Dell triples charge to downgrade PCs to XP to $150

[OhioChick]

It's now selling Inspiron consumer PCs with XP for three times June's surcharge

December 7, 2008 (Computerworld) More than five months after it stopped selling its popular Inspiron line of consumer desktop and laptop PCs with Windows XP, Dell Inc. is offering the systems with the aging operating system for a surcharge of $150 over the newer Windows Vista.

Dell's Inspiron 1525 notebooks and 530 desktops can be ordered with Windows XP Professional pre-installed for an extra $150, according to the company's Web site. The fee is three times the maximum amount Dell charged last summer, immediately after Microsoft pulled XP from retail and barred computer makers from installing the more popular XP Home edition on anything but lightweight, low-priced "netbooks."

Computer manufacturers can install Windows XP Professional on PCs at the factory by taking advantage of the "downgrade" rights built into Vista Business and Vista Ultimate. Those rights let Dell install Windows XP Professional in lieu of Vista, although the newer operating system is still shipped with the machine so that buyers can, if or when they choose, move from XP to Vista.

Vista Business and Vista Ultimate are the only generally-available editions that allow downgrades, and they can be downgraded only to Windows XP Professional. Under Microsoft's licensing terms, the less-expensive XP Home cannot be installed as a downgrade.

Dell is selling the Inspiron 1525 notebooks with a Vista Business license; buyers of the Inspiron 530 and 530s desktops can purchase either a Vista Business license, or for an additional $20, a license for Vista Ultimate.

More: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9122799&intsrc=hm_list

[aquart]

1. Fuck 'em.

[emilyg]

27. Yes. What you said.

I hated Vista so much gave it to my daughter.

[EconomicLiberal]

2. Downgrade for $150?

They should be giving away XP for free!

[Titus Andronicus]

3. The consumer speaks. XP>Vista.

[rockymountaindem]

4. Crap, I was planning on buying one in the near future

I already got one a few months ago in a notebook and I was planning on getting a desktop as well. Looks like I may be stuck with Vista now :scared:

[kristopher]

7. Try this

http://www.apple.com/macosx/get/

[rockymountaindem]

9. Can I run OSX on a PC and uninstall Vista?

Furthermore, will my computer games run on it? I was thinking of getting a macbook for my school work and then getting a PC for gaming, but the macbook was just too expensive compared to what I could have for the same price from Dell.

[kristopher]

13. What's the value of the aggrevation you're experiencing? nt

[mwooldri]

17. Not officially.

There's plenty of hackers trying to get OSX working on mainstream x86 architecture. However Apple are equally determined to keep it bolted down to their hardware and there's a lawsuit going on between Apple and the only company that's brazen enough to sell a "regular PC" that runs OSX.

Mark.

[IDemo]

18. To the first question, yes

http://lifehacker.com/348653/install-os-x-on-your-hackintosh-pc-no-hacking-required

To the second question, you can dual boot Windows on a Mac, but not sure how well that works on a 'hackintosh'.

[roseBudd]

23. I have Parallels on an iMac at work, it sucks

[IDemo]

24. Parallels allows both systems to run simultaneously, if I'm not mistaken

This would be Boot Camp, the other dual boot option, that simply lets you choose which OS to boot. Much like LILO or GRUB on a Linux machine (which is what I use).

[roseBudd]

38. It started out OK, but I am an Adobe products power user & it is increasingly unstable

I do very little on the Mac side as the HTML editor Homesite is the PC app I cannot live w/o. I only switch to Dreamweaver for advanced debugging.

I am hoping to get a new Dell, keep the iMac & use a KBR switch

I also use winSCP, IMO Filezilla is no match

[Deja Q]

20. Nope - it breaks Apple's EULA.

A bit of a shame, as they'd get a lot more customers that way...

In theory.

But like OS X, there's Linux you can turn too. Won't cost as much... but game compatibility will be about the same.

[Muttocracy]

22. I got a refurbished Dell laptop with XP a couple of months ago

It was cheaper than a new one and I didn't want to deal with learning Vista or finding out it wouldn't like old programs or hardware or whatever I already have.

The XPs were already getting rare then - I'd have to recheck inventory often to see one show up and they'd be snagged fast by others if I hesitated.

http://www.dell.com/outlet

hope this link to their search page works; you can use the drop-down for operating system to look for versions of XP.

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/topics/global.aspx/arb/online/en/InventorySearch?c=us&cs=22&l=en&lob=INSP&s=dfh

on edit - they have a few with XP Home at the moment. By the way, you have to click "filter results" for the search.

[MazeRat7]

5. Business speaks, XP more valuable (and wanted) than Vista n/t

[CatholicEdHead]

14. That is a totally different license setup than the consumer one mentioned above

Businesses can still request large orders with XP, but probably nothing on it as each box will be reimiged from an in-house image with the company-wide license.

