Student: Best way to get Win XP or Vista?

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semisonic9

Gawd
Joined
May 2, 2005
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Heya.

I'm planning on building my own rig in the next month or so. One problem I'm having is the major shell-game windows seems to be playing with it's operating systems.

The upgrade is one price, the full version is another. I'm a student, I hear rumors that we can get a pretty big discount? But when I went to my University's bookstore to check prices, they were equal or only slightly less than everywhere else (best buy, e-tailers, etc). Then I'm hearing "buy the student XP for like $20, and then upgrade to Vista!", etc.

This is the first time I haven't bought from a vendor, with the OS already included, so I'm growing a bit short on patience with the "hide the numbers" game.

I've even had people recommend I download it illegally and then use the cheaper "get legal" option for updates. I hate to say it, but if I think it'll save me $50, I may even do that. *shrug* No, I don't need you to tell me where. I'm a sort-of tech-savvy student, I know where to obtain files illegally, thankya very much.

I think this kind of crap may drive me over to the Linux/Ubuntu crowd, if this keeps up. $200-250 for even old Win XP is ridiculous, imo. Hell, I HAVE a copy of XP already, I just can't get it off my damned laptop! :rolleyes:

~Semi
 
To start, OEM copys (disk only, comes in plastic case w/ graphic, thats it) can be found for $110 for home premium 64 or 32bit. That's all you really need. XP 32bit home is still out at the same price its been for years: $99.

2nd, I believe the whole cheap-student-copy thing is opt-in and its entirely dependant on the adminstration of the institution.
 
You can get an OEM version of Vista or XP for $89-120 at online vendors such as Newegg or ZipZoomFly. OEM is full version, not upgrade. So you don't have to own a previious version of Windows to use it, but OEM licenses are "tied" to the hardware you originally install it on.
 
Thanks for the advice. I probably should have been a bit more clear in the OP, though.

I'm only concerned about the 64-bit version atm, and, though I may end up going OEM if the cost to go otherwise is prohibitive, I was looking to buy a clean copy (read: sans bloatware) for when I buy a cheapo laptop to take onto campus in another semester or two. I figured I'd look into getting a clean Acer or just buy a used lappy and wipe everything off it. *shrug*

If it can't be done affordably (and/or legally), it can't be done, but it is a pretty frustrating system they've set up. I may have to go OEM to save a buck.

~Semi

PS- Interesting about the opt out. The UCF admin is...special... enough that they may very well have skimped on it. :rolleyes:
 
semisonic9 said:
Thanks for the advice. I probably should have been a bit more clear in the OP, though.

I'm only concerned about the 64-bit version atm, and, though I may end up going OEM if the cost to go otherwise is prohibitive, I was looking to buy a clean copy (read: sans bloatware) for when I buy a cheapo laptop to take onto campus in another semester or two. I figured I'd look into getting a clean Acer or just buy a used lappy and wipe everything off it. *shrug*

If it can't be done affordably (and/or legally), it can't be done, but it is a pretty frustrating system they've set up. I may have to go OEM to save a buck.

~Semi

PS- Interesting about the opt out. The UCF admin is...special... enough that they may very well have skimped on it. :rolleyes:
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By OEM we're talking about a specific type of license agreement, not a company that sell computers.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488
Vista Home Premium 64-bit. $99.99 with free shipping. (that's even $20 cheaper than usual)

That's not an upgrade, it's the full exact same copy of Vista that a retail $299 box would have. Nothing added, nothing taken away. You do however lose the right to transfer that copy to another machine, and MS won't offer support for it (like anyone really needs MS's help).
 
If you're a computer related major, check to see if your school is part of the MSDNAA. Many colleges and universities that are part of the MSDNAA have major-only websites where you can get MS software for cheap.

I'm a computer major while my bro is an engineering major. Yet we have to go to different websites for our respective majors for MS software.
 
Danny Bui said:
If you're a computer related major, check to see if your school is part of the MSDNAA. Many colleges and universities that are part of the MSDNAA have major-only websites where you can get MS software for cheap.

I'm a computer major while my bro is an engineering major. Yet we have to go to different websites for our respective majors for MS software.
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Worth looking into! Thanks!

~Semi
 
If you are a student, you also should be able to get the software at a discount from a place like JourneyEd.com, assuming your school doesn't make this available to you.
 
