Acer slams Vista price hikes

Microsoft is hiking up the price of its software as it prepares to launch Vista, according to one of the leading PC manufacturers, Acer.

According to Jim Wong, senior corporate vice president of the Taiwan-based company, the issue is simply that the basic home edition of Vista, Home Basic, which is available for preorder on Amazon.co.uk for £154.99, is so basic that users will be forced to move to Vista Home Premium, at £189.99. A Home Edition of Windows XP is currently available for £165.99, but has a recommended retail price of £176.99.

"The new [Vista] experience you hear of, if you get Basic, you won't feel it at all," Wong told PC Pro magazine. "There's no [Aero] graphics, no Media Center, no remote control."

Wong also said that the manufacturer's licence for Vista Home Premium is 10 per cent more expensive than for XP Home. "We have to pay more but users are not going to pay more," Wong said. This would mean an increase in the cost to PC manufacturers of 1 to 2 per cent, according to Wong, in a business where the profit margin is around 5 per cent or less.

At the top of the Vista lineup is the Ultimate Edition, which can be preordered for £325 from Amazon.co.uk and, again, is significantly more expensive than the XP operating system it replaces. Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 has a recommended retail price of £289.99, but is currently available for £234.