US price will increase by whopping 400 percent
The price of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system will rocket at the beginning of February.
Consumers will have to fork out extra for Windows 8 when Microsoft's upgrade offer ends on 31 January. The current upgrade price of £24.99 for Windows 8 Pro is set to rocket based on the software giant's announcement. See also: How to upgrade to Windows 8
On its blog, Microsoft said the Windows 8 Pro upgrade price would rise by five times from $39 to $199 on 1 February, an increase of 400 percent. It said the regular Windows 8 will cost $119.
There's no word on UK pricing at the moment but if Microsoft decides on the same price hike, upgrading to Windows 8 Pro will cost £125. This would exceed the price of a 64-bit DVD of Windows 8 Pro from Ebuyer which is priced at £114 at the time of writing. Read: Windows 8 price in the UK.
For comparison, upgrading to Apple's OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion costs £13.99, without any kind of limited time offer.
See also: Microsoft Surface price in the UK.
The Windows 8 Pro Pack price of £49.99 will also end on 31 January, as will being able to grab Windows Media Center for free.
The exception is that consumers purchasing a Windows 7 PC between 2 June and 31 January will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for £14.99 as long as they register before the end of 28 February, according to the blog.
If you're planning on upgrading your machine to Windows 8, our advice is to get it done before the price shoots up.
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