New Laptop - WIndows 7 Beta -> Free upgrade possible?

I've just ordered my father a new laptop that is elligible for a free(ish) upgrade to Windows 7 (Home Premium) on release. He's not very computer literate, so rather than make him learn Vista and then switch to 7 - I'd like to start him of on Windows 7 from day one.

If I install the public beta of Windows 7 on his new machine, when his upgrade eventually comes through, will it be possible for me to upgrade the beta to a full legitimate copy without a reinstall?

Anything i should be aware of?

Thanks

 

If you install the public *beta* today, it will expire immediately.

You probably mean the Release Candidate, which you can install, but it is not officially upgradable to the final.

 

The Release Candidate expires on March 1, 2010, at that point it starts shutting down every 2 hours until June 1, 2010.

Upgrading from Windows 7 RC to Windows 7 Final (aka RTM) is not officially supported. There is apparently a way around this:
http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-upgrade-windows-7-rc-to-rtm/
I haven't tried this personally though, so I can't comment on how well it works. That is because I always do clean installs. I would highly recommend a clean install. A clean install is when you format the partition you plan to install Windows on and then install it on that clean formatted partition.

 

While it is possible, it isn't officially supported. I'd venture to say you will face less problems upgrading from VISTA to Win 7 compared to upgrading from RC to Final.

 

Him switching from Vista to 7 down the line doesn't really seem like much of a concern anyway.

There's not all that much cosmetic difference, it's not like the move from XP to Vista.