Windows 7 official pricing announced, limited pre-orders start tomorrow

Microsoft just laid out the Windows 7 pricing grid for us, and here's the big takeaway: Vista and XP users will need to pony up $119.99, $199.99, or $219.99 on October 22 to score their Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate upgrade, and those of you who want a full retail disc will need to roll up with $199.99, $299.99, or $319.99 respectively. It's not quite that simple, though: starting tomorrow, June 26, you'll be able to pre-order upgrades at much cheaper prices -- $49.99 for Home Premium and $99.99 for Professional, just as we'd heard -- but pre-orders will be strictly limited in number and are expected to sell out quickly. Obviously we'd prefer it if final pricing was $49 and $99 for everyone, but it's not a bad start, especially since participating manufacturers will be offering cheap / free upgrades to 7 on new computers sold after tomorrow with Vista as well.

Oh, and don't you worry about scoring a place in line, because we're here to help: later today we'll be giving away 100 codes that guarantee a pre-order spot at the discounted prices, and you'll be able to share the code with two friends. You'll have to act fast, though -- the codes will only be valid for 48 hours. Keep your eyes peeled for our recession antidote post around noon EST, and get your clicky-fingers ready.

Update: Looks lke we've got our first participating manufacturer -- HP machines sold after tomorrow will receive free upgrades to 7, and we're hearing Sony will announce a similar offer soon. We'll be keeping a full list of announcements as the day goes on, check back later for more.

[Templarian @ Jun 25th 2009 9:05AM]

Awesome. Now to see this go up on Woot!

[DR House @ Jun 25th 2009 9:26AM]

Windows 7 is indeed Awesome but i think that's a little bit pricey i'll stick with Vista with SP1/SP2 i guess

[Templarian @ Jun 25th 2009 9:29AM]

@DR House, that's why I want to see it go up on Woot!, but it would sell out in half a second.

[Nomi @ Jun 25th 2009 9:31AM]

50 bux is not expensive.

[DR House @ Jun 25th 2009 9:36AM]

that's for the less than 0.0001% lucky people who gonna get it for 50$
Most people will have to buy it for 300$ like me or 200$ (I don't need the ultimate version but i want the pro)

Upgrade version is lame many problems come along with it if you familiar with this path

[Bobby @ Jun 25th 2009 9:40AM]

it should be free to all Vista users for their contributiion
At this price level it is better to purchase Technet subsciption and have access to more MS apps on any number of PCs

[Bobby @ Jun 25th 2009 9:42AM]

$50 is for lame version that you cannot do anything with

[J D @ Jun 25th 2009 9:48AM]

$50 isn't bad at all. I wonder how the the OEM versions will run?

[DR House @ Jun 25th 2009 9:49AM]

Yep bobby , i think there price is wrong with this one, as a HAPPY user with Vista (With SP1+SP2 its super smooth and stable) i have no real reason to pay 300$ for something i don't really need right now specially for a new OS that will sure have few problems for a little while+lack of drivers for some hardware (Many Vista Hardware didnt work on my W7 beta, software is fine though)

it should be 99$/199$ retailer instead of 199$/299$ (Home-Pro versions) not like they wont sell zillions of copies... Microsoft went a little greedy with this one

[J D @ Jun 25th 2009 9:49AM]

- how much i meant...

[Bobby @ Jun 25th 2009 9:59AM]

@ DR H
Problems will be for sure, MS has experience in good, fast betas and slow crashing all over alphas.
Glad we agree, what Vista hardware does not work for you in W7 ?

[DR House @ Jun 25th 2009 10:16AM]

Bobby i have some hardware that doesn't work for example my external blu ray burner and my HD PVR (It capture HD videos with component through USB) HD PVR got third party hack that let it work in windows 7 but no official driver was released yet

i have no problems with the software between Windows vista and 7, only some problems with the hardware but i expect official drivers to be out once that windows 7 get released so no worries and i'm using W7 beta maybe they will fix it by the time windows 7 get released who knows

[wat up!!! @ Jun 25th 2009 10:37AM]

50 bucks is expensive considering apple offer their upgrade to snow leopard at 30... n if you bought a mac past june 8, you get it for 10.
but i guess if you can jus wait a couple more days after release day youll b able to obtain a "free" copy of it. always happens with ms...

[WinWizard @ Jun 25th 2009 10:45AM]

Tried both the beta and RC Windows 7, it's not THAT much improved over Vista. Still isn't as practical or user friendly as Windows XP.

[kal326 @ Jun 25th 2009 10:49AM]

@wat up
Yeah your 10.x service pack is $29 this time. However,up till this time it was significantly more, like $99.99 or $129.99.

[Scorch @ Jun 25th 2009 10:51AM]

You think OS X is just now getting on the 64-bit bandwagon? They've been way ahead of M$ on this for years. Leopard has had support for 64-bit from day 1. At least we don't have to pick between 2 different versions. 32 bit and 64 bit applications run happily side by side as it is. Snow Leopard is just the first release in which every system app is 64 bit. If anything, SL is less of a service pack than 7 is. It's not all glitzy and new looking, but everything under the hood is totally getting re-worked. I was halfway considering actually building another PC once 7 came out, since I have the RC, but not with the pricing. M$ fails again.

