Windows 7 Upgrade Discounted Preorders Hit UK

For all you in the UK jealously watching the Windows 7 preorder deals come and go for the U.S., Canada and Japan, now is your time.

Microsoft has posted its special preorder page for those in the UK. In terms of numbers, the prices match up to what Americans paid for the upgrade packages, except they're in pounds instead of dollars.

You can pre-order Windows 7 Home Premium E for £49.99 or Windows 7 Professional E for £99.99.

That extra "E" is to designate that it's the European version, which means that even though these are priced at Upgrade prices, those going from Vista to 7 will have to do a clean install no matter what due to the EU decision around IE8.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
  • fulle
    Uhm... 2 questions...

    1. Can the E versions be installed on computers on a clean setup. As in, on computers that don't have a previous version of windows?
    2. What online retailers ship to the US?
    Reply
  • kewl munky
    What happened to them not getting it at all because of their union complaining about internet explorer coming preinstalled? Might as well just give Europe everything they ask for.
    Reply
  • SAL-e
    ... those going from Vista to 7 will have to do a clean install no matter what due to the EU decision around IE8.

    FALSE, EU have not ruled anything. The correct sentence is:

    ... those going from Vista to 7 will have to do a clean install no matter what due to the MS decision around IE8.

    Reply
  • matt87_50
    umm, so when does Australia get theirs?
    Reply
  • xrodney
    Title is little misleading, In UK,DE and FR, microsoft offer full version instead of upgrade.
    Reply
  • randomizer
    matt87_50umm, so when does Australia get theirs?Currently there are no plans to do this in Australia. You need to wait until it is officially released here, then you can pick up the upgrade of Home Premium for a nice $199...
    Reply