Windows 10 Buying Options

[Dal1980]

I have an off-line cab that's been sitting with XP Pro. I didn't originally build it but thought I need to sort it out and buy some new guts and load a more recent Mame version.

I was talking to someone at work about Windows 10 (something that hasn't interested me just yet with all the rumours of people having issues), anyway, my friend & co-worker mentioned that his old hardware actually ran faster with windows 10 than it did with the original windows OS it shipped with so I thought I could maybe get something sorted sooner with the spec I have (meets min spec of windows 10) until I find time/money/energy to upgrade.

I tend to jump at stuff with both feet and downloaded the USB windows 10 install single lang version (don't need any other language than English thanks). I've flattened the HDD and windows 10 is installed... runs great. Now I need to activate it. Since Windows doesn't support XP upgrades free I needed to find a good deal on windows 10 retail (I'll be changing all the hardware so OEM is no good).

Came across this website, anyone know if this is genuine?

http://www.mrhightech.com/operating-systems/3578-windows-10-professional-0885370920932.html

I can't understand why MS are selling these for $199 when everywhere I look they are cheaper. The link above is the cheapest I've seen so far

[saint]

Multiple complaints about Microsoft products purchased here being counterfeit.  I would avoid.

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/mrhightech.com

Also complaints that credit cards used there end up getting cloned and used fraudulently.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4905540

Another complaint:

https://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/69f8ab9e-c5a0-444a-850d-7c765957eecd/after-3-months-troublefree-why-do-i-get-this-now?forum=genuinewindows7

http://www.scamadviser.com/is-mrhightech.com-a-fake-site.html

[PL1]

Agreed.  I would not do business with them.   

Start reading at the third post.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4905540

From the 10th post:

Let's not beat about the bush here. 95Gateway.com has a very poor reputation on Web of Trust. According to one reputable member it is a 'Fraudulent Chinese credit card payment gateway. High phishing risk'. Another user says 95Gateway.com uses fake and fraudulent trust marks and seals.

https://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/95gateway.com

95Gateway.com has been online for 16 months not 'over a decade' as you claim. Never mind, you were close

http://whois.domaintools.com/95gateway.com

Mrhightech.com is obviously also a Chinese scam website given that it uses a (fraudulent) Chinese payment processor. It currently has an unsatisfactory rating on Web of Trust.

https://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/mrhightech.com

Scott

[SlammedNiss]

Don't know if it would be any cheaper, but you should still be able to use any Windows 7 COA too.

[Howard_Casto]

Yeah that's the proper route, buy an old win7/win8 license install that, then get the free upgrade.  Typically there are some sites you can get a used pc with the license cheaper than the license itself. 

try  arrowdirect. 

[Dal1980]

Thanks saint and PL1 for answering. Looks like it was a close call then. Almost went ahead but decided to ask here first. Pleased I did.

Now I'm stuck with a problem. Don't really want to pay $99/£85 for a copy of Windows 10 home so that it loads an arcade cab every once in a while. Microsoft don't do any group discount if I bought two or three copies of Windows 10 pro ($199/£170). Starting to wonder why Ubuntu hasn't got a stronger market share!

(I'd use Linux but that's the problem, I'm not that good with it and find that the simplest of problems can be extremely unforgiving and there is a lot of emulation software that is windows based)

I'd go down the Mac route but they have equal problems with software compatibility in the emulation world but mainly as they don't offer OS for anything but their hardware any more.

It maybe a case of waiting till I upgrade 1 pc to Windows 10 to release my Windows 7 retail copy and hope that Microsoft support Windows 7 for a while or until I can find a genuine cheap copy of Windows 10 somewhere.

Actually, just checked and support for Windows 7 will end 14th Jan 2020 so I'll have 4 years out of the cab if I use this plan.


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[JDFan]

Yeah that's the proper route, buy an old win7/win8 license install that, then get the free upgrade.  Typically there are some sites you can get a used pc with the license cheaper than the license itself. 

try  arrowdirect.

^THIS -- And the OEM version will be fine to use since the upgrade is free for any version and activates the computer MOBO for the windows 10 license so you can change all the parts you want to after the upgrade and still be legit ! - Also reusing the key for win7 off of a refurb system works fine just use the phone activation process and it will activate on the new build ( I've done it several times and sent an extra license I had to laying around from a cheap purchase that the parts went into another system that was already licensed so was not being used to Howard awhile back and it worked fine for him also !)

For example here's a core2duo system with 32bit win 7 home premium for $57 with the discount code ARROW and they currently have free shipping (might add sales tax depending on where you live !) -- IIRC the latest upgrade install iso lets you clean install 10 and just enter the product key to activate so no longer need to install 7 first (and the license key will work for either 32 bit or 64 bit using the same key !). Worse case if it doesn't allow direct input you have to find a 64 bit win7 iso install it and activate then upgrade to 10 for free. ( takes a bit longer that way but as mentioned I believe they finally updated the upgrade disks to allow direct input of win 7 or win 8 license keys to activate win 10 !)

ALso if you could use a HDD or memory you may want to pay slightly more for a system with a larger HDD or more RAM for just a bit more (they have several $80 +/- systems with 250 - 500GB hdds or 4GBs of RAM instead of 1GB)

[Dal1980]

Sorry guys, missed your responses before as they must have come through while I was writing out my reply on my phone (takes me a little longer lol).

Sound advice here! I'm very grateful for your help and advice.

JDFan, although I think I'm going to have to make visual flowchart on your explanation (don't get me wrong, it's nothing to do with how you wrote it, it's just too complex for me to get my head around lol).