[Dan @ Jun 25th 2009 12:06PM]

"You think OS X is just now getting on the 64-bit bandwagon? They've been way ahead of M$ on this for years. Leopard has had support for 64-bit from day 1. At least we don't have to pick between 2 different versions. 32 bit and 64 bit applications run happily side by side as it is."

32 bit and 64 bit run side by side on Windows too.

[DarkYume @ Jun 25th 2009 12:07PM]

I cant wait, windows 7 looks really pretty.

[Richard Glitter @ Jun 25th 2009 12:24PM]

Anyone know if the upgrade version is truly just an "upgrade only" disc, or if it can be used to do a full install from scratch?

[David Gates @ Jun 25th 2009 12:57PM]

@DR House
From the statistics I've seen, only about %5 of Windows is sold in the retail version, and Home Premium is fine for most people; OEM Vista Home Premium is only $100 at NewEgg. An OEM license is tied to the motherboard, so retail's only worth it if you're going to change motherboards twice before upgrading to a new version of Windows, or if you're going to switch between 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

@Scorch
Win7 has massive improvements under the hood as well; the beta's performance was much better than Vista's, and they substantially improved it AGAIN for the RC. It's been refactored and trimmed even down to the kernel and driver models. Kernel32's there for compatibility, but the much smaller KernelBase is the new heart of Windows.

Of course, Snow Leopard's not a service pack; it just might feel that way to some users. A couple of the major features are only significant for developers, so a good portion of Snow Leopard's impact is in the software it enables.

[dtatgenho @ Jun 25th 2009 1:03PM]

@Richard Glitter:

Yes, you can do a full, clean install from an upgrade disc:

http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archive/2009/06/25/clean-install-with-windows-7-upgrade-media-what-about-x64-upgrades.aspx

[iphonerulez @ Jun 25th 2009 5:02PM]

OK. I give in. For $50 there is absolutely no reason not to upgrade if Windows 7 is even halfway as good as some people are saying. Everyone should pre-order it. I may not even need to pay $50 since I have an unused version of Windows Vista serial and a spare Windows XP serial. Maybe I can use one of those.

I'll give it a try just to shut up the whiny biyatches who claim Windows 7 is ten times better than Vista and 20 times better than XP. I'll clone my Windows XP Pro drive just in case some certain Ballmer sweat-puddle drinkers are full of sh!t.

[Travis @ Jun 26th 2009 12:29AM]

This is crap... I have never paid more than $140 for a retail version of Microsoft's OS. Who is going to fork over $199 for a full retail version? After looking at all of vista's promises, I'd be damn if I'm going to throw that much money at this promise.

[rishi_saxena_cs @ Jun 26th 2009 2:04AM]

its a very preety loking os but Too expensive.

[Peace-whatever @ Jun 28th 2009 6:16AM]

.....well, Leopard is partially 64-bit; I don't think it's full 64-bit (i think it's for intel CPU's) from what I heard. I've also heard a certain version of Mac OS X was 64-bit the year the G5 came out. To me, any 64-bit OS should be able to run 32-bit apps like what Dan said.

[Premature ejaculation man @ Jun 25th 2009 9:05AM]

Are these codes valid internationally?
Both Microsoft and AOL blog sites usually only like Canada and USA due to annoying international laws.

I hope you say yes, because engadget will become my F5 riddled bitch.

[thebomberman @ Jun 25th 2009 9:06AM]

They may be, but isn't the recession antidote limited to US anyway? :P

[jakem @ Jun 25th 2009 10:09AM]

The preorder offer will be available in a number of countries. There's more information in this thread at Neowin: http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=789174

[Shan @ Jun 25th 2009 12:00PM]

* US: Windows 7 Home Premium ($49.99) and Windows 7 Professional ($99.99)
* UK: Windows 7 Home Premium (£49.99) and Windows 7 Professional (£99.99)

As usual, the UK gets shafted with pricing! Last time I checked - the exchange rate was not £1 = $1. Try $1.65 more like. I know the EU pisses you off Microsoft, but have a heart! Also how about giving Ultimate a more fair price - it does not justify its features for that price hike. Vista mistakes all over again. I never knew a single person who had Ultimate.

[fanman @ Jun 25th 2009 1:43PM]

@Shan

What a bunch of wucking fankers. There was me feeling all nice about it being a price low enought to draw me away from the pirate bay but NO in cyberspace there IS NO currency converter.

[TheLionOfAzzalle @ Jun 25th 2009 9:06AM]

I LOVE ENGADGET!

And oh what's the difference between upgrade and full retail disc? Is it that you get better customer service with the retail disc right?

Anyways I think I'm gonna go upgrade route so long as there's compelling reason to get the full retail version.

