How much do oem builders pay for XP or Vista?

spakkker

I can build an Intel dual core system and the parts cost £135 but I cannot get an OS -xp or vista for much less than £60 -How do Dell etc. do it? Selling systems for £180 delivered?

nearlyrich

Because you are buying 1 OEM licence and they are buying billions globally, it's all about scale spakker. Plus they are not making a profit at the entry level, they rely on people adding on the extras that give them more profit.

bat999

As nearlyrich says above, but also I think that Dell gets kickbacks from the 'evaluation' software it installs too.

weegie.geek

They'll pay considerably less than you for the hardware as well.

You're also buying a proper copy of the OS, whereas with a bundled copy there'll usually be licensing restrictions stopping you installing the OS on a different PC.

nearlyrich

I have worked for pc vendors and some of the "eval" software costs the software supplier to add to every xxxxx PC, the payback for them is that they get a lot of sign ups after the eval period as it's easier for many people than trying something else.

bat999

weegie.geek wrote: »

You're also buying a proper copy of the OS, whereas with a bundled copy there'll usually be licensing restrictions stopping you installing the OS on a different PC.

For £60 you're paying for the same OEM license, not a 'proper' copy.

weegie.geek

bat999 wrote: »

For £60 you're paying for the same OEM license, not a 'proper' copy.

What I meant was that buying an OEM copy from Scan or the like, you can install it on whatever PC you like.

From what I've read, Windows discs you get with Dells for example, will only install on a Dell, whereas if I were to buy an OEM disc from Dabs or wherever, it would install on any hardware.

I'm talking about the Dell disc physically refusing to install on non-Dell hardware.

spakkker

Hi, thanks for all replies, I guess its all down to bulk buying.

motorguy

I remember a senior dell salesman telling me they made about £20 on the entry level machines, but made their real money on people upgrading the screens, RAM, HDD's etc.

We built and sold computers for a while, and it actually worked out better to watch for the 'specials' that dell do - over on hotukdeals.com search for Dell down the RHS or to go to www.dmxdimension.com

Very often you can buy dell stuff cheaper this was than they even advertise themselves.

Plus, use a cashback credit card, plus go through quidco for 5% cashback and you could do ok for yourself - plus no warranty worries etc.

Little_John

Its all about volume buying, the more you buy the more you save. When I used to work for an OEM we made about 50% on OEM licence sales and we were not really buying the volumes the likes of Dell and HP buy.

The Dell CD's will install on any machines, they detect the bios or somthing and if its a dell machine the activation process isnt required, same with HP. I have dever tried to transfer a dell key to another machine well I can't remember doing it but I believe they work also so nothing locked there either.