There are plenty of Mini-PC (NUC clones) on Aliexpress (etc).
They all seem to come with Windows10 installed, but that can be blown away and Debian or HAOS installed. So far - so good.
But I am surprised I can’t find a NUC clone on Aliexpress (etc) WITHOUT Win10. I would have thought that it would be cheaper if there was no Windows installed. Seems silly for me to pay for a Windows License that I will not use.
Any idea why can’t buy a cheap NUC without Windows?
PS: I know I can buy a Rasberry Pi … with no Windows license. But the question still stands.
Windows 10 OEM licenses are dirt cheap, so it might actually be easier to produce windows setups than to split the production in two different setups, even though one of them is actually no setup at all.
You can buy an OEM licence for less than 10 box on the net. So you can imagine, how cheap those manufacturer’s get these. The price you pay for Windows on such machine is peanuts
About two-thirds of the way down the page, it says this:
Free Operating System: Default installed our activated OEM cracked version(not genuine) Win7 or Win8 or Win10 English for free, other languages can be selected among: Russian,Spanish,Portuguese,French,German,Arabic,Italian,Japanese,Turkish,Greek etc. Please inform us which language you want to install. Other systems we can install free are likepfSense(wifi not work), Linux, XBMC(Kodi), Ubuntu, Openelec etc if you need.
(Emphasis mine.)
It also lists available upgrades, including:
6.Genuine windows license add extra cost 35$.
I’m a little surprised they’re that open about the “cracked” version, but at least it’s all spelled out up front. And obviously they don’t pay more than $35 per unit for the “genuine” license. I’m not in the market for one of these today, but it’s good to know the option is there. Thank you, I learned something today.
That is one of the reasons, why I choose refurbished local market machines for my DIY projects.
Good price, local dealer, warranty is not an issue and mostly you can choose also to buy without OS. Delivery next day. Much better, than those Chinese surprises…
When you consider the sellers on Aliexpress try anything to get the cheapest price, and that we can all GUESS what an OEM Windows license costs … I am still amazed that they don’t sell without Windows … even if the price difference was (e.g) $5 less.
At this stage - just academic regarding the Windows license cost. Price/performance is good anyway
?