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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kmmatney - Monday, October 15, 2012 - link
I guess I don't need any of that.. I already use Pandora for music (or just use my own music collection). My experience with Metro apps so far has been pretty bad - they just don't seem to be designed for a large 24" monitor. It seems like so much space is wasted on the screen.Spivonious - Monday, October 15, 2012 - link
Or Windows ID, Skydrive integration, Facebook/Flickr/LinkedIn/Twitter/whatever else integration, the Share and Search charms (really exciting possibilities with those), hardware-accelerated graphics, DPI-independent graphics (on Metro), improved Task Manager, File History, the list goes on and on.Anyone who reads Anandtech who doesn't like Windows 8 and doesn't feel the upgrade is worth $40 hasn't used it. Windows 7 is still in there. Why not get the new stuff too?
Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer - Monday, October 15, 2012 - link
"Anyone who reads Anandtech who doesn't like Windows 8 and doesn't feel the upgrade is worth $40 hasn't used it."I hear this a lot. It's flat-out untrue, though.
andrewaggb - Monday, October 15, 2012 - link
"I hear this a lot. It's flat-out untrue, though."Why is it untrue? In my experience so far running rtm it's been true.
Just like windows 7, but faster. And with better multi-monitor support (in desktop), better taskmgr, lots of little things that are better and a few that are probably worse.
Metro with mouse/keyboard isn't great, and on multiple monitors it's plain stupid, but I just don't use those parts and stay in the desktop the whole time.
Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer - Monday, October 15, 2012 - link
What I quoted is untrue because I do not like Windows 8 and I have, in fact, tried it--on three different computers, no less.It only takes one example to prove a blanket statement like that wrong, but setting that technicality aside, I very much doubt that I am the only person who a) has tried Windows 8 and b) didn't like it. If you like it, great, but not everyone does.
imaheadcase - Monday, October 15, 2012 - link
All those things you mentioned are available for Win 7.If you think upgrading software for integration or things you are to lazy to install, then by all means get it.
But MS also included items in every other OS version that people found interesting, but not worthy in the long run.
B3an - Monday, October 15, 2012 - link
So you'd rather use bloated software to do all the tasks that Win 8 does much more efficiently while STILL using less RAM and resources than Win 7? And you can't get anything like Storage Spaces on Win 7.It's worth it for the performance improvements alone. Theres also better security and built-in Anti Virus now. Which again is better than most bloated AV software and don't slow the system down at all.
Go back to using DOS.
kmmatney - Monday, October 15, 2012 - link
Drive bender works in Windows 7, and it gives similar features to storage spaces. You can already get MSE Antivirus for free in Windows 7. So far I haven't noticed any less RAM or resource usage compared to Windows 7, while using the preview versionsThey will sell a lot of copies because new systems will be forced to use it.
what are the improvements in security? The only increased security measured I've heard is that the drivers for anti-malware software will start sooner, compared to win 7, and it has better root-kit protection....
Belard - Tuesday, October 16, 2012 - link
A - The memory usage is not much different... the savings done to Win8 are lost with the operation of the bolted on shell called METRO.B - What bloat? Start menu uses far less memory than the Start Page. It easy to tweak out the Services to reduce processes.
C - You've been answered about Storage Spaces (weeee... yawn, fart)
D - What performance improvements other than its start-up? Whoopdee-doo, with my SSD - WIN7 boots in about 20seconds. But since its so stable, it just goes to SLEEP... takes about 2-3 seconds to wake up. I rarely actually need to reboot my computer.
E - You rant on AV is hilarious... DOS? Pretty much all OS's are "DOS" They've just dropped the "D". For example, an Apple II or Commodore 64 are not DOS systems as they are functional without any disks.... blah.
Reality:
1 - Metro *IS* ugly on the large screen, fine for phones.
2 - METRO is inefficient and useless since its just a launcher - its live tiles are useless. METRO should be a strip along the left side (2 columns - like WP7) , then its LIVE tiles would have made sense.
3 - Hiding of buttons that are "still there" is a sign of brain-damaged craziness. Then at the same time - its a "touch based" OS in which the "Start" button is hidden but use keyboard short-cuts shows how Frackin Stupid MS is.
4 - Win8 has two modes people have to keep track of, METRO and DESKTOP.... wow, avg. Joe won't have fun with that.
5 - Charms are stupid... again, most of those things were on the START menu and were NOT HIDDEN. Using Win8 - I'd get charms when I DIDN'T want it, then at times- can't quite get the charms to slide out when I (*&#$(&#@ do.
These are POINTLESS changes that didn't do anything to actually improve the usage of the computer. Windows7 actually did a lot of little improvements over Vista which didn't really function any differently than WinXP.
Oh yeah...
The Metro-izing of the Desktop mode is plain U G L Y! Desktop in Win8 Preview 8440 was rather slick improved version of Win7... I liked how it look. In RTM - its flat 80s style ugly crap, what idiot comes up with this?! MS pretty much gave everyone "WIN 7 BASIC" mode... nothing more.
Are there some good things in Win8? YES!
But they are not worth it... No doubt about that.
mcnabney - Tuesday, October 16, 2012 - link
Shouldn't you be calling Storage Spaces by its original name, Drive Extender. You know, the feature that made WHS what it was and then promptly ripped it out because it was 'too hard to create' under a 64 bit OS?