rocknrollstar Posted September 22, 2009 Posted September 22, 2009 Hi, I'm doing a favour for a friend who works at a private, charitable school. They want to buy 5 laptops, and I have found an excellent deal, but it doesn't come with an OS. I'm happy to install a new OS and build the machine, but... The school are using XP Pro on their network, with no imminent change to Win7 or Vista. Where's the cheapest and best place to buy XP Pro? I came across Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2 (OEM) which sells it for £70 exVat, which seems good. As they aren't a government funded school, they can't use a county supplier and get cheaper versions, and I'd need to have the XP Pro CD to do the installation. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!
strawberry Posted September 22, 2009 Posted September 22, 2009 five licenses or more qualifies you for a volume license, the school should have some microsoft agreement in place even if its only select licensing. 1
Jamman960 Posted September 22, 2009 Posted September 22, 2009 Thats not a bad price to be honest, even as an independent school they'll still get educational discounts where availble, I don't think educational discounts are usually availible on OEM/Retail licences though? I thought they only really come into play with things like the schools agreement and select/volume licensing. Also some places will do discounts for charitys so that may be worth looking into although I've usually found that the educational discounts are often slightly better than those offered to charitys. 1
Dos_Box Posted September 22, 2009 Posted September 22, 2009 Ebay! windows xp professional, Operating Systems, System Maintenance, Apple Macintosh items at low prices on eBay.co.uk Considering Win XP Pro is not going to be available to buy soon due to dwindling stocks I would get them now! 1
RichTee Posted September 22, 2009 Posted September 22, 2009 Hi we use MS Select Licensing in our school it's great especially seeing how I always seem to damage my discs. The company we use is Ramesys you can purchase both discs and licencing separately they usally deliver fast depending on your post (ours is not so good at the moment) and they can e-mail you the CD Key. General Enquiries 0845 300 9031 Education Sales on 01902 354 343 1
rocknrollstar Posted September 23, 2009 Author Posted September 23, 2009 Great, thanks for your replies. I'll give Ramesys a call. I take it it's free to have the MS Select Licensing? Any commitments to purchase anything further?
powdarrmonkey Posted September 23, 2009 Posted September 23, 2009 (edited) I take it it's free to have the MS Select Licensing? Any commitments to purchase anything further? Select is a subscription license and it's subject to minimum quantities. Microsoft licensing is very complex and even they don't really understand it, do your research thoroughly before you commit to anything. Edit: in fact, glancing at the comparison table, a select license is a three-year commitment to a minimum quantity of 250 machines. This is a baaaad choice. Edited September 23, 2009 by powdarrmonkey 1
rocknrollstar Posted September 23, 2009 Author Posted September 23, 2009 Great, thanks powdarrmonkey. Very useful- I think I'll stay away from that option, unless they have an agreement already.
SimpleSi Posted September 23, 2009 Posted September 23, 2009 Why not save the hassle and just buy Vista laptops that come with XP downgrade CDs? regards Simon 1
dgsmith Posted September 23, 2009 Posted September 23, 2009 I'd agree with SimpleSi. The price you would have paid for 5 copies of XP, you may as well have spent a bit extra on a laptop that comes licenced with Vista, but downgrade rights to XP (with the disk media too). Would save all the hassle, and at least allow you to go to vista if you so chose. 1
apoth0r Posted September 23, 2009 Posted September 23, 2009 Pugh is a good place to get some licenses, I'm sure even though you are a charitable school you should have the resources in place for a .sch.uk domain name. That is all you need to purchase. Cheers 1
apoth0r Posted September 23, 2009 Posted September 23, 2009 Hi we use MS Select Licensing in our school it's great especially seeing how I always seem to damage my discs. The company we use is Ramesys you can purchase both discs and licencing separately they usally deliver fast depending on your post (ours is not so good at the moment) and they can e-mail you the CD Key. General Enquiries 0845 300 9031 Education Sales on 01902 354 343 Usually, by the means of forum etiquette, you save the sales pitch at least into a few posts on other topics. Winds me up when people come on here throw some company names and phone numbers/links about. There are rules, read them.
rocknrollstar Posted September 23, 2009 Author Posted September 23, 2009 Why not save the hassle and just buy Vista laptops that come with XP downgrade CDs? I agree, this would be a good way. However, the deal I'm looking at is for a higher spec, non-branded laptop, with no OS. Paying an extra £70 still means that for the money, it still is an great deal. Need a dual-core processor as opposed to a mobile one, so not wanting to get a budget laptop. Thanks for your efforts:)
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