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Topic: Windows 8

Best Buy to cut Windows 8 touchscreen PC prices by $100

Summary: Best Buy is kicking off a limited time, $100 promotional discount for Windows 8 touchscreen laptops and desktops, starting this Sunday.

Mary Jo Foley

By for All About Microsoft |

According to The Wall Street Journal, Best Buy is kicking off a two-week promotion on February 24 that will cut Windows 8 touchscreen laptop and desktop prices by $100.

meetwindows8

The Journal said that Best Buy, PC makers, Microsoft and Intel are absorbing the impact of the cut. (The Journal got this information from an interview its reporters conducted with Best Buy.)

The cut won't apply to Microsoft Surface RTs or Surface Pros. It also won't apply to Windows 8 or Windows RT tablets, the Journal reported. Microsoft has been having trouble keeping the 128 GB version of its Surface Pros in stock.

Best Buy officials are attributing the decision to launch the promotion to a Best Buy-conducted survey showing that recent purchasers prefer Windows 8 more on touch-enabled hardware than non-touch-enabled machines.

Microsoft officials have said that demand for Windows 8 has been in line with that for Windows 7. As of early January, Microsoft officials said they had sold 60 million Windows 8 licenses.

(A related aside: Google took the wraps off a new, $1,299 touch-enabled Chromebook this week, the Pixel, which also is being sold at Best Buy.)

I asked Microsoft for the Windows team's take on the promotion and received this statement from a spokesperson:

“Touch unlocks an entirely new way to interact with Windows that we believe represents the future of computing. We’re pleased to see how retailers such as Best Buy are promoting this at their stores, including their latest promotion that starts this weekend.”

It's going to be interesting to see whether Best Buys and Microsoft Stores themselves become more of a place to try/compare Windows PCs and tablets than an actual place to buy them. Microsoft officials have said they are committed to transforming the Windows buying experience at retailers like Best Buy and Staples. But it seems as though more and more PC and tablet buying (as opposed to "trying") is happening online....

Topics: Windows 8, Microsoft, Tablets, PCs, Microsoft Surface

About

Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 25 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

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51 comments
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  • More in the details maybe?

    "Microsoft officials have said that demand for Windows 8 has been in line with that for Windows 7. As of early January, Microsoft officials said they had sold 60 million Windows 8 licenses."

    - That being largely due to discounting the upgrade to $40, which was not done for Windows 7.

    "...survey showing that recent purchasers prefer Windows 8 more on touch-enabled hardware than non-touch-enabled machines."

    - or maybe they prefer it because non-touch hardware is a pain to use with Windows 8?
    D.J. 43
    Reply 3 Votes

    • People prefer it because.......

      That's the whole point of windows 8. I use windows 8 on non touch computers I upgraded fine. But am I going to go out and buy a laptop that does not have touch now? Heck no.
      xach
      Reply 5 Votes

      • Yeah but you're not all people

        So try not to speak for the rest of the world, ok?
        CaviarGreen
        Reply 3 Votes

        • "Yeah but you're not all people"

          Nowhere in that post did he say "I speak for all people"? Man you guys are sad sad people aren't you.
          mrefuman
          Reply Vote

    • Maybe Macs are even worse

      On Feb 13th Mac dropped its prices from 1499 one to 1399 and
      1699 to 1499.
      Thats a $200 drop... by your measure that must suck even worse then right?!
      Or do mactards have a different reason for their products?
      JABBER_WOLF
      Reply 10 Votes

      • Apples and oranges, maybe lemons

        Apple is having to also cut prices, but those were already too high. What they cut is the Steve Jobs charisma cool tax, as it no longer exists as a pervasive reality distortion field. So in part I agree:)
        D.J. 43
        Reply 2 Votes

        • They were not already too high

          because people were buying them at the previous price. What has changed is that now they have to choose between a large tablet purchase ($499) or a large Mac purchase ($1499) because they can’t afford both. Buy knocking off $200 (since 499 was spent on an iPad) this now puts it in their reach again.

