A leaked Best Buy memo was spot on in revealing Windows 7 upgrade prices, and Microsoft has officially filled in the blanks today.
As stated in the memo, leaked to Engadget in early June, pre-orders for Windows 7 start tomorrow. Those who pre-purchase an upgrade between then and July 11 will pay $49 for Windows 7 Home Premium and $99 for Professional. Anyone who buys a new computer with Windows Vista after pre-orders begin will get a Windows 7 upgrade for free.
Two caveats, though: The offer is limited to an unspecified number of copies sold, and it’s only available at specific retailers including Best Buy, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Costco, Staples, Wal-Mart and directly through Microsoft.
Owners of Windows PCs who don’t pre-order the new operating system can upgrade to Home Premium for $119, Professional for $199 and Ultimate for $219. The full, boxed retail version will cost $199 for Home Premium, $299 for Professional and $319 for Ultimate.
Europe is getting an interesting deal. Because the operating system will only ship as a special "E" version that doesn’t include Internet Explorer, users will have to perform a clean installation. As a result, full versions will be available at upgrade prices. Corporate Vice President Brad Brooks told CNet this will keep the European version on time for an October 22 launch in some countries.
By October 31, the operating system should be available globally.
The best news here is that the pre-order deals are available to Windows XP owners, so people who shied away from Vista won’t have to pay for that arguably wise decision. Who’s planning on upgrading instead of waiting until their next computer?
34 Comments
Hmmm, I never buy an OS right out of the gate. I let the fools find all the bugs for MS first and then maybe, just maybe, I might make the leap to the new OS. My hand built PC runs XP Pro with no problem but I would like to make the jump to a 64bit OS sometime soon. The laptop I have runs Vista and I hate it. Had no choice in that affair.
Free on your favorite P2P website.
Most likely the street price for OEM versions will be more or less the same, so there's really no reason to jump on this.
@shaolin. I agree with you, but try it out. I slapped a "trial" on my lappy and it runs quite nicely. It has a vista look, but it actually runs.
@Ramza..."trial"
@Ramza..."trial"
I have to agree with Shaolin007. I didn't make the jump from Windows 98 SE to XP Pro until SP2 was released. SP2 fixed a lot of stuff. I'll wait a bit before I install a "trial" copy of Windows 7.
I will not be installing Windows 7 for a while. I am happy with Windows Vista X64 I have installed on my computer. I have never had any of the problems I hear about with Vista, so I don't see any reason to upgrade.
Just doing your billing work and surfing the web does not count as "never had any problem".
IT professionals said, say and will say the same thing, always : Vista blows, no matter how you look at it, period. If you think it's working fine for you, then chances are XP and 7 would be working even better.
IT professionals said, say and will say the same thing, always : Vista blows, no matter how you look at it, period. If you think it's working fine for you, then chances are XP and 7 would be working even better.
I agree, I am not going to be an MS guinea pig. I maybe switching to linux completely anyways.
Heh heh, I'm sure it's nice for some folks to have "never had any of the problems" which Vista caused for so many. But when the guy in charge of the Vista effort calls the product a turd in front of a room full of MS employees, you can bet the product didn't meet expectations. I think they may have put a bit more effort into getting it right with 7 as a result. 
Meh, If i buy a new system(don't build systems anymore, can't keep up with prices from high street shops, plus laptops are as cheap), then if it has windows 7, then great, but not going out of my way to buy it!
hmmm, so you can't prepay for W7 ultimate? Why is that?
Almost the same situation here. I ran Windows 2000, probably the best OS MS has made to date, then made the jump to XP Pro only when SP2 was out. I don't need a razzle dazzle looking OS. I would rather have something that is fast, efficient, and uses low memory. Memory prices and faster processors are no excuse for creating a memory hog or system hog.
@Ramza
While 7 might work better, as long as I am not having any problems with Vista, I don't plan to upgrade to 7 unless it has some feature that Vista does not and I can not live without. Which is very unlikely. As for the "billing work and surfing the web" that is some of what I do with the computer.
While 7 might work better, as long as I am not having any problems with Vista, I don't plan to upgrade to 7 unless it has some feature that Vista does not and I can not live without. Which is very unlikely. As for the "billing work and surfing the web" that is some of what I do with the computer.
I'll be upgrading from Vista to 7 as soon as the final code is posted on MSDN.
window 7 runs nice but not that nice esspecially in this economy? that is half the price of a laptop? and about two tanks of Gas. haha LOL.
It works much better,no hardware problems,it even finds the right drivers for you,unlike vista,so many software programs with compatability issues. the only thing missing from W7 is outlook express but thats not a problem for the majority,sure MS want you to stick with their products in this instance MSN messenger and Hotmail account.
So you can sit there and swear on a loved one that Vista has never given you a problem ? Microsoft are scrapping vista and will no longer be supporting it,is this not a good indicator to you that it was buggy from the start ?
So you can sit there and swear on a loved one that Vista has never given you a problem ? Microsoft are scrapping vista and will no longer be supporting it,is this not a good indicator to you that it was buggy from the start ?
XP 64-bit is more than enough and skims along quite happily. Don't know what's all the fuss about a new Windows OS. It's useless, almost no one needs the "improvements". Waste of time, basically.
As for the pricing: outrageous. That's what a monopoly does to your wallet: it drains it. It's incredible the prices that MS is allowed to charge for this thing. And people go along with it. Or not... For most people, the choice is clear: P2P.
As for the pricing: outrageous. That's what a monopoly does to your wallet: it drains it. It's incredible the prices that MS is allowed to charge for this thing. And people go along with it. Or not... For most people, the choice is clear: P2P.
I am gonna get several pre-order copies. You are not going to beat 50 bucks for home premium and 100 for Pro. I want 2 copies of Home 1 for my HTPC, 1 for me Netbook and one Pro opy for my main PC. I like the enhancements for netbook battery life and also the improvements of the Media Center for my HTPC. I could probably skip the Desktop Pro version- but for 100 bucks, I'll snag it since build my own PC's and will soon replace my desktop I am sure. So I want a legit serial number.
I am not going to upgrade to Windows 7 anytime soon; I am quite happy with my XP 64bit, and even my Vista 64bit on my laptop for office working etc. Nevertheless, I also believe it is a fair price to pay with this pre-order deal. I can remember times when Windows were for more that 300E, compared to that 50-100$ is progress
I'm supprised they aren't putting a price that isn't annual! Like the other greedy ones who want money for every year to keep running their product!
well, actually, even though Win7 is MUCH MUCH better than Vista (talking about both 64 bit versions), but it is still buggy as hell!!! and still even holding some of the ugly bugs of the late Vista...
If you are an Adobe user, esp. Design Premium CS3, then WinXP 64 bit will be a headache, with Acrobat Professional not working for a starters, and the hours spent trying to install teh package without crashing... well, Win7 had it all going smoothly and shockingly faster than both winXP 64 & Vista Home Premium 64!!! but still I repeat, It's Buggy as an infested copy of "Bugs Life"!!!
If you are an Adobe user, esp. Design Premium CS3, then WinXP 64 bit will be a headache, with Acrobat Professional not working for a starters, and the hours spent trying to install teh package without crashing... well, Win7 had it all going smoothly and shockingly faster than both winXP 64 & Vista Home Premium 64!!! but still I repeat, It's Buggy as an infested copy of "Bugs Life"!!!
@ headquarter84
Not buggy this end and it's used quite extensively on the video encoding side of things and some are quite demanding and win 7 is holding it up well compared to vista.
Not buggy this end and it's used quite extensively on the video encoding side of things and some are quite demanding and win 7 is holding it up well compared to vista.
Some people are commenting that Win 7 is basically a Vista Service Pack with a different name and not much more...
By the way, it seems XP has more lifes than a cat. MS announced recently that it has extended it's shelf life until, at least, April 2011. Meaning OEMs can keep on installing it for a good while longer than expected. I suppose it means many, like myself, think that it's useless to change OS, since XP is more than enough.
By the way, it seems XP has more lifes than a cat. MS announced recently that it has extended it's shelf life until, at least, April 2011. Meaning OEMs can keep on installing it for a good while longer than expected. I suppose it means many, like myself, think that it's useless to change OS, since XP is more than enough.
Hi,
I personally don't like to mess with a new OS either; however, I've been using the Windows7 Ultimate RC1 for about a month now on an older Compaq that started out as a Vista Home Basic machine. So far, for what I use it for (mostly internet, playing DVDs, and watching movies on my home network) Windows 7 is FAR better than Vista was or ever will be.
I have a hand built that runs XP Home and it runs quite well. Because of the multi-media function of my hand built, I'm strongly considering investing the $49 in the new OS. I don't mind throwing fifty bucks into the new OS, considering what I've experienced so far with the RC1.
Don't get me wrong, I would like to use Linux on the hand built ( also my MAIN computer), but then neither my wife nor my grandson would be able to use it. By the way, I dual-boot Linux Mint/Winsows 7 on my personl laptop ( the Compaq "dinosaur").
I personally don't like to mess with a new OS either; however, I've been using the Windows7 Ultimate RC1 for about a month now on an older Compaq that started out as a Vista Home Basic machine. So far, for what I use it for (mostly internet, playing DVDs, and watching movies on my home network) Windows 7 is FAR better than Vista was or ever will be.
I have a hand built that runs XP Home and it runs quite well. Because of the multi-media function of my hand built, I'm strongly considering investing the $49 in the new OS. I don't mind throwing fifty bucks into the new OS, considering what I've experienced so far with the RC1.
Don't get me wrong, I would like to use Linux on the hand built ( also my MAIN computer), but then neither my wife nor my grandson would be able to use it. By the way, I dual-boot Linux Mint/Winsows 7 on my personl laptop ( the Compaq "dinosaur").
If I am reading this correctly then this is a one time offer to save on an operating system that is eventual going to replace my XP professional. If I upgrade at $99 now and don't like the way it runs then can't I just go back to my old XP and wait for a service pack? That way I get 7 cheap and I lose nothing in the bargain.
windows_7_upgrade_faq
windows_7_upgrade_faq
i myself cant wait been beta testing windows 7 for a while now its great !!! But I'm curious if the final build when released in stores this Oct if it will be stable ???
Me and my fiance have alwready thanks to Vista working very poorly on OUR machines. Not saying its always junk, but was really junk preinstalled on the hardware we bought. Thank god for choice in a free market (well Microsoft's monopoly does make that difficult).
i am using the beta version but now i m just waiting for the cracked version of window7. go to hell with guinea windows.
"...but now i m just waiting for the cracked version of window7..."
You forgot to mention your name and address for MS to thank you for beta testing http://www.cdfreaks.com/jochem/../im...ies/2/puh2.gif
You forgot to mention your name and address for MS to thank you for beta testing http://www.cdfreaks.com/jochem/../im...ies/2/puh2.gif
I thnk you're kind of sad to have this attitude of waiting for a hacked version of windows 7!
I would rather wait until there was a hacked SP1 version!
I would rather wait until there was a hacked SP1 version!
As much as I am sick of being stuck with Vista, I wholeheartedly agree with you. I'm gonna wait till 6 months after Seven's release so I feel safe enough to buy it. And I'm gonna wait for reviews and complaints and all too.
Nope, not me!! I'll just wait until my company buys it for me ... Oh... wait... I lost my job so... I guess I'll wait with Steveo for the SP1
... Oh... wait... I lost my job so... I guess I'll wait with Steveo for the SP1
Ok, well im goning to buy it like i said been beta testing since build 67 something no hacked version for me legit os all the way to many cracked issues bug fixes with hacked copies lol later all
i liked windows 7 easy to get around and easy to find things
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