Re: Windows a bad deal


Curieux wrote:
Super Spinner wrote:
Tom Bates wrote:
when you can buy a crap PC for $399 from Dull, and have to pay $200 for
XP Pro in the stores. Shows who's making the money.
--
Yours,
Tom

That PC comes with the OEM version of XP, which is substantially
cheaper than the retail price. According to newegg.com, the OEM prices
of XP are:
XP Pro - $140
XP MCE - $115 (which is built on Pro but lacks the ability to join
domains (you can still join workgroups)
XP Home - $87.

And those prices are for how many units? 1, 1,000, a million.


Those are the prices for one unit at newegg.com. But since they are
OEM prices, you have to buy a piece of hardware to go with it (like
some RAM). Maybe the price is lower if you buy a whole bunch of
units, as you suggest below.

Is it the same for one disc as it is for a million?

So, the OEM prices of XP are comparable to the price of OSX (which is
essentially an OEM version whether sold with the machine or at retail,
since the computer maker (apple) is the one selling it in any case
(meaning that Apple can offer the "low" price to $130 for the retail
version because they already made money on your hardware purchase));
not to mention that in order to stay current with OSX, you need to
cough up $130 every 12-18 months).

Whew...one long sentence!

It's all based on the per unit price being as you quoted, or it could be
less if I buy more than one OEM copy install the OS in a million units
(in the case of a manufacturer who installs an M$ OS, APPLE does the
legwork for their stuff).

However, I doubt the price/cost of the OS in a new machine is a factor
in a typical buying decision. Nope, "they" don't let the buyer consider
that.
I don't recall seeing a price of a De|| w/the OS? An upgrade to Pro,
yes...It's assumed the buyer wants an M$ OS and any choice precluded as
not options is mentioned/suggested.
Yep, in any ads I checked you can configure many different hardware and
some software 'builds'...It appears the majors are locked in (you the
buyer that is) to the M$ OS.

I can call the Nashville sales office (old friends, they gave me loads
of free *** for all their screw-ups!) and see how much I'd save if I
wasn't interested in the OS.

I should save, how much, if I pass on the OS?

Michael

I agree that the price of the OS in an OEM machine doesn't factor into
one's buying decision (except that if you order from Dell, you do get
different prices depending on which version of XP you choose), which is
a reason that this topic and thread are so stupid.

As for how much one would save if one passed on the OS? If you figure
that XP Home is ~$80 for the OEM, then theoretically you could save
$80. I guess if Apple sold OS-less Macs, you could save anywhere from
$80 to $130 (whatever Apple deemed the real "OEM" price for itself.
;-)). But that's in theory. In actuality, it takes extra effort to
make "non-standard" configurations, so you wouldn't save the entire
dollar amount of the OS, you may even pay extra. Dell's Linux PCs cost
more than their equivalent Windows PCs even though Linux at retail cost
less than Windows (at least at retail; I don't know what Linux OEM
prices/licenses are). I could also imagine that if Apple did offer
OS-less Macs (obviously this is purely hypothetical), it would actually
cost more than the same Mac with OSX installed.

.