As a student I'm able to get lovely discounts on a variety of things. Most recently this little gem from microsoft caught my eye:

http://www.microsoft.com/student/discou ... fault.aspx

I got office via this two years ago and never looked back, but with Windows 7 I'm a little hesitant. My original intention was to wait for an upgrade cycle in a year or so and get home premium, but with Pro only £30 (I assume it's the 64 edition) is it worth going for it now? I currently run Vista on this machine and whilst it's not lightning quick, it works well enough and doesn't give me problems. Concerns are:

Complication of uninstall/reinstall of windows (though I imagine it's pretty easy).
Is it an OEM edition? (which would see a hard drive failure leave me back with Vista)
W7 Pro; more bloated than home premium? Or am I pulling worrys out of my bottom?

Advice would be much appreciated.

Get it. It will have both 32 &64 bit versions on the dvd.

No it won't. You have to choose either 32-bit or 64-bit, and it will be download-only unless you pay the extra £9 for a "backup" DVD. You get your serial key via e-mail.

Stupid question: Does it require an MS *.exe downloader to get the *.iso? I'm having difficulty getting Windows from my MSDN connection due to a lack of fast, uncapped internet and a Windows machine in the same place.

Decide which version you want and get it. still a no brainer. so much cheaper than at amazon.

Bah, looks like it's an upgrade licence only, which isn't what I was after (I'd rather go with a clean install). Although I wasn't aware an upgrade licence would work with XP, which is what the terms and conditions suggest. Ah well, cheers chaps.

I managed a clean install with my copy, it didn't ask about a previous installation of Windows once. No guarantee that'd it be the same with your of course.

Meh. Suppose there's not much to lose by going for it as I'll still have Vista. We'll see what happens.

Edit: Yeah, it's only an upgrade, so I'll sit back and think about it a bit longer. Offer's not going anywhere anytime soon.

Yep, upgrade allows you to do a clean install, as you have to if you go from 32 bit to 64 bit

There is a direct link to the image somewhere.....
http://lifehacker.com/5391688/iso-downl ... t-download

has a link to a direct download there, its the 64 bit one though

Is it really an "upgrade" then? Is there any point buying the full version?

Yes as it upgrades your licence to windows 7

Doesnt really apply to uni students as you can access xp for free via MSDNAA so you dont 'need' another licence as you have one already

If MS sold everything at that price they'd get a lot more sales. I still use Office 97 as the current price of office is just a rip off (I can't get that student discount). When that becomes unusable I'll switch to open office.

Sometimes you just have to there at the right time. I got Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition (3 User Licence) £54.83 and thought ok OO is free but at that price thats not too bad

If I had a .ac.uk email address, I'd buy it now.

7 or office?