See my previous post on 27th Oct 2012.
After the straightforward and easy upgrade to my main desktop machine (using upgrade discs that I bought from a retailer) I decided, as it was so easy and inexpensive, to upgrade the old laptop on which I had been running the preview version. As mentioned previously, this is an Asus M5200AE notebook with a 1.73 GHZ Pentium M CPU & 1GB RAM.
This time I used the “on Line” upgrade assistant.
This is the way to go. It only cost AUD$39-99 for Win 8 Pro and I took advantage of the offer to get WMC for free. (Not that I will use WMC on it but hey it’s free!) The Microsoft Australian link is http://windows.microsoft.com/en-AU/windows/buy?ocid=GA8_O_WOL_DIS_ShopHP_FPP_Light
As soon as I finished, I created an Image and Repair/boot Disc on DVDs using the old Win 7 Image back up which is still available in Win 8. Install discs are offered in this process as an optional extra but the cost is $25. Why pay when it is so easy to make your own discs. (Type “recovery” in the Charms search and click on “Settings” and you will see “Windows 7 File Recovery”. Open this and it is the familiar Win 7 control panel to make a system image and recovery discs.)
It could not have been easier. As first it runs a check of your system to identify any potential problems and then proceeds with the upgrade (retaining your data). Also you can pay by credit card or PayPal during the procedure.
The only issues I had with the old laptop were:
- I needed to go to Realtek to get a driver for the sound (Vista / Win 7 driver worked)
- The card reader does not work but I have not made any effort to find drivers
AND the DVD Drive that was not working with the Preview Version of Win 8 now works. For $39-99 I have an adequately working Win 8 Notebook. (According to Microsoft, 2GB Of RAM is the preferred minimum but it goes OK with 1GB).