Windows 8.1 Download Portals Appear Official (Preview, That Is)

If you're itching to get a piece of what Windows 8.1 has to offer, the time has arrived – for some users, at least. The restrictions placed on this particular release are centered on MSDN subscribers and TechNet subscribers at this very moment. The public download portal [LINK UPDATED], on the other hand, is not quite open at the moment – but feel free to hit refresh until your monitor sees the big push.

Those wishing to enter through their MSDN or TechNet subscriber accounts can do so with the MSDN portal or the TechNet portal as such. At the moment it does not appear that the ISO downloads for Windows 8.1 Preview are available just yet.

Of note is the limited number of languages in which Windows 8.1 Preview is going to be delivered. The following will be ready to roll: Arabic, English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish. If you're not ready to speak or read one of these, you may just want to wait for a slightly more finalized engagement.

According to MyDrivers, the final system requirements for this build include a processor at 1GHz in speed or greater, Memory at 1GB (32-bit) or 2GB (64-bit), and hard disk space at 16GB (32-bit) or 20GB (64-bit).

Earlier today Microsoft delivered a rather extensive run-down of elements that'd be appearing with Windows 8.1 in both the preview version and the final delivery iteration. You can see a quick list of 9 key elements in Windows 8.1 right this minute, if you wish, or you can jump in head first when the download links are active. Let us know how you like this build (or dislike it, if need be) and stay tuned as SlashGear continues to deliver deep-dive inspections of the software soon!