Windows 7 Pricing Announced (Plus a Half-Price Sale!)

The moment we’ve all (okay, not ALL) been waiting for… Windows 7 pricing! Some of it’s cool, some of it is ridiculous (I’ll get into that in a minute). For full versions (non-upgrades), Home Premium is $199.99 ($40 less than Home Premium for Vista), $299.99 for Professional and $319.99 for Ultimate. For upgrades, Home Premium will set you back $119.99, while Professional will sell for $199.99 and Ultimate for $219.99.

My first complaint would have to be for the minor pricing differences between Professional and Ultimate. Seriously, $20? All that’s going to do is confuse people, because just how much more could people get for that $20? To be fair, they ARE designed for two different crowds, but you’d still imagine the pricing would scale a wee bit more than this.

Second complaint could be the upgrade price. Yes, it’s a revamped OS, but Vista just came out two-and-a-half-years ago, so expecting people to pay between $119.99 and $219.99 seems a little harsh, especially given there doesn’t seem to be a family pack option (like Apple have so cleverly implemented).

Still want 7 but find these prices too high? Our good friend madstork91 pointed out something I missed… a half-price sale that begins this Friday. Yes, to help drum up interest for the new OS, and adoption, Microsoft will be selling each version (upgrade and full) for 50% off. THAT makes things quite a bit easier to stomach. This is one of those rare times when it will actually pay off to be an early adopter!

We will offer people in select markets the opportunity to pre-order Windows 7 at a more than 50% discount. In the US, this will mean you can pre-order Windows 7 Home Premium for USD $49.99 or Windows 7 Professional for USD $99.99. You can take advantage of this special offer online via select retail partners such as Best Buy or Amazon, or the online Microsoft Store (in participating markets).