OEM VISTA vs Regular Vista What's the Difference?

[king-pin]

I bought an oem vista disc at microcenter for $79.99. the retail version is 239.99. what's the difference between the two? the oem seems to be used...

 

[Geoff]

It's not used, you just get the CD and case. I also believe it can only be re-activated one before calling up Microsoft.

 

[Gareth]

Newegg sell the Vista Basic upgrade for $69.99. OEM means you can only ever use it on 1 motherboard, if you change the motherboard, you need a new operating system...

 

[Geoff]

Newegg sell the Vista Basic upgrade for $69.99. OEM means you can only ever use it on 1 motherboard, if you change the motherboard, you need a new operating system...

I believe you can still call up Microsoft, tell them you bought new hardware and had to reinstall Windows, and they should re-activate it for you.

 

[epidemik]

Depending on the type of OEM (or something like that), you can only install it with 1 motherboard rather than being able to install it multiple times.

And as with all OEM stuff, theres a good chance you wont get a pretty box with it.

 

[king-pin]

Depending on the type of OEM (or something like that), you can only install it with 1 motherboard rather than being able to install it multiple times.

And as with all OEM stuff, theres a good chance you wont get a pretty box with it.

if i installed it once and i needed to reformart. would i be able to install again?

 

[jimkonow]

I believe you can still call up Microsoft, tell them you bought new hardware and had to reinstall Windows, and they should re-activate it for you.

i do this quite often

 

[StrangleHold]

Newegg sell the Vista Basic upgrade for $69.99. OEM means you can only ever use it on 1 motherboard, if you change the motherboard, you need a new operating system...

The OEM/System Builders is tied more to the motherboard, but you can just tell them the board craped out and they will re-activate it 95% of the time.