[Feron]

6. Pricewatch.com

I got a new state of the art desktop for $625 bucks and I got to choose my OS.

And I recommend Ascendtech highly. Their customer service is great.

[MidwestTransplant]

32. Are they less money than dell? Do they attach 3rd party software?

[PearliePoo2]

8. I'm not all that computer savvy, but..........

I LOVE Windows XP Pro.
I used to have ME on my old laptop and it was very problematic. Now with XP....no glitches.
I don't know enough about Vista to have an opinion one way or another.
Still.....if I buy a new computer, I'd like to have a choice that didn't set me back $150 bucks if I want XP.

[HereSince1628]

10. Every update to VISTA generates additional problems. The latest

is an incompatibility between Office 2007 Word and HP 4100 series printers.

[Deja Q]

19. Who wrote the printer driver? Methinks HP...

My printer works just fine under Vista, 64-bit edition no less, and it's a tad more complex than anything HP could ever make. (Epson Stylus Photo R2400)

[SmileyRose]

11. Worth every single penny.

[DainBramaged]

12. Industry is telling Microsoft to shove Vista, at a price of course

Trust me, $150 is cheap compared to the problems Vista created for business. Now they can get factory fresh units and not have to "downgrade" themselves.


No real business or corporation would consider Vista Business as anything but a joke. Vista, the Windows ME for a new generation.

[PBS Poll-435]

15. That is why I bought my OEM copy of XP Pro x64 a year ago.

I will have it for subsequent PCs until MS fixes "The Broken OS."

[mwooldri]

16. Another option: Buy WITHOUT the Operating System.

And ask for a discount from the list price at the same time - in some states they got to do it IIRC.

Then you can go to the grey market (ebay is a "grey market", albeit with different shades of grey) and get a legal copy of XP Home for $90ish. Or risk a used version for much less money (ebay again). With a little effort you can "acquire" Windows XP (probably even Vista for that matter) too but I personally do not recommend this at all from personal experience.

[csziggy]

44. You can still buy XP Pro OEM from some vendors - legal versions

BuyCheapSoftware.com - http://buycheapsoftware.com/ms_products~subcategory~139.asp

DirectDeals.com - http://www.directdeals.com/category.aspx?categoryID=1233

I've bought operating systems and software from both places in the past and never had a problem with their service or with activating and registering Microsoft OSs.

The real problem is making sure drivers for the various computer components are available for the version of Windows you buy. Laptops, since they are more proprietary, are harder to find third party drivers if the manufacturer does not offer the drivers.

Since I have never changed OSs on a laptop, only on systems I built myself, I cannot speak to how well this would work on any specific brand or model laptop.

I have an Acer laptop with Vista on it and have never had a problem, even running some legacy software - some things I have been running since Windows 3.1.

[roseBudd]

21. I just bought an Inspiron with 64bit Vista that shipped w/4GB as I decided not to fear an OS...

I have had no problems, but then I am a power user and adapt to different fast.

I do think the 4Gb RAM helps

[CRF450]

25. People need to get over the fear of Vista

I'm running it on a gaming desktop comeputer and an $800 2 month old laptop. Even new low end $700 computers have the specs to run it without trouble. Honestly, their souldn't be compatibility problems even with the 64bit version, this is not a problem with the OS itself but that of the 3rd party sofwares.

I'm just speaking from my own experience, and I havent experienced anything major except once in a while little small problems that can easily be fixed.

[rucky]

29. Isn't the purpose of an Operating System to run software?

So if there's problems running the software, there's problems with the OS.

[high density]

30. No, it's a problem with the design of the software that is being run on the OS

Just about any program that was designed with Windows XP's best practices in mind will run just fine on Vista. Now if a developer has a software product that is for some reason not compatible with Vista, it is up to them to perform the development to fix the deficiencies. Microsoft cannot be expected to engineer 15 years of backwards compatibility into their products, and there are usually good reasons as to why certain old features are dropped (e.g. security).

[CRF450]

33. Basically what HD said.

Personally I think alot of people are having problems Vista due to hardware/software conflicts, outdated software/hardware, or just plain screw ups on the user's part. Microsoft cant make an OS backwards compatable to the million or so different software and hardware products from the past. You ought to know that in this technological age, it doesn't take many years for electronics to become outdated or obsolete.

[WhollyHeretic]

37. It's OK for home users. From what I've seen very few businesses have switched over.

I work in IT and I have only come across 2 business machines that ran Vista. Both were test machines. I worked for one of the largest banks in the country and they have continually pushed back deploying Vista. There are too many program compatibility issues. They are still installing XP machines. Now I work for a small IT company that supports small businesses. We do not have any customers with Vista.

