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Students! Get Windows 7 Professional for $29.99

Lucky college kids! They can score the upgrade edition of Windows 7 Pro for way less than anybody else. There's also a sweet deal on Office 2010.

Rick Broida Senior Editor
Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET's popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast (about the TV show Travelers). He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms (chronicled in the ebook "I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie").
Rick Broida
2 min read
From the Too-Good-to-be-True Dept. comes Windows 7 Professional for just 30 bucks. But only for students. Microsoft

Man, students get all the perks, don't they? Microsoft has been offering an educational discount on Windows 7 since the OS launched last year, but not like this: Students can now get Windows 7 Professional Upgrade Edition for $29.99. (Look in the Other Student Deals box in the corner of the page.)

To put that in a little perspective, the rest of us have to pay $199.99. Sure, you might be able to find it for, oh, $159.99 at Amazon, but 30 bucks? Dang lucky students, grumble, grumble.

To qualify, you need a valid e-mail address from a U.S. educational institution. (You may also need to provide proof of enrollment.) To find out if you're eligible, click Buy Now and enter your school e-mail address. In fairly short order you should receive an e-mail with instructions for making your purchase.

That purchase will come in the form of a download that you'll need to burn to a CD or DVD. However, for another $13 you can order "backup media" (i.e. a DVD that comes in the mail)--probably worth it if you're not adept at burning.

As you'll no doubt notice when you reach the promotion page, Microsoft is also offering students Office Professional Academic 2010 for $79.95. It's identical to Office Professional 2010, which lists for $499. (I'm not saying students should buy this and then flip it on eBay. I would never say that.)

As for Windows 7, keep in mind that this is the upgrade version, you'll have to deploy it on a system that already has XP or Vista installed. However, XP users can't do an "in-place" upgrade, so be prepared to offload your data before getting started. Find out more in How to Upgrade Your XP System to Windows 7.

It was barely a month ago that I purchased a Windows 7 license for $59.95 using my wife's student ID. Now it's half the price. Bad news for me...but good for anyone who hasn't nabbed the OS yet.

Bonus deal: Get a $10 Amazon Video-on-Demand credit just for following @AmazonVideo on Twitter. Use it to buy/rent movies or TV shows.