Upgrading to Windows 8

Upgrading to Windows 8(faq)

 From which older versions of Windows can I upgrade to Windows 8?

A: According to this official Microsoft blog post, if you own a Windows XP, Windows Vista, or aWindows 7 PC, you are eligible for a downloadable upgrade to Windows 8 Pro.

Q: How much will the upgrade cost?

For PCs with the above operating systems purchased prior to June 2, 2012, you can download the upgrade from Microsoft for $39.99. For new, non-Windows 8 PCs purchased between June 2 and January 31, 2013, Microsoft will offer the Windows 8 Pro upgrade download for $14.99 

 Is there an option to purchase the upgrade on a DVD or other physical media?

A: You can buy the boxed version of the Windows 8 Pro upgrade for $69.99. If you purchase the downloadable upgrade, Microsoft will offer you the option to purchase a DVD version for an additional $15. The upgrade installation process will also offer you the ability to burn a DVD or make a bootable USB key using your own media, for no charge.

Q: What about other versions of Windows 8?

A: Microsoft has announced four versions of Windows 8. You can only upgrade to two of them as a consumer, Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro. Windows RT will only come with tablets, and an Enterprise version will be sold with large-volume corporate PC purchases. Windows 8, Windows Pro, and Windows 8 Enterprise will be available in both 32-bit and 64-bit editions, with 64-bit being most common. Microsoft has not yet announced pricing for the vanilla Windows 8 upgrade.

Q: What are the differences between Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro?

A: In this blog post, Microsoft says, "For many consumers, Windows 8 will be the right choice," while it designed Windows 8 Pro "to help tech enthusiasts and business/technical professionals obtain a broader set of Windows 8 technologies."

Basically what that means is that Windows 8 Pro comes with features Microsoft believes most consumers won't care about. For the most part this is probably true. Most people won't miss Pro's extras like the Client Hyper-V virtualization software and BitLocker disk encryption tool.

Q: What are the hardware requirements for Windows 8?

A: Here are the basics as outlined by Microsoft in a blog post:

• 1GHz or faster processor
• 1GB RAM (32-bit) or 2GB RAM (64-bit)
• 16GB available hard-disk space (32-bit) or 20GB (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

Microsoft also says, "Metro style applications have a minimum of 1,024x768 screen resolution, and 1,366x768 for the snap feature." "Snap" refers to Windows 8's feature of automatically resizing and positioning application Windows when you drag them to the side of the screen. And "Metro" is the now-abandoned nomenclature for Windows 8's distinct touch-oriented software interface design.