Windows 10 Pro for £69.99 The OEM difference
Buy a Windows 10 licence and then upgrade it to Windows 11: £39.99 for Home, £69.99 for Pro
Windows 11 is upon us, and as we explore on p36 you can force an upgrade from Windows 10 today. But what if you’re running Windows 10 Home and want Windows 11 Pro? Or still stuck on Windows 8? This is where a Windows 10 OEM licence comes in so useful.
OEM stands for original equipment manufacturer (think Acer and Dell), and that means it’s tied to one PC (so you can’t reuse the licence on a new build). But that’s reflected in a far lower price: we’re offering Windows 10 Pro for just £69.99, a £150 saving on Microsoft’s £219.99 price for the retail version, or you can buy Windows 10 Home for £39.99 versus the retail version’s list price of £119.99.
A Windows 10 OEM licence is perfect for fresh installs. It’s the obvious choice for those building a new PC from scratch – the lower price means you save money on the cost of your build – but you may also need a fresh OEM licence if you’ve upgraded your motherboard. Officially, Microsoft considers that a new PC.
The OEM route is also a good choice if you’re looking to upgrade from XP, Vista or even Windows 7. XP and Vista users can’t simply upgrade their install to Windows 10 anyway, and while the option exists in Windows 7, it’s not recommended for compatibility and performance reasons. Take advantage of the update to install a fresh, pristine copy of Windows.
An OEM licence also fits the bill if you want to run Windows alongside another OS – either in a dual-boot configuration or in a virtual environment. In either event, it’s a more cost-effective choice than splashing out on a full retail licence.
From Windows 10 Home to Pro
If you already own Windows 10 Home, an OEM licence provides a way to upgrade to Pro. This means you’ll benefit from additional features such as BitLocker, which offers system-wide data protection by encrypting your drives, including USB keys. Then there’s Assigned Access, which gives greater control over what users are able to do on a system, whilst Hyper-V allows you to run virtualised OSes within Windows without the need for extra software.