Vista Pricing Revealed

[Joe Gronlund]

Online retailer Amazon.com has begun taking preorders for various Windows Vista versions, which will be available January 30, 2007, according to Amazon.com. Not surprisingly, the prices that Amazon.com lists for Vista are quite similar to the roughly equivalent Windows XP versions.


According to Amazon.com, the prices for Vista are as follows: Vista Home Basic: $199.00
Vista Home Basic Upgrade: $99.95
Vista Home Basic Upgrade (Additional License Only): $89.95

Vista Home Premium: $239.00
Vista Home Premium Upgrade: $159.00
Vista Home Premium Upgrade (Additional License Only): $143.00


Vista Business: $299.00
Vista Business Upgrade: $199.00
Vista Business Upgrade (Additional License Only): $179.00 Vista Ultimate: $399.00
Vista Ultimate Upgrade: $259.00
Vista Ultimate Upgrade (Additional License Only): $233.00

Although not every Vista version correlates exactly with an XP version, the pricing is in line with XP pricing. For example, XP Home costs $189.00, compared with $199.99 for Vista Home Basic, and the XP Home Upgrade costs $89.97, only two cents more than the Vista Home Basic Upgrade. Upsells won't be particularly expensive either: Prices for the much more capable Vista Home Premium are just $40 to $60 higher than those of Vista Home Basic.

Amazon.com doesn't yet show the box art that Microsoft will use for its Vista retail versions. Earlier this week, Microsoft Canada also slipped with a bit of Vista pricing information: The company's Web site briefly reported that Vista Ultimate would cost $450 in Canadian dollars.

Source

[Colin F]

Is it true that OEM versions are not eligible to use the upgrade, and would require a full version?

[Joe Gronlund]

Is it true that OEM versions are not eligible to use the upgrade, and would require a full version?

I havent heard anything regarding that. I cant see Microsoft doing that, as an OEM version is a full version of XP, or any other MS OS..

[Quillz]

I'll most likely upgrade from WinXP MCE 2005 -> WinVI Ultimate once it debuts in January.

[Bober42]

Why 4 versions?

[Jerry]

I still haven't played with the beta !

Then again being an engineer I like to see the nuts and blots of a system, not sure if I want anything fluffier than XP, if it wasn't for games I'd be back to *nix on the desktop.

[filburt1]

If my university offers Ultimate (standalone, ideally) for less than $100, then I'd consider it. And only then. Beta 2 was terrible and there's no real appeal for me to "upgrade" to Vista yet anyway.

[Zachery]

If my university offers Ultimate (standalone, ideally) for less than $100, then I'd consider it. And only then. Beta 2 was terrible and there's no real appeal for me to "upgrade" to Vista yet anyway.

I haven't had a shot at beta 2, but the pre-beta I had a try at was wonderful

[MrNase]

Interesting news Joe, thanks!

[Cromulent]

I'll be interested to see if Apple support running Windows Vista through Boot Camp on the Mac. If so I might hold back and just wait for Vista to be released.

[Quillz]

Why 4 versions?

Why not?

[Quillz]

If my university offers Ultimate (standalone, ideally) for less than $100, then I'd consider it. And only then. Beta 2 was terrible and there's no real appeal for me to "upgrade" to Vista yet anyway.

From what I've heard, Release Candidate 1 (due out soon) is going to be much better than Beta 2. I might consider trying it. If not, I'll just wait for the final version.

[MGM]

If my university offers Ultimate (standalone, ideally) for less than $100, then I'd consider it. And only then. Beta 2 was terrible and there's no real appeal for me to "upgrade" to Vista yet anyway.

Ditto. Here's to hoping my university pulls out for me

MGM out

[tgillespie]

My Unversity gives their business students one free license. As of now they offer XP Pro. I'm hoping they continue with Ultimate.

[TheComputerGuy]

Well I get Vista ultimate in October with a team up with an intel package.

and I hope my university gives us a copy as well...I will pick it up for a few other computers I have. I want to see Aero in all of its glory!