They get a discount because the OEMs agree to install the OS on EVERY computer, no exception - it takes the per-unit price down to $20ish per PC.
The discount has nothing to do with packaging savings, there is no media shipped with the PC, no floppies, no CD/DVD, etc.
Citation?
I find it hard to believe any major manufacturer would forgo volume discounts available by committing to include Win 11 on each and every shipping computer in order to add an additional cost for a nearly required item like Windows OS.
In the article it says Windows retail is $139 for Home and $200 for Pro. Math says the increase is $14-$19 for retail. I am not sure that tracks with your $2-$3 estimate.
FFS, do you not understand the difference between OEM and Retail pricing?
OEMs buy COAs by the tens of thousands, and get significant discounts by doing things like supporting the end-user.
Retail licenses cover MS providing some level of customer support, and include retail markup for the seller.
Is a 10% increase on something that costs around $20 really qualify as a "a big Windows 11 price hike"?
No.
Will that 10% license cost increase wind-up being paid for by the customer? Of Course. The customer pays every expense, but the 10% COA license cost increase will likely be mitigated by potentially lower prices on things like CPUs (using lower-spec parts) and other components - this is not the "big event" many here are claiming.
This is likely the proceedings with the paper:
https://dlnext.acm.org/doi/epd...
It appears the ACM PDF reader loaded an 850MB PDF into my phone's browser and has been stuck doing a search on "beam steering" for ten minutes.
No joke, I read ACM papers on information retrieval and human computer action three decades ago and this is just hostile design.
I'll try again on my desktop at home tomorrow but maybe somebody can extract the paper before then.
And, yeah, as others have said this is old (November 2025) but it would be handy to have integrated with my Home Assistant. Much better than setting up ESP-32's with 26Ghz radars in each room.
This horrible situation with RAM and storage pricing and availability can be and should be a great boon for Linux adoption.
The "Average Windows User" never upgrades RAM or Storage, they replace the machine, and machine prices may keep them from upgrading/replacing their systems - it is the rare Windows User that would explore alternative OS options for their current PC when they feel they've outgrown their current Windows machine.
I would bet $5 you are right.
Courts love Parallel Construction.
By offering an OS other than Windows on a particular model, Dell loses the discount offered to them by MS for all licenses on that model.
If they offered Linux on the XPS 15, dell would pay more for every COA for every Window XPS 15 - I guarantee you there are way, way, way more XPS 15 buyers that want Windows 11 than would consider buying they XPS 15 without Windows/with Linux.
There's also the issue of supporting Linux on multiple models (driver updates, etc - not a major expense, but an unnecessary expense for such a low-interest item)...
These missiles are known for evading Patriot PAC-3's with non-ballistic maneuvering.
That's at least part of what needs CPU. However a $6 233MHz ESP-32 could handle those calculations.
Those nVidia boards are often used for home video boxes, including transcoding. It's possible this was just a video uplink component.
Reportedly the Tomahawks used in the Minab Massacre were video-guided and did fly-arounds to time the double-tap and experimental use of thermobaric detonation of unspent fuel to incinerate the surviving girls and responding parents.
We should worry more about bringing those people to Justice than whatever Russia is doing.
At my last job where I worked for 18 years (computer animation studio), almost all the desktop computers were Linux. No complaints from the users.
Why would they complain? The USERS (artists) live in a handful of custom and commercial applications, don't use their desktops for so-called "general computing" applications, and are supported by a team of Linux Sys Admins whose job is to create a useful/productive workspace for them. The average windows user likely does a lot more "general computing" and lacks the support of a Sys Admin team...
Maybe they "could", but they have literally NO INTEREST in exploring anything other than the OS they have been using since grade school, be it Windows or macOS.
Their finances have been widely covered in the news.
Their IT Lead is making ~$180K.
Their interest income alone was $500K.
They didn't have a local copy strategically, not for a lack of $5K.
Cloud backup is just another backup, not primary storage, if you care about your data.
Some of us have online, nearline, offline, offsite, and multiple cloud backups with much smaller budgets.
That's for people who care about their data (including the bean counters).
Many IT folks (most?) have had to "I told you so" after a bean counter said no to a small spend. I wouldn't assume the IT department is incompetent without evidence.
"Most people don't need Windows"? Really Windows has about 75-80% market share for desktop users - that would tend to argue against your claim...
Have you ever tried to get a Windows refund? Virtually impossible. The problem with the PC price going up is that the OEM bundles it, so unless you're on eBay and there's a windows/no-windows competitive marketplace you're going to have to suck up the OEM pricing.
Windows Refunds are not really a thing.
OEMs agree to bundle a Win11 license with every computer of a given model and mention Win11 in printed advertisements, in return MS discounts the per unit OEM license for the OEM.
To get a refund from the OEM, the OEM would have to agree to just hand you money from their wallet - there is no "refund" or "credit" from MS.
Also, as a reminder, low-spec systems are eligible for FREE Win11 licenses, that is how various random Chinese brands can offer NUC-like boxes for around $100 with Win11 license.
A 10% increase on an OEM COA License for Win11 would add on the order of $2-3/to the build price of a PC - is that really a meaningful increase in system prices?
Digital games themselves did not lower prices, despite them being marketed as doing so without the cost of materials/packaging/handling/shipping
From the summary: "Current prices are tied to retail. Without physical discs holding digital hostage we'll see a larger spectrum of pricing." As I understand this, paid downloads did not lower prices of AAA games because of retail price parity contracts. Paid downloads did, however, make the $5 to $20 tier for indie game pricing viable.
One thing not mentioned in the summary is that publishers of games distributed in physical copies owe a royalty to the age rating agency of each region in which a game is published. Publishers of downloadable games do not, instead relying on self-certification through the IARC form. The age rating agencies allow this because it's a lot more practical to update a game once it is found to have been misclassified.
Always draw your curves, then plot your reading.
