Digital Home Thoughts: Will Windows 7 Make for More Expensive Netbooks?

"An analyst told The Standard that while Windows 7 Starter will likely fall into the current $15 XP price point, the push will be to get users to upgrade to Professional or Home which will add to the cost. According to the article, the cost of XP on a regular computer runs $50, quite a difference from the discounted netbook price, and we should expect similar differences with Windows 7. Microsoft hasn't confirmed the pricing to OEMs but adding a Home or Pro installation of Windows 7 to a netbook could bump prices significantly."

Given all that Windows 7 brings to the table over Windows XP, I'm more than happy to pay a bit more to get a much better OS on my netbook. It will be interesting to see how functional netbooks are with Windows 7 Basic - if there will be a feeling like we're missing anything significant or not. Of course, if the price increases too much, we might see Linux netbooks start to do better.