DeaconFrost said:
If you are a student, you also should be able to get the software at a discount from a place like JourneyEd.com, assuming your school doesn't make this available to you.
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I already checked their prices (no where else though) and they offer no noticeable discount on OS software.
 
semisonic9 said:
Worth looking into! Thanks!

~Semi
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Good plan. I'm a graduate of UCF so I know for certain that at least the Computer Science department has/had an MSDNAA account going. In fact, the guy administering it was kind of disappointed that I was the ONLY person who bothered to call him up and check whether it was legit or not.

At the time I used it, I got Windows XP Pro and Windows XP Pro x64 (both full versions and on DVDs) for the rock bottom price of $17.
 
my college gives out free copies of vista business, office ultimate and office 2008 for mac if you go to the ITS department and ask for it.
 
King of Heroes said:
Good plan. I'm a graduate of UCF so I know for certain that at least the Computer Science department has/had an MSDNAA account going. In fact, the guy administering it was kind of disappointed that I was the ONLY person who bothered to call him up and check whether it was legit or not.

At the time I used it, I got Windows XP Pro and Windows XP Pro x64 (both full versions and on DVDs) for the rock bottom price of $17.
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Awesome! Unfortunately, I won't be back at UCF until fall, and I'm not sure I'll be back in the Computer Science department right away. (Let's just say I was a bad boy...)

Anyways, I was trying to think if I had any engineering/computer science buddies left there, and they've all either graduated, changed to lib arts majors, or aren't far enough along yet (Sophomores). I'm going to have to do some networking here!

~Semi
 
Where do you go? Does your school have a webstore? U of Illinois has one, and several engineering majors could get tons of microsoft software for free through MSDNAA. I got 3 keys for XP pro, and 2 for Vista business :)
 
Unfortunately, my university offers no discounts at all on Microsoft software, saying it would be uneconomical of them to do so. You get MSDNAA if you're a computer scientist, but not otherwise (and I'm not).
 
ryan_975 said:
note that both of those are "upgrades" which the OP was specifically trying to avoid. Other sites may have better options however.
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I looked back, and I still didn't pick up on that. He said he wanted to avoid OEM, but that appeared to be due to the misconception that an OEM copy had bloatware in it.

Either way - there are student copies of the full versions as well. I could dig them up, but so can the OP or anyone else that was interested. I just tried to give an example of how cheap the academic version were. I paid $89 for my Vista Ultimate. Considering it's a full retail copy that is normally almost $200 more, I think it's a good idea to take advantage of the academic editions if you can!
 
rgratto2 said:
Where do you go? Does your school have a webstore? U of Illinois has one, and several engineering majors could get tons of microsoft software for free through MSDNAA. I got 3 keys for XP pro, and 2 for Vista business :)
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I go to the University of Central Florida, in Orlando. As far as I'm aware, there's no online store.

I've got a month or more. Plenty of time for me to see who I know who may still be in the appropriate program. ;)

~Semi
 
To the OP-

Go to your schools IT Department. They will tell you what to do for the ACADEMIC VERSION of Windows. The Bookstore is not the place to go(want Sales $$$ and usually a different arm of the school- if even run by the school). They will be glad to sell versions you can get anywhere else.

My son just bought a Windows Ultimate 32 disk and key as Academic Software for $10. It looks more like an NFR distribution, and theoretically needs to be uninstalled when you are no longer a Student.

Chris
 
MrWizard6600 said:
To start, OEM copys (disk only, comes in plastic case w/ graphic, thats it) can be found for $110 for home premium 64 or 32bit. That's all you really need. XP 32bit home is still out at the same price its been for years: $99.

2nd, I believe the whole cheap-student-copy thing is opt-in and its entirely dependant on the adminstration of the institution.
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OEM copies go with the computer they were sold with... if you put them on anything else, it's as illegal as downloading a torrent of xp.
 
My school is in the MSDN AA network. I have acess to Vista Business, XP Pro, Server 2003, and several productivity suites, free of charge, with acess to multiple keys each. Your school might have the same.
 
Verge said:
OEM copies go with the computer they were sold with... if you put them on anything else, it's as illegal as downloading a torrent of xp.
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Wrong, you can buy OEM copies from Newegg, Zipzoomfly, Mwave, etc without having to buy a computer to get it. The aren't tied to any manufacturer or system until you install it for the first time. Even then MS will let you transfer the license in certain circumstances.
 
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