[roseBudd]

40. I think most tech savvy users, who google rather than call support will find Vista fear overblown

So far I love it.

I'm even running Allaire/Macromedia/Adobe Homesite which the purveyors of Dreamweaver have not updated in ages.

On 64 bit Vista

[Raineyb]

49. From what I understand part of the problem with Vista is the incompatibility of the drivers

for certain hardware and peripherals.

I am not inclined to replace a perfectly fine printer, scanner, and tablet just because I replaced the computer and I only own one of each. I can see why businesses wouldn't want to replace large amounts of the same peripherals.

Regards

[Initech]

26. Fuck Dell.

Outsourcing pieces of shit. I want to get a PC but I'm having a hard time finding one without Vista.

[rucky]

28. Outside of Antiques and Collectibles, is anything else priced this way?

[high density]

31. That's a waste of money

Vista will work absolutely fine for a vast majority of businesses and any home user that isn't trying to run software that is typically more than 7 or 8 years old. Technology becomes obsolete and I thought we were accustomed to that by now. The continued phobia of this operating system is irrational. I wouldn't upgrade old hardware to this OS but it is perfectly fine for a new computer.

[roseBudd]

42. a good percentage of Vista fear is fomented by Apple, I just got it, I love it...

and I have an iMac at work so I have seen the other side & I am unimpressed.

Number one shocker was the missing thumbnail view I used for opening, attaching & overwriting files since Windows 2000. I shouldn't have to use Adobe Bridge for that, nor should I have to select a file to see a thumbnail.

[BreweryYardRat]

34. I am EXTREMELY glad I've kept my XP install discs.

Helpful for the occasional reformatting, and when I get a new laptop, I can keep using them.

[western mass]

35. If you buy a Dell, pray nothing goes wrong.

The customer/tech support (outsourced to India) is useless, poorly trained, unhelpful, clueless, and often rude. Don't bother talking to anyone below the level of "supervisor", and even then lots of luck getting what you need. Bought Dells all my life, and this last one was the LAST.

[Divine Discontent]

36. my first one was the last - the quality of the housing was atrocious

I cared properly for my laptop - took it out of the home maybe 3 times, never dropped or banged it - and the casing fell apart on the top where the monitor is, the button below the trackpad quit working, the paint came off the case where I rest my palms, and the rewrite system quit working, oh and the sound went crackly while running anything else - all within 2 years!


Much happier now with my Toshiba 499 special from best buy!

Run, Barney, Run & NEVER look back!

[roseBudd]

43. I tell everyone just google whatever issue you are attempting to solve, they return the

next day, problem solved.

You would not expect a car mechanic to provide phone support.

Hardware purveyors should not be expected to support issues that are not hardware related.

[tpsbmam]

45. Dell would have to pay ME $150

to own one of their computers again. Dell laptop is the biggest piece of shit I ever owned -- thing literally fell apart. And I agree, customer "service" and tech support was abysmal. Never again.

[Kalyke]

39. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Vista.

Seriously, what don't people like about it? Mine is networked at home, doesn't give me problems - in fact, it was easier to install than XP. The companies who made all my components had all already upgraded their drivers to work with Vista and I find the functionalities and easy searches divine.

I realize that some companies don't like Vista OS because of compatability issues, but, with home computers, what's the big complaint?

[Alter Ego]

41. Fuck 'em. Find a geek friend who can install it for free.

[hunter]

46. Future Microsoft business model???

Make people pay for the privilige of NOT using Microsoft software?

The latest MS operating system and applications would be free, but you'd have to pay $200 to uninstall them.

[Sebastian Doyle]

47. As a rule, I wouldn't buy a fucking Dell in the first place

1) They're crappy computers. 2) Michael Dell (CEO) is a close personal friend of the Bush Crime Family.

Buy/build a computer without an installed OS and put your own choice in (Win XP, Linux or whatever). Or buy a pre-configured Linux system. Or a Mac. No reason for anybody to be stuck with a DellVista piece of shit.

[Raineyb]

50. I prefer a built system myself.

Either I build it myself or have uncle do it for me if I don't have the time.

I like being able to swap out parts if needed and from what I've seen of brand name computers they have a tendency to have set-ups that preclude just buying a part from the local computer shop and swapping out a defective part.

(Admittedly this is from my sister's experience with e-machines a while back but I see no reason to change my philosophy on computers at this point.)

Regards

[conspirator]

51. Dell poweredge servers are cost effective, if you run a small web hosting business nt

[RedCappedBandit]

48. I dislike vista

don't even get me started on office 2007. what a piece of shit.

[seemunkee]

52. We're ordering 50 laptops after the first of the year

They better have XP. Vista doesn't play well with our VPN and I need to support our remote sales staff.