Company sells MacBook Pros pre-loaded with Windows XP (for an extra $30)
Posted by Lab Rat
A company called ExperCom is selling 15.4″ (1.83GHz) MacBook Pros preloaded with Windows XP (running under Apple’s Boot Camp software) for $2,029.00.
Selling this bundle seems a bit premature, as Apple’s Boot Camp is still only in beta at the moment. Yet for $30, many potential MacBook Pro buyers may jump on this offer. Those worried about installing the Boot Camp/XP solution on their own can rest assured that with a name like ExperCom, one assumes experts will be involved in this installation.
Despite the implied expert installation, however, ExperCom does offer the following disclaimer to cover themselves in the unlikely event of any problems running XP once it IS properly installed:
“We don’t support Windows XP – and neither does Apple. We’ll install it for you, but, hey, we’re Mac people, so we can’t help answer Windows questions! â€?
ExperCom’s price is actually quite reasonable, as Apple sells the 15.4� MacBook Pro for $1999. Paying an extra $30 for the peace of mind that a Windows XP installation of ANY sort was done right on on ANY PC would be well worth it in my opinion, much less on a Mac using beta software. Plus, buying a fresh copy of Windows XP to install on your own might run you as much as $280 or more.
You’ll have to install your own spyware, but that is very easy to do under XP (and for $30 they can’t do EVERYTHING for you!).
Only $30 for a copy of MS Windows XP, plus the time to install???? Not to talk out of turn, but I have a question on the Windows XP liscensing issues here.
Well, it will cost more than $30 for a copy of XP. Remember that the resellers get the MBP at much less than the $1999 retail price and an OEM version of XP Pro retails for about $120 so they’re basically taking a $90 drop in the money they get for extra custom, which I think they might get. Windows pre-installations may be an area in which resellers can differentiate from Apple once more in the future