[tiger578 @ Jun 25th 2009 9:21AM]

Retail is for system builders or unformatted computers.
Upgrade is for computers with XP or Vista already installed and want to keep the same settings and files. No clean install though.

[Premature ejaculation man @ Jun 25th 2009 9:23AM]

Does that mean that I could never reformat if I got and upgrade version?

[dagamer43 @ Jun 25th 2009 9:23AM]

Retail version allows you to install the OS on different computers (not simultaneously of course). It also does provides the best technical support in any consumer package from Microsoft.

OEM version allows you to install the OS on ONE computer only, and then it will ALWAYS be tied to that computer. Less support, if any.

Upgrade version requires the disk of a previous Windows version in order to install. I am not sure if you can directly boot from the upgrade version to install or if you actually need to have the previous version of Windows installed before upgrading. I believe it comes some rather decent support. Also, upgrade paths are pre-determined by Microsoft. For Windows XP, you will NEED to do a clean install (wipe partition) before upgrading to Windows 7. For Windows Vista, you have the option of upgrading your current install and leaving your programs intact.

[Phil Perman @ Jun 25th 2009 9:25AM]

Upgrade will let you do a full clean install, but you will need a valid XP or Vista key

[TheLionOfAzzalle @ Jun 25th 2009 9:43AM]

Thanks for all the information guys....

Will I be able to upgrade from Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate?

I truly hope so.

[GB @ Jun 25th 2009 10:10AM]

According to the Windows 7 Upgrade Test Matrix (here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=e170eba1-5bab-401f-bbf5-00f0ee7fe0fb someone in here postet it earlier), you won't be able to upgrade from Home Premium to Ultimate. But to be a hundred percent sure, you probably should check yourselfe (before you wreck yourselfe)! =)

[jakem @ Jun 25th 2009 10:12AM]

Yes you will be able to upgrade from Vista Home Premium to 7 Ultimate although you'll probably find that 7 Professional suits you better as it contains everything that is in 7 Home Premium and then adds business features.

[GB @ Jun 25th 2009 10:23AM]

Oh, jakem, you're right, my fault. After checking it again, I can confirm that.

[TRAFFICBLOWS @ Jun 25th 2009 11:38AM]

engadget would be a lot more loved if they gave away 100 free upgrades vs. 100 free chances to pay for the upgrade :/

[JimboJones @ Jun 26th 2009 9:08PM]

"Upgrade is for computers with XP or Vista already installed and want to keep the same settings and files. No clean install though."

you can do clean install, you need XP or Vista disks

[Karthik @ Jun 25th 2009 9:07AM]

After seeing the pricing of Snow Leopard, these prices seem way too high.

[Steve @ Jun 25th 2009 9:10AM]

snow leopard is equiv to a service pack

[Shenanigans @ Jun 25th 2009 9:14AM]

Don't think so Steve but nice try.

[ill trooper @ Jun 25th 2009 9:17AM]

Steve: Wrong, but your assertion tells us you're not concerned with OS X anyway.

[shaunisadirty @ Jun 25th 2009 9:16AM]

Nah Steve is pretty much right. Looking at Snow Leopard vs Leopard, what differences do you physically see? Hell it even has a similar name. It's just OSx finally catching up on the 64-bit bandwagon...

[fh @ Jun 25th 2009 9:18AM]

Don't forget that Apple has been charging $129 for almost every 0.1 update to OSX. By comparison, Microsoft has charged only for the major OS release, with interim updates free of charge. Total cost to keep OSX updated since 2001 (including Snow Leopard): $674. Total cost for Windows since 2001 (XP Pro, Vista Ultimate, 7 Pro): $467-667 depending on OEM and retail discounts, cheaper if you don't need features of the Pro/Ultimate editions.

[slicecom @ Jun 25th 2009 9:19AM]

You FAIL steve.

[Tes @ Jun 25th 2009 9:23AM]

Personally I wonder what Apple is doing with Snow Leopard selling it so low but, then again, it isn't intended to be placed on machines besides Upgrades.

Windows can be placed on any machine where the hardware will support it.

I wonder, if Microsoft trying to push out home computer builders and enthusiasts who build their systems from scratch?
Big manufacturers get cut prices for volume keys as well as bundling software so it doesn't hit them as hard.

I tolerate MS products as necessary (and find Windows 7 to not be bad but maybe that's just in comparison to the Vista fail).
The only MS product I LIKE is the XBox 360 and I'm regretting recently buying a new one (passing the old one on to a friend) as it supports a company doing this with their pricing.

Windows 7 is essentially built on top of Vista's code with upgrades and all that.
Snow Leopard is essentially built on top of Leopard's code with upgrades and all that.

My hackintosh will be the happier system, I think.
Many more moves like this, MS, and I'll be buying directly from Apple instead of making a hackintosh.
(If all else fails there's always my trusty linux server anyway.)

[Richard @ Jun 25th 2009 9:23AM]

"snow leopard is equiv to a service pack"

The same thing can be said about Windows 7.