Dell and HP offer free Windows 7 upgrades—if you’re careful

HP and Dell both plan to give free Windows 7 upgrades to qualifying customers who purchase systems before the official release on October 22.

If you buy a new computer from Dell or HP in the next few months (or bought one since June 26), there’s a good chance you’re eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it becomes available in October. If you’re still shopping for a PC, be careful which version of Vista or XP you buy with it, because your choice will impact the Windows 7 version you’re eligible for; in some cases, you won’t even be able to upgrade free.

To get a free upgrade from Dell, you must buy an eligible system between June 26 and December 31, 2009. Get the system with Vista Home Premium 32-bit and you’ll be able to upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit when it’s available.

But if you buy a PC with Windows XP (because you want to skip Vista altogether), make sure you get the version that Dell calls Windows Vista Business Bonus –Windows XP Professional Downgrade. That will get you a free Windows 7 Professional later. If you get XP without that official downgrade, you’ll have to pay for any upgrade to Windows 7 later. Also avoid Vista Home Basic and Vista Starter Edition; neither of those qualify for the free upgrade.

HP’s program is similar to Dell’s. You must buy an eligible system until January 31, 2010; it needs Vista Home Premium, Vista Business, or Vista Ultimate (or the official XP Downgrade).

Other manufacturers are offering similar programs. —Donna Tapellini

Comments

[Sam Spect]

Inspect Dell's offer carefully.

On their front page, they say it's a free upgrade to Windows 7:
http://www.dell.com/windows7

But on their FAQ, they say, "For certain regions, there will be a fee for the upgrade to cover tax, shipping and handling charges. Select countries will be offering the upgrade for free. The fee charged will vary by country and will be confirmed at the time you place your order. These fees are non-refundable."
https://win7.dell.com/FAQPage.aspx

Their chat guy claimed that it cost $35 for shipping in the US. Yes, that's for a DVD (standard shipping for a desktop was $39). Perhaps Consumer Reports could verify this: $35.00 and "Free" seem to me to be entirely different species.