Windows 7 Upgrade when buying a laptop

[broken1]

I bought a new Acer laptop this weekend, wanting Windows 7 but not wanting to wait. Asked the lovely sales people who said yes yes, you just apply on the internet for the upgrade and you can download it or they ship it to you, and it costs like $10 or $15.

Right. So I go home, open my shiney new laptop and register for the upgrade. It gets shipped from the USA and costs USD50! That's like R400. Never mind they are probably going to hit me with customs when it gets here, if it gets here. There is no comment as to whether they send it with Courier or via normal post. For that price, I hope it's courier.

Anyone have experience with other laptop brands? Anywhere I can get the "free upgrade" locally?

 

[Wag]

I bought a new Acer laptop this weekend, wanting Windows 7 but not wanting to wait. Asked the lovely sales people who said yes yes, you just apply on the internet for the upgrade and you can download it or they ship it to you, and it costs like $10 or $15.

Right. So I go home, open my shiney new laptop and register for the upgrade. It gets shipped from the USA and costs USD50! That's like R400. Never mind they are probably going to hit me with customs when it gets here, if it gets here. There is no comment as to whether they send it with Courier or via normal post. For that price, I hope it's courier.

Anyone have experience with other laptop brands? Anywhere I can get the "free upgrade" locally?

It is service like this that makes piracy an option.

 

[Tun@]

HP wants $39 also

 

[labratza]

try contacting microsft south africa and see what they say

 

[CathJ]

Ah, that would explain why LaptopDirect told me it would cost about R300 to get the "free" upgrade...

 

[labratza]

it is not so free but is still worth it

 

[CathJ]

it is not so free but is still worth it

But compared to just waiting until it comes out? I'm trying to decide between waiting and getting the hardware now....

One big question for me is, is it a vista->win7 upgrade, or a full version of win7? i.e. if I want to do a complete reinstall 6 months down the line, do I need to install vista again first, and then upgrade, or would I be able to just install win7?

 

[broken1]

But compared to just waiting until it comes out? I'm trying to decide between waiting and getting the hardware now....

One big question for me is, is it a vista->win7 upgrade, or a full version of win7? i.e. if I want to do a complete reinstall 6 months down the line, do I need to install vista again first, and then upgrade, or would I be able to just install win7?

I was told Windows 7 laptops will only be available in SA from December most likely.