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Your mileage may vary, but you should be able to sell your iPhone 3G for the same price as a refurbished 3GS.

So it has come to this: My iPhone 3G is a year old and out of warranty. Its battery ain't what it used to be. And, heavens, does it seem slow sometimes.

Needless to say, I've been eyeballing a 3GS for some time, but I still don't qualify for a price break on an upgrade--not until April, 2010, according to AT&T.

So if I want to replace my 16GB 3G with a 32GB 3GS, it'll cost me $499. It'll be a warm January day in Michigan before I spend that kind of money on a phone.

Ah, but there's another option. I can get a refurbished 32GB 3GS for $349 (provided I sign on for another two years with AT&T, of course). That's a little more reasonable, and here's the kicker: Guess what a used iPhone 3G will fetch on eBay these days?

You guessed it: right around $350. (Sometimes even more.) That amazes me right down to my sneakers, but I guess people are willing to pay handsomely for an iPhone that's free and clear of AT&T and ready for jailbreaking.

So--and this is what I'm telling my wife--I'd be crazy not to do this. After all, I do write about the iPhone for a living. I should have the latest model, right? Right? Honey, put down the rolling pin!

I'm kidding--I do most of the baking in this house. But I'm not kidding when I say I can't see any downside to making this move. Even if my old crank-start 3G brought in only $300 on eBay, I consider $50 a perfectly reasonable upgrade expenditure.

Obviously your mileage may vary, like if you're moving from an original iPhone or looking at a 3GS with 16GB instead of 32GB. Heck, you might be able to come out ahead on the transaction.

Thoughts? Discuss.

One of the biggest frustrations for most people upgrading their systems to Windows 7 is that what Microsoft calls a "custom upgrade" is nothing less than a full system install. Some Windows Vista users won't have to reinstall their programs after upgrading, but many will and all Windows XP users will, too. Here's where LapLink's PCmover Windows 7 Upgrade Assistant steps in.

PCmover Windows 7 Upgrade Assistant will transfer most of your programs, settings, and files, but it will take a several hours.

(Credit: LapLink)

For $30, LapLink will pack up your programs, settings, and data, store them as you upgrade to Windows 7, and then reinstall them using its proprietary VAN file format. The process is simple, says LapLink: install and run the upgrade assistant, upgrade to Windows 7, then reinstall PCmover and restore your programs and settings.

While that's the gist of the process, it's not quite as simple. Reading LapLink's Quick Start PDF guide (PDF download) is a must. PCmover requires 200 MB of hard disk space in addition to the 16 GB that Windows 7 will need, and you'll probably have to reboot your computer. If you don't regularly run your antivirus program, you'll need to do that, and it's a good idea to run your defragger as well. Users will need to turn off their screensavers and power management options should all be set to Never. If the computer hibernates or goes to sleep during the upgrade, it will damage the process.

The guide recommends using the Windows Task Scheduler to make sure that all scheduled tasks and programs have been disabled, and warns that you should disable your security programs. If you're not comfortable performing this kind of maintenance on your computer, PCmover is definitely not for you. ... Read more

Over the weekend, CNET ran an unscientific poll inquiring about the level of difficulty in your Windows 7 upgrade experience, and the response we received was undoubtedly strong. Nearly 11,000 people voted, and more than 50 percent of you said your Windows 7 upgrade experience was as easy as pie. (And who doesn't love pie?)

We asked people to rate their upgrade experience from one to five, with one being the easiest and five being the hardest. A total of 5,492 people evaluated the upgrade experience as a one, but the second-most popular answer, at 16 percent, was five, indicating an unnecessarily hard upgrade. Sticking with the pie analogy, that's basically having to do all the cleaning up without getting to eat any.

The third-most popular answer was two, indicating a fairly easy but not flawless upgrade process for 14 percent of voters. The three answer garnered 8 percent of the vote, with 927 votes, and four scored 809 votes, for 7 percent.

