I've just booted up a new Windows 8 Laptop and chose not to connect to the internet. On the desktop is the "Windows 8 Buld 9200" and activation shows as needing either phone activation or online activation? Is this normal - I thought I'd ask before doing so?
That's normal, Devices do not ship activated, they get activated automatically @ User when you have Internet connection, if you have no internet connection you need to activate via phone.