I have been BONED by Basic!

[Juan handed]

I bought 2 HP laptops in September,as discussed in this thread:
http://www.computerforums.org/showthread.php?p=973254#post973254

I ordered it with Vista Home Basic,thinking I could free upgrade to Windows 7.

I guess I didn't read the fine print...it said something like: computers purchased with Vista Home Basic are NOT eligible for FREE Windows 7 upgrade.Somehow I missed that.(noob)

So,now I'm all hot to upgrade,but not sure the best (cheapest) way to do it.

Do I upgrade Vista Home Basic to Vista Home Premium,then get the free upgrade to 7? or.......?

And should I upgrade to a 64 bit system(processor is dual core) ?
And what benefits will I see with the 64 bit OS ?

 

[PharmrJohn]

You will see a slight improvement in speed with Windows 7 as compared to Vista. You will also see significant improvement in multimedia capabilities.

As for the dual core idea, I would not hesitate. IF you are gaming. If you are not gaming, and wish to just get online, I wouldn't bother. Spend your money on something else.

My single core went down last year.....I was just on last night looking at some very modestly priced dual core processors and their host motherboards. My original plan was to get a quad core, but it seems I can get some very good clock speeds by just overclocking a dual core and calling it good.....but I am into gaming.

 

[Juan handed]

I'm trying to track down who is responsible for the BONING.

I've just posted in the M$ seven forum trying to get the final answers.It seems that Vista Home Basic is included in the upgrade path to Windows7,so compatability isn't a problem.

It also seems that I am not the only one who ordered a new computer since June who is not wondering wtf?

So...I'm trying to figure out why I can't get the free upgrade.I may have to take it up with HP,not sure what happened,yet.

 

[Juan handed]

So,I had a big chat with Srikanth(nice Indian fellow) at HP yesterday.He told me that Vista Home Basic would not be upgraded to 7 by Hewlett Packard.

I then told him that Vista Home Basic was indeed in the upgrade path for Windows 7 Home premium. He told me they were aware of that.

I told him that I thought that HP was upgrading all computers with Vista after June 22,he said yes,but not Vista Home Basic.

I asked him if they had run out of upgrade kits for Vista Home Basic,and if I should wait until they got more? He said that wasn't the case.

So,I will call them on the phone (Geez,I hope it isn't to India) I am just trying to figure out what to ask them for.

What is it about Home basic? I feel like a 2nd class citizen.I sincereley thought Vista was Vista (stoopid).Is it costing HP a ton of dough to upgrade me?

 

[Celegorm]

It's not HP that's limiting you, it's microsoft. To be blunt, Basic is basic. Microsoft limited it's features heavily and because of the large amount of extra stuff you'd be getting by upgrading they lose well over $50 a pop. Basic was never planned to allow upgrading to the next OS, the same will be when 7's replacement comes out.

 

[Juan handed]

And,The Boning Never Ends...

So,it seems that getting HP to do the free upgrade that I believed I was getting isn't going to happen.From searching around,it seems that all of the OEM manufacturers that offered free upgrades from Vista did not offer it with Vista Home Basic.

That could be a reason why my computers were at a very nice price at the time.I didn't check at the time but the Vista Premium computers may have not been discounted (as in,"We'll give it to you free later,but we'll charge you more now").

Then,I figure that M$ has this "Family 3 pack" deal...3 computer upgrade for $150,hey,it's not free,but not the end of the world.

Turns out they suddenly ended that deal last week.

VHB ftw