Bundling Vista reduces price of system?

[FG123]

Found this tale in another forum, found it quite interesting. I have no reason to doubt its authenticity (prices are Australian dollars BTW)...

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I bought a PC today. Some cheapie case, 4GB DDR2 RAM, 80GB SATA drive, AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400 + ASUS mobo.

$379 with Windows Vista Home Basic

So I asked how much it was without Vista Home Basic, just the parts.

$429.

I said: "Surely you can't expect me to pay more for less components? Can you give it to me for $350"

The answer: "No"

The only conclusion I can make is that Vista actually detracts from the price of a computer.

Amazing - I like Microsoft now. It's not often their software makes computers cheaper.

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Comments? I have no idea why they have to charge more when asked for less. Dodgy agreement with Microsoft somehow? Maybe someone in the field can explain. :-k

[Midwest-Linux]

What this suggests...or seems ..is that the computer manufacturer is getting some kind of "discount"...or "rebate" ...or "something else" to add on Vista onto the machine.....Nothing else makes sense...

[LaRoza]

It seems odd, but there is a reason for it.

It costs more money to make the system different from the average system. If computer systems were sold without any software, it would cost much more to get an OS installed.

Getting XP installed instead of Vista costs much more because they have to get all the neccessary drivers and software together for the system.

[avik]

I'm assuming to get the OS-less system, they would have to separately manufacture the system so it doesn't get loaded with Windows on the assembly line. That separation causes overhead since the quantity of OS-less systems will be less, driving the price up.

Now imagine if that was the norm, as opposed to having Windows preinstalled. Then, I'd expect the price of the blank system to be less than $379. Vista doesn't lower the price of the system; it raises the price of the blank system.

[coffeecat]

It costs more money to make the system different from the average system.

I think this is the most likely. There will be administrative costs to the supplier to supply a special, rather than something straight off the production line.

Another reason is all the bloatware that comes with a Windows-preinstalled machine. The supplier/manufacturer doesn't install this for fun. They get paid by the bloatware suppliers - it's a form of advertising - and this subsidises the cost of the machine. No Windows = no bloatware = no subsidy.