. I have an OEM comp and they never gave me an Win XP install disc. They got some program on my comp to make a recovery discs, which sucks cuz I can't ever get any of the extra features on the WinXP install disc.
 
john123 said:
whats the difference between win xp oem and retail? is it just the packaging?

OEM is for companies installing it, like dell, or some guy's custom computer shop. Retail is for you or me, the DIY'ers that might need to re-install if we up grade. Most places that buy OEM sell products to people who woln't upgrade (otherwise they would do the build and save money), and so the OEM will only install once, and with the new XP crap, you can't chaange/add hardware.
 
john123 said:
my friend has an oem disk, and he used it on a few computer :confused:

Interesting. I herd you can't. had something to do with installing it on one computer, and then you can only use identical mobos to install after that.
 
i also have an oem and a retail version, and i was gunna let my friend borrow my retail, but i accidentally gave him the oem disk, and it installed fine. thats how i found out.
 
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