Combining the two extremes, then, we can see that more than two-thirds of voters said upgrading was easy or fairly easy, while less than a quarter said the process was hard or unnecessarily difficult. Compared to what most people remember from their Vista experience, that's a dramatic, if anecdotal, change.

If you're planning on upgrading but haven't yet, there are several tools and links that Microsoft has provided to make the change easier. Microsoft has published guides to upgrading from XP to Windows 7 and from Vista to Windows 7, and it has also rounded up its upgrade and installation FAQs onto one convenient page.

The Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor is a useful tool for evaluating your current hardware situation, and it gives you a "Windows experience" rating so you can decide whether it can handle Windows 7 before you buy. Windows Easy Transfer will help most users migrate their files and settings, though there have been reports of not all settings getting moved smoothly. It won't migrate programs.

Last weekend we ran a casual, unscientific poll asking what your plans were for Windows 7. It closed Monday morning, but because of the overwhelming response, we decided to reopen it until today. Out of the 13,108 readers who voted, 59 percent (7,669) of you said that you were going to upgrade from Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7.

So, for those of you who are upgrading an older version of Windows to Windows 7 this weekend, we'd like you to rank your experience for us in a new poll posted below. Please share both your horror stories and your tales of easy installation in the comments. The new poll will close Monday afternoon at 5:00 p.m. Pacific time.

The remaining results from previous poll were mostly unsurprising. Fourteen percent, or 1,856 voters, said that they were planning on buying a new computer with Windows 7 already installed. Slightly more of you, 2,146 respondents (16 percent), said they had no plans to change computers or upgrade at the moment. A small but not insignificant percentage, 865 voters, said that they were going to switch to a Mac or a Linux computer.

After we reopened the poll on Monday afternoon, we added two questions by popular demand. Less than one percent of voters said they were going to switch from a Mac or Linux computer to Windows 7, while 454 people (3 percent) said that they already had a Mac or Linux computer and were planning on also using Windows 7.

What these numbers confirmed is that a majority of current Windows users will be upgrading current systems, meaning that most people not only believe that their hardware can adequately run Windows 7, but also that they can comfortably perform the upgrade themselves. However, sizable minorities will either be buying Windows 7 fresh or ignoring it entirely, while a tiny group will be using it as an excuse to abandon ship.

Now that we're past the official release of Windows 7, most new PCs should come with it pre-installed. But if you purchased a new computer with Windows Vista recently, or for whatever reason end up with a Vista system in the near future, there's a very good chance you're eligible for a free Windows 7 upgrade.

From the period of June 26, 2009 through January 31, 2010, many major PC makers are offering free upgrades to Windows 7 for those who buy a Vista-powered laptop or desktop. The deals are all essentially the same, and, as expected, have some exceptions and asterisks.

Click the gallery link below and we'll show you the details for PC brands including Dell, HP, Gateway, Acer, Asus, Lenovo, and Sony -- complete with upgrade terms and instructions, and links to each PC maker's free Windows 7 upgrade request forms.

Photos: How do I get my free Windows 7 upgrade?

Getting your free Windows 7 upgrade is handled through the company you bought your PC from, not by Microsoft, and in most cases you'll have to register and fill out some online forms. Now that we're past the October 22 launch date for Windows 7, you'll receive a physical copy of Windows 7 via snail mail once your submit the proper documentation. The upgrade path looks like this:

Windows Vista Home Premium→Windows 7 Home Premium
Windows Vista Business→Windows 7 Professional
Windows Vista Ultimate→Windows 7 Ultimate

Using Vista basic? Tough luck! Also worth noting, upgrades are arriving via DVD, so you'll have to have a DVD drive available (although there is a USB drive workaround). Also royally screwed are Netbook buyers who have Windows XP, and are not eligible for the free upgrade.

> See CNET's full Windows 7 review here.
> Missed the big gallery link above? Brand by brand details on getting your free Windows 7 upgrade are here.
> This article updates our earlier pre-Win7-launch feature: Ask the editor: Should I buy a new laptop now, or wait for Windows 7?

