Windows 7 OEM Pricing Revealed

By Marcus Yam
published

It's a lot cheaper than retail -- and that's why you've been holding off preordering, right?

Nearly all Windows 7 pricing news up to this point has been about retail SKUs, but most of you have been holding out for word of OEM prices.

OEM versions of Windows do not come without fancy boxes, manuals, packaging, or even tech support, but they do come with a lower sticker price.

Early prices from online retailer Newegg reveals that OEM copies of Windows 7 are substantially cheaper – in some cases it's less than half price of the retail version.

Newegg is selling Home Premium for $100, while the retail price is $200. Those looking for the Professional version can get an even greater break as the OEM is $135, compared to $300 for the retail.

Still not good enough? Then you can hand over $175 for the Ultimate SKU, which would cost $320 in stores.

Newegg isn't currently restricting that Windows 7 OEM versions be purchased with hardware, so this could be the cheapest way to grab a full-install version of the OS that launches in less than a month.

Marcus Yam
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.
67 Comments Comment from the forums
  • warmon6
    hmm nice
    Reply
  • renniz
    One version to rule them all!
    Reply
  • war2k9
    Cheaper than vista on OEM and it is WAY BETTER THAN VISTA.
    Reply
  • viometrix
    already have 3 x3 pack professional x64 on order
    Reply
  • doomtomb
    Isn't this old news? We've known pricing since two months ago.
    Reply
  • nirvanabah
    OEM versions of Windows do not come without fancy boxes, manuals, packaging, or even tech support, but they do come with a lower sticker price.

    This makes no sense. You're saying they DO come with fancy boxes, manuals, packaging, and tech support.

    Reply
  • Or you could get the upgrade, install cleanly without entering the license key, then put in the dvd and upgrade from within the new install with your upgrade key...
    Reply
  • cookoy
    what about Starter Edition - OEM vs Retail prices?
    Only need IE, Explorer and Media Player.
    Other apps I go for freewares or open source.
    Cheapskate ultimate, that's me!
    Reply
  • hellwig
    Has anyone ever called Window's tech support? I called once years ago, but only because my OEM tech support was giving me the run-around. Of course, they told me they couldn't help me, and that was that.

    In 15+ years of Windows computing, that was the only time I ever even thought of calling Microsoft. I'm just wondering how often people do it. Does the average consumer buying that fancy box at Best Buy even know Microsoft has tech support? Besides resetting a user password, what reason could you have for calling them? I doubt they help with 3rd party drivers or software, which is what most people run anyway.
    Reply
  • one-shot
    I already have my copy of Win 7 x64 through MSDNN. :)
    Reply