Dell raises cost of Windows XP downgrade option to $150
By Donald Melanson 
posted December 9th 2008 4:15PM
posted December 9th 2008 4:15PM
As you've no doubt noticed, the deadline for the Windows XP downgrade option keeps getting pushed back and back, and it looks like it's now also getting more and more expensive, as Dell has now tripled the cost of the option on its consumer laptops and desktops to $150. As TG Daily notes, this latest move follows a similar increase to $99 on Dell's more business-minded Vostro laptops and desktops which, for the time being at least, seem to be remaining as is. Of course, you can always put that $150 towards a Windows XP-equipped netbook instead, which seems to be fast becoming the primary home for the venerable OS.
Only a fool would pay extra money for the privilege to use an obsolete operating system.
Did the cost of not installing any junkware also triple to $150?
xp is a stable os but i think everyone should get aboard and move forward with vista. i personally think that the older people are the ones having problem with vista and the younger crowd who are more visually oriented with using operating systems have no problem with vista. thats just my 2 cents on it.
Actually, just about everyone in my high school doesn't like Vista. I use a Mac, but I do use Vista occasionally, and it's not too bad. It does however feel crappy compared to Mac OS X. Vista definitely feels a little slower than XP on my MacBook Pro, but I think all the problems with Vista will be fixed with Windows 7.
My personal take is this, we own a lenovo thinkpad t61 and it had vista on it. Total nightmare constently gets blue screens, randomly turns off. Then when trying to fix it lets say we go to the university tech support. Guess what they dont support vista and this is a top 100 public university. In the end vista and xp have security issues, vista is slower than xp (this is completely true and can be proven taking your vista pc formatting the hd and installing xp), it has annoying security pop-ups, and guess what has 3rd and 1st party software issues, mainly 3rd though. And best of all vista will be obsolete soon with Windows 7 coming out in a few years. Why wouldnt you choose xp over vista????? The only reason that I can see to switch is that it looks cooler, wow. Having used 95,98,2000,ME,XP, and vista all i can say is the only Microsoft os that is worse than vista is ME (millennium edition) wich was a total piece junk.
What are you talking about? It's been $150 on the consumer side for a good long while.
Going from XP to Vista at this point in time is somewhat ridiculous. The new Windows will be out in 09. I'm hoping MS learned a lesson on the Vista fiasco and the new Windows will be polished and run smooth first time out
Yes, because thats what they always do.
Just get the dell xps Ubuntu does the same productivity as xp or vista the ply thing is.
1 more secure
2 free
3 stable
4 well rounded
5 can run any OS with virtualbox for free
6 it has google that is all I need for most of my school work
7 your not supporting a monopoly that ms has that is bad no advances at all
Writen in my iPod touch
Rounded? Huh?
Just get a Apple mac OSX
I had a mistake in my older post
You made a mistake in this one, on the first line: you mentioned "mac".
*I'd stick with the earlier post, mate* :thumbs:
I got a vostro 1700 back in March and figured, what the hell, I'll give Vista a shot. At that time you could choose Vista or XP, same price.
Big mistake. I hated it from day 1 and fought with it continuously to work the way I wanted. I still gave it a shot for 6 months, thinking maybe I'll get used to it. Nope, never did. It's just terrible in every possible way. I've since "downgraded" to XP and am MUCH happier.
I can honestly say that Vista is worst OS I've ever used. I'd rather use Windows ME than Vista, dead serious.
...wow...
You hear that, Microsoft? Them's fightin' words!
Somehow, I doubt you've had the stupidity/courage to use Windows ME for 6 months to make such a statement.
I hate Vista for everything it is not : full of new awesome features, stable, innovative, a big step after XP.
But I can tell you I hated much much more Windows ME, for what it was : a load of crap.
Unstable (like pre-alpha), exact replica of win98 only with more bugs, slow (I know this sounds silly now :)).
WinMe is by far the worst OS Microsoft ever produced.
Vista is not (too) bad (not good either), it's just that it should have been better than Xp and ended not as good.
Microsoft really fucked up with vista. Im no apple fanboy but I have seen so many people pay the premium by going the apple route just to avoid buying new pc's with vista. Me included. I decided to just buy an apple desktop instead of building a hackintosh. Ohhhh the sexyness....
No problem. These days I buy HPs either way, and at HP the cost for Vista Business with XP Professional downgrade costs just as much as regular Vista Business.
Not that I buy my PCs with XP Professional either way. But then, sometimes I might indeed do just that.
My gf has a Vista machine. My parents just got a Lenovo with Vista. My new wonderful S-10 has XP, and my old, still working 2002 Thinkpad R40 uses XP. Vista hides things for users. Vista attempts to make the computer a simple appliance but actually makes simple tasks more difficult. What does Vista do that is that much better, faster, more efficient or more fun that would get someone to choose it over XP?
Some twit asked, rhetorically, why people don't just go with Vista now that the SPs are out.
SOME of us have software that cost us a LOT of money, software that works just fine on XP, but may (or may not) even run under Vista. That's ONE reason.
To be fair, and in defense of Vista, what I discovered (the hard way) was that most (not all) companies do a One-Install-Fits-None version of Vista onto a HD, make a HD image, and then burn that image onto all of their HDs. When you order a computer, they stick in a HD, maybe copying on whatever other software you ordered, and away it goes. UNFORTUNATELY, unless you get really lucky and order the same machine that they happened to use for that initial install, Vista hasn't had the chance to be set up properly for YOUR machine. The real culprit isn't MS's Vista (mostly) but the hardware company's slothfulness. They're too busy/lazy/unconcerned to install it directly onto your machine.
The good news is that if you do a reinstall from scratch, having wiped your HD, you can get a proper install of Vista and the major issues go away. The bad news is that, even with the latest updates, it still sometimes just crashes a browser for no good reason whatsoever -- even when you're using IE.
My machine has a reinstall of Vista on it, along with XP Pro. I can choose the XP environment on startup, or let it default to Vista... which is what I do when I don't need one of the previously mentioned expensive software packages.
Best answer is still to buy a Mac with a dual-core chip in it, and not have to choose at all. THAT machine runs all of 'em, Mac, XP and Vista.
i dual boot. best of both worlds :)
Depends what your options are.
My music program hates Vista (which came with my laptop). So, I bought a legitimate version of XP Pro from Craigslist for $50
Silly you, you had already payed for a copy of Vista you didn't want and now you paid a second time for a 7 years old OS...
I don't know how you feel about consumerism but I consider that when I am forced to pay for a Microsoft OS (vista) that I don't use, I have the right to downgrade (to an OS they decided I couldn't get with new computer anymore) for free (i.e. using utorrent)
It's maybe not legit but it feels Ok.
another excellent example of how Microsoft has COMPLETELY lost touch with the future of the software market. lmao.
Haha, we use XP Pro for Embedded Systems (not Embedded XP) on our products and we can ship it until 2016. Eat it Dell customers!
Oh yes Dell please Milk me more like an old fat Cow !
Seriously what's wrong with Dell making people pay insane prices for any option?
a $150 GPU will cost you $300 as an option .... oO
I don't know who assembles Dell's computer but it's not some Asian cheap workforce.
(Or wait.. is it ?)
Feels good to know there will always be some US corp to try to f**k with me :)
Price rices as the end of support draws near...
I love XP except for the fact that in order to install it on a SATA device, you need a floppy drive.
Technically, if you don't use Vista or downgrade to XP, you can get a refund from Microsoft/Dell of abut $50. Of course you have to pay for XP. The total cost turns out to be $150 ($200 for a retail XP, not OEM from Newegg, etc.).