If you're upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7 it should be a fairly easy install. You can do what's called an in-place upgrade as long you install the same version of Windows 7 as you have of Vista.

For instance, if you have Windows Vista Home premium you can upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium. You can also go from Vista Business to Windows 7 Professional, and from Vista Ultimate to 7 Ultimate. Any other upgrade, like Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional, will require a clean install. That means you can't just turn Vista into 7. You have to export all your data, erase the hard drive, and then reinstall all your applications and data. A lot of computer experts think you should do a clean install anyway, just to make sure your machine runs better.

See our video for upgrading XP to Windows 7 for that process.

But if you're lucky enough to be able to do an in-place upgrade and want to, here's what you do.

Many of you did not upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista, but are planning to upgrade to Windows 7. How dare you leave the Microsoft upgrade path? As a punishment, you can't upgrade directly from XP to 7; you have to do what's called a clean install, which means you have to jump through some hoops to keep your old data and programs.

Not to worry, we'll show you a couple ways to deal with the pain of installing Windows 7 on your XP machine. And afterward, Microsoft will forgive you your trespasses. Maybe.

Before you start, do these three things.

1. Run the Windows 7 upgrade adviser. It will let you know if your computer can handle any version of Windows 7.

2. Check the Windows 7 compatibility center. This is different than the upgrade adviser. It will tell you if you need to update your drivers or apps to make them work in 7.

3. Make a copy of your hard drive, just in case things go horribly wrong. I recommend using Macrium Reflect; it's a free download available from Download.com.

OK, now you're ready to upgrade.

CNET Download.com's Seth Rosenblatt joins the Real Deal to answer all your questions about Windows 7 so you can be prepared for October 22.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Since I got my iPhone 3GS a couple of months ago, I've been wondering when I would really benefit from its highly anticipated faster 3G capability. I finally got the answer, and as it turns out, the wait is far from over.

AT&T announced Wednesday details of its rollout plans for High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) 7.2 3G technology. This is the next generation of 3G, and it offers up to 7.2Mbps data connection speeds (as opposed to the 2Mbps and 3.6Mbps of the current 3G).

(This is, of course, just the theoretical number. Typical real-world downlink and uplink speeds will likely be less than that depending on location, device, and overall traffic on the local wireless network at a given time. Nonetheless, this promises a significant boost. HSPA 7.2 is part of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) family of technologies, which include GSM, UMTS, and the Emerging LTE technology. HSPA 7.2 offers backward-compatibility, meaning it also works with existing 3G and 2G devices at the lower device-specific speed.)

According to the announcement, the new speed will be available by the end of the year. Unfortunately, it's available only in six cities in the U.S., including Charlotte, N.C.; Chicago; Dallas; Houston; Los Angeles; and Miami. This means the rest of the country, including the San Francisco Bay Area where I am, must continue to wait.

The iPhone 3GS is a HSPA 7.2-compatible smartphone from AT&T.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)

It's unclear how long the wait will be for the rest of the cities, but the company says it plans to deploy HSPA 7.2 in 25 of the nation's 30 largest markets by the end of 2010, and to reach about 90 percent of its existing 3G network footprint with HSPA 7.2 by the end of 2011.

While this is rather sad news for me, for most people it won't mean much, as chances are your phone is not compatible with the higher 3G speed. Currently, the iPhone 3GS is the only HSPA 7.2-ready smartphone I know that AT&T offers.

However, AT&T assures that it will offer more compatible devices with the rollout of HSPA 7.2. The company expects to have six HSPA 7.2-compatible smartphones in its device portfolio by the end of the year, as well as two new LaptopConnect cards.

The rollout of HSPA 7.2 is part of AT&T's plan to invest some $18 billion this year, of which more than two-thirds is going toward broadband and wireless. Key projects of this investment include, in AT&T's words: