Windows 8 Pre-Orders Start; $39.99 Download Option on October 26th
by Ryan Smith on October 15, 2012 12:10 PM ESTWith Windows 8 officially launching in under two weeks, Microsoft and its retail partners have finally begun taking pre-orders for Windows 8. As with prior Windows pre-order promotions, several retailers are participating, including a number of brick & mortar retailers along with e-tailers such as Newegg, Amazon, and even Microsoft’s own online store.
Microsoft will essentially be handling the launch of Windows 8 in two phases: pre-order and launch. The pre-order phase is primarily geared towards buyers looking for boxed copies of Windows and with delivery on the 26th; unsurprisingly these boxed copies are priced notably higher than Microsoft’s download options. As for buyers looking to take advantage of Microsoft’s previously announced $39.99 download offer, that promotion will not begin until the launch on the 26th when Windows 8 actually ships. On that note, as previously announced both the boxed and download copies will be offered with promotional pricing, with Microsoft and its partners selling the upgrades at a significant discount until January 31, 2013.
| Windows 8 SKUs | ||||||||
| Windows 8 Upgrade | Windows 7/Vista/XP Upgrade | Full Version | Price | |||||
| Windows 8 Pro Pack | X | - | - | $69 | ||||
| Windows 8 Pro Upgrade (Boxed) | - | X | - | $69 | ||||
| Windows 8 Pro Upgrade (Download) | - | X | - | $39 | ||||
| Windows 8 (Core) OEM | - | - | X | $99 | ||||
| Windows 8 Professional OEM | - | - | X | $139 | ||||
For buyers looking for physical copies, retailers are taking pre-orders for both upgrade and full editions of Windows 8. For Windows X/Vista/7 users Microsoft is offering a single upgrade package, the Windows 8 Professional Upgrade, which has a list price of $99 but is being offered at $69 for the life of the promotion. Meanwhile the download version that will be made available on the 26th will have a $39 promotional price, putting a $30 premium on boxed copies.
As for Windows 8 (core) users – primarily those who buy computers with Windows 8 pre-installed – Microsoft is offering the Windows 8 Pro Pack upgrade for upgrading a Windows 8 (core) installation to Windows 8 Pro. Like the Win7 upgrade, this too is being offered at a promotional price of $69 with a list price of $99.
Finally, full versions of both Windows 8 (core) and Windows 8 are also being offered for pre-order, but only in OEM form at this time. There isn’t a publicly announced discount on these, so the list price of $99 for Windows 8 (core) and $139 for Windows 8 Professional should be the final price, which also closely matches the price for OEM copies of Windows 7. We haven’t seen retail full versions of Windows 8 appear for sale yet, and while there are rumors going around that Windows 8 will be OEM-only, it has not been confirmed by Microsoft.
Source: Microsoft
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B3an - Monday, October 15, 2012 - link
What are you about about you silly troll?Win 7 themes? What does that even mean? Win 8 desktop has far more features added than 7 did over Vista. Win 8 will sell well and is already the best selling thing on Amazons software list.
mcnabney - Tuesday, October 16, 2012 - link
Win 8 also takes away features. If you use and mediacenter functions or have the interest in using a tuner you will have to move up to the most expensive version, the new Pro which replaces Ultimate. That is a 40% more expensive version of software. Also, if you want to play a DVD on your computer, not only will you HAVE to buy the most expensive version of Win8, but you will have to buy the DVD codecs for $10-20 from MS which you ALREADY OWNED under Win7.Not really sure what great feature Win8 has that I don't already have under Win7. Win8:Win7 is just like WHS(Vail):WHS1.0. They broke it trying to make it better.
Golgatha - Tuesday, October 16, 2012 - link
Yeap, Win7 is the new XP. I'm one of those people who get asked by friends and family if it's worth upgrading. For Win7 from WinXP, I say absolutely yes. My answer is decidedly no for Win8 from Win7. Also, the fact that I can't get a full retail copy to (legally) transfer between upgrades makes the software offerings MS has pretty much useless to me.This Guy - Wednesday, October 17, 2012 - link
Windows 8 Pro Upgrade (Download) - $39Because the kind of people that run a HTPC are the kind that wait for things to become mainstream before purchasing and don't care about a 4m GUI and the ability to just ram the mouse into a corner instead of trying to click a tiny dot.
Can we get a timer so a page has to be open for more than 30 seconds before someone can comment?
imaheadcase - Tuesday, October 16, 2012 - link
Themes? You know those add ons that change UI and other little things. Far more features? Hardly. the "features" that are being praised are nothing mind blowing, and many are available 3rd party.Solidstate89 - Tuesday, October 16, 2012 - link
No really, tell me more lies.melgross - Monday, October 15, 2012 - link
I wonder about the $39.95 offer to those using the preview versions? That was written about here, and a few other places as well.lowlymarine - Monday, October 15, 2012 - link
It appears they've just decided to extend it to everyone, unless that was specifically said to be for a retail box.Belard - Tuesday, October 16, 2012 - link
Win8Pro $39.99 upgrade price is $39.69 too much.PS: Why not make it $40? $100 $140?
Oh yeah, Americans are stupid... Hence, we see these cars selling for $19,995 so the brain of the idiot goes "wow, its under $20K!)
Malih - Wednesday, October 17, 2012 - link
well, not just Americans, I've been to a few places around the world and price tags are mostly always like that, that's probably how the brain works, well, at leasat it works on me.