Microsoft offers cheapest-ever Windows upgrade...40 bucks for Win8

[Jeepers]

On Monday, Microsoft announced a record low price for the upcoming Windows 8, telling customers that they could upgrade their PCs -- even aged machines running Windows XP -- for just $39.99 later this year.

40 bucks is cheap if you ask me to upgrade a old Xp box to win8

but i am skeptical my old Xp boxes with onboard vid/audio will run win8 very well......

[the86d]

I made a choice not to do it unless there are benefits.

Vista offered none, while with 7 it was minimal, and w/less efficiency and a few glitches that still exist...
Snap was the only REAL benefit, aside from a 256MB display adapter, and 2GB for all the Fancy.

If you see Linux w/ compiz-fusion, you will be amazed,
however with Windows... not so much.

I am not really a PC Gamer, as I have a few consoles that I play here and there.

[BucDan]

You'd be fine overall. All you are doing is just displaying the image and that doesn't take much horsepower to do. Of course, if you are running hardware from 2004, well... I still think you will be ok. Just no eye candy.

[the86d]

Then again, tiles don't need much GPU power...

[Coded-Dude]

XP isn't even supported anymore. To me that is a desperate attempt to do everything(short of giving it away or paying you to upgrade) they can to get people to migrate/upgrade.

[EDIT] Of course I believe Apple is doing the same thing with their OS......very cheap upgrade pricing. Maybe MS has finally realized they can't rape the customer each time they release a new OS.

[Jeepers]

i have run Linux on my old machines in the past with custom compiled Mythtv
and they ran fine, never tried compiz-fusion,as i really dont need or want "the cube" or "sphere"..its just eye candy and i have no need to impress anyone lol ....


looking for a copy of "windows to go" to even see if it will run on old hardware(older then 2004 )...

i really dont like Win8 but 40 is cheap ....lol

[Jeepers]

XP isn't even supported anymore. To me that is a desperate attempt to do everything(short of giving it away or paying you to upgrade) they can to get people to migrate/upgrade.

[EDIT] Of course I believe Apple is doing the same thing with their OS......very cheap upgrade pricing. Maybe MS has finally realized they can't rape the customer each time they release a new OS.

incorrect Xp is supported untill 2014 check the lifecycle @ microcrap

[sholling]

I liked Windows 7 a lot and dislike the Win 8 interface. The upgrade price is tempting but I'm sick of having to relearn software every few years because some moron at M$ thinks they have a better idea.

[Jeepers]

I liked Windows 7 a lot and dislike the Win 8 interface. The upgrade price is tempting but I'm sick of having to relearn software every few years because some moron at M$ thinks they have a better idea.

lol i agree to a point i enjoy new O.S.'s and learn them as quick as possible so i can make a few $$$ fixing others screw ups ......lol

most folks barely know how to turn on the pc let alone fix anything i have had 5 puter come to me this week alone due to the botnet server disconnect scare thats been in the news all week ...

jmo but win7 is a great but bloated O.S. win8 just more bloatware to be removed or disabled to make it work better for most home users ....

[Coded-Dude]

incorrect Xp is supported untill 2014 check the lifecycle @ microcrap

Well I'll be...they must have bumped it(yeah thats it..couldn't be my mistake! ), because I could of sworn they had previously posted a date and it had passed. Anywho..

[den888]

In my opinion, Windows 7 is the worst OS that Microsoft has released in the past 10 years. XP was the best for me.

If they cannot get Win 7 right, I sure as heck won't upgrade to Win 8 anytime soon.

[Bryansix]

In my opinion, Windows 7 is the worst OS that Microsoft has released in the past 10 years. XP was the best for me.

If they cannot get Win 7 right, I sure as heck won't upgrade to Win 8 anytime soon.

I have to disagree. Windows 7 is much better then Vista was on release day. The thing is that patches have made Vista bearable but Win 7 was fine on day 1. SP1 is even better. I have a 4 year old laptop at work and it runs fine on it. Its also quick to navigate windows, and it keeps things pretty well isolated from each other. I cannot say so much for XP. Note: My home comp is XP. Why? Because I didn't feel like reinstalling to get 7. However my next comp will probably be 7 even after 8 comes out.

[Peter.Steele]

Hm.

I've still got a Win XP Pro license or 3 laying around somewhere ...

[ldivinag]

for media center users, win 8 wont have it as part of the initial purchase.

[yellowsulphur]

40 bucks is cheap if you ask me to upgrade a old Xp box to win8

but i am skeptical my old Xp boxes with onboard vid/audio will run win8 very well......

I'm sure there is a way to switch to a classic view without all the transparent windows and eye candy. While your at it you can disable many of the services you don't need and free up resources for your older machine.

You do realize though that once you spend that $40 for Windows 8 after a week or so you're going to try and justify spending several $$$$ to build a new rig to take advantage of all the new features. Therefore is it really only $40 your spending for Windows 8?