          If Apple offered a $299 iPad with every Mac purchase they would have been flying off the shelves.
          Challenger R/T
          Reply Vote

        • Apple drops prices a BEFORE they release the new models

          Guess what is happening in a few days??
          wackoae
          Reply 1 Vote

      • Mactards

        lol....funny
        jonnybr
        Reply Vote

  • Wow

    Love my job, since I've been bringing in $5600… I sit at home, music playing while I work in front of my new iMac that I got now that I'm making it online.(Click Home information)
    http://goo.gl/g3wIq
    AndyCarroll34
    Reply Vote

  • That should move some Win8 PCs

    Really, I think for a non-touch experienced user to demo an non-touch Win8 PC is where the disaster is. This could be a good move, but it if so that says that Win8 (as it is now) is not fit for non-touch PCs in general.
    coastin
    Reply Vote

    • They can move even more

      touch PCs if they place a life-size Joe Pesci next to the display with a motion sensor that trigers audio of Joe Pesci saying "touch it, touch it, go ahead touch it!"
      coastin
      Reply Vote

      • Yeah, But I wonder what it is you yourself would be touching?

        you know they'd throw you in jail for that, right?
        William Farrel
        Reply 5 Votes

    • non-touch

      You over simplify. Let me give u example, I went over to computer exchange & see some 2nd hand laptops for sale for £300+, if I must buy any, I will rather choose MS Surface RT. If they're £400, I rather go for touch screen laptop cause it represent the future or in my sense I will be short changing myself buying non-touch laptop for the same money
      jonnybr
      Reply Vote

  • Touchscreens on laptops and desktops?...my interest has expired

    A few years ago I might have been interested, even to the point of becoming an early adopter. But these days, the activities I would have performed with touch on a desktop or laptop have been taken over by tablets and smartphones, making touch on the older form factors redundant for me.

    Perhaps if Microsoft or some other third party released a version of Flight Simulator that made great use of touch in the Virtual Cockpit mode of the simulator, I might reconsider getting a touchscreen for my desktop. Heck, that would even give me a reason to purchase Windows 8...or 9. At the moment I don't have one. As for laptops, I don't expect to be buying those anymore as I no longer see a place for that form factor in my daily routine.
    eMJayy
    Reply 3 Votes

  • Really?

    According to the WSJ: "The retailer said Friday it decided to launch the promotion after recent surveys the company conducted showed the consumers who bought touchscreen Windows 8 devices were significantly happier than those who bought PCs with a typical screen."

    Gosh, that's strange. Why are they having to discount products that consumers are significantly happier with? I always thought retailers had fire sales when they bought way too much of something nobody wanted. Silly me. Live and learn I guess. Live and learn.
    Asok Smith
    Reply 4 Votes

    • Thank You For Saying...

      ...exactly the same thing I was thinking.
      Le Chaud Lapin
      Reply 2 Votes

      • Really?

        You are signing off on a roughly 10% discount as a "fire sale?"

        It is for a few weeks and Best Buy isn't taking the hit solo. Looks like an experiment to me, but the hypothesis to test is if they will sell more and do better via volume.

        Or they may find that trackpad plus keyboard is good enough when the platform and the ecosystem of applications were designed around those assumptions. That's not to say that people do not like touch when they get it, that would mean that until the applications truly utilize touch interfaces, many people can choose to pass on the amenity.
        DannyO_0x98
        Reply 2 Votes

      • We have to realize.....

        Asus has alot of comments under his that say things like "I was thinking the same thing". One just has to wonder.
        xach
        Reply Vote

    • Best Buy is stepping up against online retailers

      I'm not saying Windows8 is flying off the shelves, but Best Buy can't exactly crow about people buying online after showrooming in their stores. They need to rebuild their brand and give customers a reason to not only come into the store, but to buy their computers there also.

      Best Buy could discount the laptops that people don't want, but that doesn't exactly work towards creating a bond between retailer and customer.

      I'm sure there is more behind this than is being presented by MS, the OEMs and retailers, but at the same time Microsoft has a different goal in mind for Windows8 right now. Less about short term profits and more about getting the new features and devices of Windows8 into the market to show what it can do.
      Emacho
      Reply 2 Votes
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