I haven't been looking at all, not for 8.1 or 10. So I'haven't been paying attention to what's on offer or for how much. I have an MSDN subscription so have no need to buy Windows. The last version I bought was a Windows 7 OEM from Newegg. That was before I became an MVP. What I posted was just a quick search on Newegg. There may be deals out there, you might have to hunt for them though.
Alpha Newegg has been running sales for the past two weeks. One of them is the Seagate 1TB for $45. Same as with other online retailers. Ultimatesteal.com may offer 10 at a discount, like they did when 7 came out.
It was six months after 8 was out, that Toshiba and others started selling units with 7 pre-installed on them. It ended up that the 7 units cost more than it cost to just get a unit with 8 pre-installed.
Bdman post number 3 looks interesting. Running the troubleshooting tool - Windows 10 Forums
His pic of a pre-installed system. Actually, shows an uninstall latest preview build. So, Oem's are/were selling systems with preview build that will be automatically update to the current public release.
The photo in post 3. say un-install latest preview build
derekimo, I have tested different ways of installing 10. Both the preview & the release.
When I did some of those release installs, there was no previous un-install latest preview build listed there. There was an option to roll back to windows 7 though. One thing I didn't consider was BDman may have joined the insider program so his system was upgraded to the lastest preview build.
I went from 8.1 Pro to 10 Pro, to 10 Education. Never ran a preview build, and have the "Uninstall latest preview Build" option. Clicking it just takes me to Recovery with Reset this PC or Advanced startup options. All builds likely have it. Especially if you have the Get Insider Builds option. OEM's are not going to put Preview Builds on a PC they sell to consumers. For one thing there is no free upgrade from a Preview Build to the Consumer release. You have to upgrade from Windows 7 or 8.1.
Just a thought but wasn't 10240 and insider build and then the same build came out for the OEM's to use? And wasn't that the way it worked on the 29th? The build that came down on that date was the same as the insider version(10240).
My point is.. that the build OEM's put on their PC's was likely an insider build at one time.
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