HP offering Windows 8 upgrade refund on select PCs

[Shawn Knight]

In an effort to entice consumers to go ahead and buy a Windows 7 PC now, multiple outlets and brands have decided to eat the upgrade cost associated with Windows 8 later this year. Falcon Northwest has been offering a $14.99 refund on new Windows 7 systems for a few weeks now and apparently Staples retail store chain is offering a $15 Visa card on the purchase of any Windows 7 PC.

We are now hearing that HP is the latest manufacturer to follow this trend. The company is set to offer a $15 refund on select Windows 7 computers purchased between August 17, 2012 and February 2, 2013. As Neowin points out, only purchases made in Canada and the US are valid. Buyers in these regions have from October 26, 2012 until March 31, 2013 to get their submissions in.

Notebooks that fall under the promotion include HP’s Envy and Spectre as well as those under the Compaq brand. The Envy deskop, Pavilion AIO, Envy AIO, Envy TouchSmart AIO and Compaq desktop systems also quality for the refund. Note that the HP Mini is specifically excluded from the offer.

Once October 26 rolls around, those after a refund will need to fill out an online refund request and submit a photo copy or scanned imagine of the dated invoice, sales receipt or transaction record of the qualifying purchase with the price circled. You’ll also need the original UPC / serial number bar code and the Microsoft Windows 8 Upgrade email receipt and customer promotion code.

Applicants should receive their refund check within 8-10 weeks.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/49931-hp-offering-windows-8-upgrade-refund-on-select-pcs.html

 

[amstech]

Common Sense Rule #1) Stay away from rebates and refund checks.
Common Sense Rule #2) Stay away from anything refurbished.
Common Sense Rule #3) Anytime Microsoft releases a new operating system, wait 12 months before considering to purchase.

 

[Greg S]

Rule number 3 is the only one that is definitely the case all the time. #1 is okay if you can read between the lines and follow all the rules, number 2 is no worse than buying used. It could mean someone returned an item and the packaging was opened.

 

[Alvaro]

"...or scanned imagine of the dated invoice..."

Did you mean "scanned image"?

 

[Marvin McKinley]

I have a HP G6 Laptop with Windows 7 Home Premium and want to run Windows 8 and install with the DVD they offer. Will I have any problem installing over Windows 7.

 

[Guest]

@Marvin McKinley: Yes, Windows 8 will make you hate your computer. Stay with Windows 7.

 

[DadDanko]

There is nothing wrong with Win 8. I demo'd it to myself on three platforms with the pre-release. My only issue was the lack of a few drivers. I bought an HP Dv7-7000 in July, aware that HP had some kind of a cheap or free W8 upgrade deal. I just navigated through the current info and it had better be free after reading all the exceptions and warnings. Unless you buy a current PC made to run W8 there is a good chance even a 2012 laptop will have some issues with W8 with no solution possible. So if I can get one free I will try it and if there are issues I will dump it.

 

[Zoltan Head]

There is nothing wrong with Win 8. I demo'd it to myself on three platforms with the pre-release. My only issue was the lack of a few drivers. I bought an HP Dv7-7000 in July, aware that HP had some kind of a cheap or free W8 upgrade deal. I just navigated through the current info and it had better be free after reading all the exceptions and warnings. Unless you buy a current PC made to run W8 there is a good chance even a 2012 laptop will have some issues with W8 with no solution possible. So if I can get one free I will try it and if there are issues I will dump it.

There is plenty wrong with Windows 8. I tried it extensively, it does nothing worthwhile that 7 doesn't (unless perhaps on tablets?) and is ugly and counter-intuitive for normal desktop/laptop operation. Windows 7 or even XP (or almost any Liunx distro) are more use for work