Vista - 1 'free upgrade' 2 machines

ive recently bought 2 new business laptops for my small business and plan to
use Vista. One of the laptops comes with XP Pro with a free upgrade to Vista
Business (i plan to dual boot for the benefit of old drivers for now). The
other computer runs XP pro but doesnt have any kind of free vista upgrade.

I know most companies are offering this free upgrade or at least a small fee
upgrade to its vista alternative but this company didnt for this machine. Now
the question...

Will i be able to use the free upgrade key on both machines or will i have
to buy an entirely new Vista package for the other machine? is there a way i
can do this without any further expenditure (or atleast a very small
expense)? If i have to i will buy it but i just feel a bit robbed by the
company i purchased the laptop from and i dont want to end up spending loads
more than i have to.

Thanks in advance you techie gurus :-)

"Carey Frisch [MVP]" <cnfrisch@nospamgmail.com> wrote in message
news:0553288E-2010-431E-9D68-108BC80A0D49@microsoft.com...
> You need to purchase a new Windows Vista license (product key)
> for each computer you wish to upgrade to Windows Vista.

Unless, of course, your OEM provides an Express Upgrade to Vista coupon.

>
> --
> Carey Frisch
> Microsoft MVP
> Windows Shell/User
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "Bufger" wrote:
>
> ive recently bought 2 new business laptops for my small business and plan to
> use Vista. One of the laptops comes with XP Pro with a free upgrade to Vista
> Business (i plan to dual boot for the benefit of old drivers for now). The
> other computer runs XP pro but doesnt have any kind of free vista upgrade.
>
> I know most companies are offering this free upgrade or at least a small fee
> upgrade to its vista alternative but this company didnt for this machine.
> Now
> the question...
>
> Will i be able to use the free upgrade key on both machines or will i have
> to buy an entirely new Vista package for the other machine? is there a way i
> can do this without any further expenditure (or atleast a very small
> expense)? If i have to i will buy it but i just feel a bit robbed by the
> company i purchased the laptop from and i dont want to end up spending loads
> more than i have to.
>
> Thanks in advance you techie gurus :-)


Your lowest expenditure is going to be by purchasing a System Builder Kit at
your nearest computer store. Otherwise, you will have to purchase a Vista
Upgrade kit.

Considering that an Upgrade kit for Vista Home Premium only costs $159 from
Microsoft (perhaps a little less from a third-party supplier), while a System
Builder Kit costs only $20-$30 less, you would be better off (value-wise, at
least) purchasing an Upgrade license, since you would be able to move the
upgrade license to another machine should your current one die or become
unusable for one reason or another., while you would be constrained by the
System Builder license from transferring that license to another machine if
needed.

--
Donald L McDaniel
Please reply to the original newsgroup and thread.
------------------------------------------------------

If you want Vista on the second computer you will need to buy another Vista.

Contact the company about a Vista upgrade.
If the purchase was recent enough, you may be able to return and buy a
computer with Vista.
Or they may give you the Vista upgrade to prevent you returning the
computer.

--
Jupiter Jones [MVP]
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar
http://www.dts-l.org


"Bufger" <Bufger@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:CD24F33F-3720-43EE-B1DB-0363B66C2E0E@microsoft.com...
> ive recently bought 2 new business laptops for my small business and plan
> to
> use Vista. One of the laptops comes with XP Pro with a free upgrade to
> Vista
> Business (i plan to dual boot for the benefit of old drivers for now). The
> other computer runs XP pro but doesnt have any kind of free vista upgrade.
>
> I know most companies are offering this free upgrade or at least a small
> fee
> upgrade to its vista alternative but this company didnt for this machine.
> Now
> the question...
>
> Will i be able to use the free upgrade key on both machines or will i have
> to buy an entirely new Vista package for the other machine? is there a way
> i
> can do this without any further expenditure (or atleast a very small
> expense)? If i have to i will buy it but i just feel a bit robbed by the
> company i purchased the laptop from and i dont want to end up spending
> loads
> more than i have to.
>
> Thanks in advance you techie gurus :-)