So if I go down that route it means I end up with extra hardware too?! I like that idea in itself!

I'm not sure how well my current kit would run with anything more than name thrown at it (i.e. A PlayStation or Xbox emulator for instance) so I wanted to get some specific hardware to cope. Maybe arrow would be a great way to kill two birds with one stone.

Right now I have about 1.8tb of data to upgrade and the cab HDD is just under 1tb. It now has no operating system... Basically I'm in limbo with it all. No worries, I guess I've got to remember to enjoy the journey as well as the destination.



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[Dal1980]

I didn't want to drag this out any longer but I was just closing a tab I hadn't gotten to look at properly for Window 10 OEM as I wasn't initially interested in OEM. But for £29.99/$42.75 I thought it worth asking.

https://softwaregeeks.co.uk/product/windows-10-pro/?gclid=Cj0KEQiAlO20BRCcieCSncPlqqMBEiQAOZGMnL8zZx3NBxmkjEjvE-e8791gORRyAAqEgNuw_oOR5gEaApMW8P8HAQ

This site doesn't look like it's in the same bag as the initial site I asked about and it seems to be based in the US.

Reviews.co.uk (http://www.reviews.co.uk/company-reviews/store/software-geeks) has a good score for it and ScamAdvisor (http://www.scamadviser.com/check-website/softwaregeeks.co.uk) just tells me that it looks fine but just be cautious.

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/uk.trustpilot.com has it rated okay but then you catch some of the bad reviews and laugh. Someone rated the site badly (2 stars) because the site displayed their full name (wtf?) another gave it 1 star because of a photo not displaying the orientation they wanted (omg). There's complaints and then theirs these.

I don't know... have I stumbled upon a cheap copy of windows 10?

[Dal1980]

JDFan: Arrow.com are confused and don't know about arrowdirect.com which I find hilarious They couldn't tell me the website address even after I sent them your screen grab.

Anyway, after scrutinising your post I noticed you'd put arrow direct so googled that instead.... after looking at a couple of systems I picked one and it turns out they don't deliver to UK 

Wonder if anyone knows of a UK equivalent to this type of site?

[JDFan]

JDFan: Arrow.com are confused and don't know about arrowdirect.com which I find hilarious They couldn't tell me the website address even after I sent them your screen grab.

Anyway, after scrutinising your post I noticed you'd put arrow direct so googled that instead.... after looking at a couple of systems I picked one and it turns out they don't deliver to UK 

Wonder if anyone knows of a UK equivalent to this type of site?

I did a Google search for off lease computer UK and came across this forum post ( http://www.thewholesaleforums.co.uk/threads/buying-off-lease-refurb-computers-from-dell-hp.42630/ )  with a couple listings in the 2nd post :

Re: Off-lease & Refurb computers

I'm not sure you can buy directly from Dell, except for retail units of course. I know they shift a lot of their refurb and leased equipment through large distributors, prime examples are places like Morgan Computers and Euro PC here in the UK.

As far as Canada goes, I wouldn't be able to advise but surely Dell can recommend somebody or they can provide you with a list of their distributors? As I say, I doubt they will deal with you directly unless you become a distributor of their refurb/leased products and to do that may well be out of your price range.

Good luck.

PS: Please consider introducing yourself to the rest of the community here: http://www.thewholesaleforums.co.uk/forum/introduce-yourself/

Links he provided for
Morgan Computers - ( http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_145307947438416&key=dd74c96b991f949300bc7c0f45dde517&libId=ijj9vmgq010004rk000DLjsotqfc7&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thewholesaleforums.co.uk%2Fthreads%2Fbuying-off-lease-refurb-computers-from-dell-hp.42630%2F&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.morgancomputers.co.uk%2F&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&title=Buying%20Off-lease%20%26%20Refurb%20Computers%20from%20Dell%2FHP%3F%20%7C%20The%20Wholesale%20Forums&txt=Morgan%20Computers )

and
EURO PC - ( http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_145307951797018&key=dd74c96b991f949300bc7c0f45dde517&libId=ijj9vmgq010004rk000DLjsotqfc7&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thewholesaleforums.co.uk%2Fthreads%2Fbuying-off-lease-refurb-computers-from-dell-hp.42630%2F&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.europc.co.uk%2F&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&title=Buying%20Off-lease%20%26%20Refurb%20Computers%20from%20Dell%2FHP%3F%20%7C%20The%20Wholesale%20Forums&txt=Euro%20PC&loAsUuid=ijj9vmmx-4ed951f6-537b-4b13-9f8b-78527436bede )

[Dal1980]

Thanks for the links. Morgan looks very good. £70 + £7 delivery for a nice spec http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/product_detail/15690/Fujitsu-ESPrimo-E5730-Intel-Core2Duo-2-93GHz-PC-2GB-160GB-DVD-Windows-7-Pro/


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[BorgDog]

Just for anyone looking, i'm not sure how many places do this, but i work for a local school district and we hold fairly regular surplus sales of equipment including computers.  We currently surplus Dell Optiplex 780 SFF desktop machines (core2duo I think something 5 years old) with Win7 licenses for $20, and Latitude 6410 14" laptops for $50.  Might be worth checking out local school districts, ours is fairly well off however and poorer districts around the state actually buy computers from us and put them back into service.

[Dal1980]

Good suggestion thanks, I'll do some digging


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[Dal1980]

Asked around and searched Google but I don't think we do this in the UK. :/


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