Dell triples charge for XP-loaded machines
December 9, 2008 by Valerie HelmbreckPosted in: Budgets and spending, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Software, operating systems
Here’s a little item to build into your budget: Dell’s now charging customers three times what it did in June for a machine that’s loaded with Windows XP.
By the laws of supply and demand, that must mean that a lot of people are still willing to pay a lot more to avoid Microsoft’s new operating system, Vista.
Despite claims by the software giant that Vista’s a roaring success, the picture can’t be a pretty one for the company.
Back in June, when Microsoft announced the “death” of XP, it offered OEM’s a loophole to keep selling the popular and widely used OS. Customers could “downgrade” from Vista to XP. Dell started charging a modest $20-50 for getting a machine with XP preloaded.
Now they’re upping the ante.
Microsoft’s also hedging its Vista bets by extending the availability of downgraded XP licenses to computer makers for another six months, until July 31, 2009. Previously, it had set Jan. 31, 2009, as the date when it would stop selling XP Professional licenses for downgrade purposes.
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Tags: Dell, downgrade, licenses, Microsoft, preloaded, Vista, XP
December 16th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
That is because Vista is still a clunker and everyone but rabid fanboys know it.
I used Vista throughout BETA and was rather vocal about my dislike for 90% of the design.
I dual boot Vista/XP on several machines and absolutely hate it when I have to use Vista.
It is slower on the same hardware, takes more steps for many tasks, and nothing is where it ‘belongs’. I don’t see that any of the rearranging of the furniture in Vista did anything but make people stub their toes, repeatedly. UAC has to be the worst April Fools Joke that someone took seriously. If this is the future of MS, they are in as much trouble as the automakers.
December 16th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
this is nothing new. A year ago we replaced seven computers for staff and had to pay $100 each through Dell just to have Windows XP installed rather than face Vista and all its problems. I figured this was the cheaper way to go considering time, grief and having to deal with this many employees and a new system.
December 18th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
@Richard & B.Bates: Have either of you considered using Linux instead of Windows?
December 18th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
I have converted some older boxes with W98/ME/W2K to Linux.
It is not appropriate for all users, but it has allowed me to extend the life of older machines instead of buying Vista infected ones.
January 27th, 2009 at 11:11 am
I use Vista on all my home computers and have had no problems whatsoever. I actually prefer it, in part due to the built-in parental controls feature. I’m just wondering what all the fuss it about?
August 18th, 2009 at 10:08 am
One of the biggest problems here is that most of Dell’s machines are not sold without an OS.
So anyone who owns VOLP is screwed when buying a base system from Dell. Even worse, most of their systems come so infected with bloat/spyware that you pretty much have to format the thing anyway before it can be safely placed into a production environment.
September 25th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
There is another issue with Dell that I had at my business where I had one of my two Point of Sale computers go down, when dell replaced it they would not put XP sp2 on it and told me if I did it would void the warranty, unfortunatley I had already gone through many hours & days to find out the my quickbooks software does not work at all with sp3 installed so I had to have someone (Pay) come in and downgrade it for me. Now if I have any more warranty issues I am screwed. I do not think it is right that the computer manufacture can stipulate what programs or operating systemsm I can use when I buy a computer.
Also as to the financing, I already had a very large credit limit with Dells’ commercial lending account when these two computers were ordered but I had an employee order them and they instead set up a completely unauthorized revolving account in my companies name with a 20% + finance rate without even speaking to any on the owners of the business!
May 12th, 2010 at 9:56 am
Hi, I am checking online for new DELL high-performance laptop on aol. My aged Inspiron laptop is running really loud. This has been a problem for the past three-four months. It is usually at 70-100% usage, even when the laptop is just sitting. Also, the Dell Inspiron e1505 battery can’t last for even 1 hour. You made some great points & I am so happy I found your aid here. I’m sure I’ll visit here again soon.
May 12th, 2010 at 10:48 pm
If it is running loud, you need to clean it or replace a fan….Unless you have a HDD going bad.
If it is running that high a % of CPU usage, you need to get rid of the spyware/malware or virus on your machine!
I like malwarebytes.org free offering and spybot search and destroy tools for malware removal.
All the toolbars added to the browser can slow you down as well, run clean and enjoy the speed!