Installing Windows 8 on cheap tablet?

[Harsky]

I bought Windows 8 during a promotion on impulse but I've still not got an excuse to use it on my laptop or PC anytime soon. What I was interested in is trying to see if I can install it on a cheap tablet. Is this possible and if so, which brand of tablet should I get to install Windows 8?

 

[RodrigoDavy]

Well, your license is problaby for Windows 8 x86/x86_64 (PC architecture). Most tablets use an architecture based on ARM processors so you can't use your Windows 8 license on a tablet. But, wait... There are some tablets based on x86/x86_64 so maybe you could use your license on them, but I am not sure about that. And x86 tablets are pretty much expensive so...

 

[Foxi4]

Windows 8 for PC and Windows 8 for Tablets are two entirely different things - if your tablet is x86 or x86_64 (making it practically a UMPC...) then yes, you may. Otherwise, no, you can't. I'm willing to wager that the second option applies here.

 

[RodrigoDavy]

Windows 8 for PC and Windows 8 for Tablets are two entirely different things - if your tablet is x86 or x86_64 (making it practically a UMPC...) then yes, you may. Otherwise, no, you can't. I'm willing to wager that the second option applies here.

Couldn't have explained it better!

 

[Harsky]

I have seen those tablets that have Windows 7 running on them. Am I right in thinking that is a modified version of W7 is is there a way to overwrite that with PC W8?

 

[Jamstruth]

If they're running Win7 you should be able to get it to boot a Win8 ISO from a USB stick. Probably need the x86 (32 bit) version for it. Drivers for the touchscreen might be a bit iffy as well.

 

[Rydian]

If they're running WIndows 7, then they're an x86 tablet in the first place, not an ARM tablet.

 

[Deltaechoe]

also, since no one has mentioned this, if you do get the tablet version of windows 8, that does not mean that you can run programs that run on your computer. I don't mean from a performance perspective, I mean that the cpu in the ARM based tablet will not be able to read the executables

 

[Rydian]

Yeah the tablet version of Windows 8 is called Windows R/T, they gave it another name because it needs programs modified and recompiled for it (like porting to android).

 

[Minox]

I was under the impression that you're not able to purchase the Windows RT version of Windows 8? They're supposed to come pre-loaded on ARM tablets to prevent side-loading of other OSs, meaning that what you have should be an x86/x64 license. Such a license should be perfectly usable on tablets currently using Windows 7 in most cases.