What good is a system without
programs to run on it? If you’re hoping to find some bargains on software, We
show you where to look and what to look for
As expensive as it is to keep hardware up
to date, PC owners also have to factor in the cost of buying the software they
need to get the most out of their system. After all, what good is it to have
the best CPU and the most RAM if you don’t have any games or applications that
can actually use the latest features of the hardware, let alone stretch them?
Not much good at all, is the answer!
Unlike hardware, it’s much easier to find
good bargains in and around the software market. You just need to know where to
look. To help you find the best prices, we’ve compiled this helpful guide to
the various ways you can find the best software at discount prices, whether
cheap or expensive, whether games, applications or operating systems.
Buying Old/Second Hand
The second hand market for software
particularly games has come under fire in recent years. Publishers have long
agonized over their inability to get a slice of the secondary market, and have
employed all sorts of tricks and traps to inconvenience second hand gamers into
buying fresh copies at retail. These include limited-edition download content
and online keys, both which must be purchased separately if the games aren’t
bought new.
The
second hand market for software particularly games has come under fire in
recent years.
Luckily, application developers aren’t
quite as draconian about resales of their software, usually because they know a
new version will be out soon with a range of new features and technologies that
people can’t get anywhere else. The release of a new version alone can reduce
the price of ‘old’ software to a fraction of its initial cost, and that makes
buying second hand software an easy way to get your hands on nearly new
programs without breaking the bank.
Generally, the only concern you should have
when buying applications second hand is that the license keys are genuine and
haven’t expired or been used up. Most licenses are valid for a certain number
of installations and/or individual systems, so if you’re buying second hand you
need to ensure that you’re still able to use the license key and that the
seller has removed the software from the machines they have it installed on -
otherwise you might find yourself locked out of a program you thought you
legitimately owned!
Although applications lose their value
quite quickly, it’s far less simple to find a bargain where second hand games
are concerned. Even the worst, most critically lambasted titles inexplicably
hold their retail value for a few months, and certain titles simply won’t dip
below half price no matter how long you wait. Obviously, there are some savings
to be made if you avoid new releases entirely, but whatever a game is selling
for 2-3 months after its release is likely to be its price for a long, long
time.
Buying Overseas
The Internet has turned the world into a
global village, giving all of us access to retailers in every country, so why
not take advantage of this the next time you have to pop down to the virtual
shops? Buying software from abroad can knock huge percentages off the price
thanks to favourable exchange rates and differing taxation systems, and the
comparatively low shipping costs mean you won’t get too badly stung on delivery
prices either. Sure, you have to wait a while, but if you’re not in a rush,
it’s certainly worth investigating.
For example, if you’re looking to buy a
particularly expensive suite, such as Photoshop CS6, it costs $529 in the US
and $985 in the UK! If you can buy it abroad, you stand to save almost $481 in
real terms.
Of course, companies have also noticed that
overseas prices can be favourable. In recent years, software publishers have
done their best to crack down on the international ‘grey import’ market,
banning retailers from shipping their products abroad, so it can be difficult
to find a company that’ll sell expensive software to people across the Atlantic
at the risk of losing their license to distribute copies entirely. Conversely,
prices in Europe tend to be higher than in the UK, so there’s no advantage to
be found there. Remember, too, that you may be required to pay import VA T (on
items over $24) and customs duty (on items over $216, if the amount calculated
is more than $14) so there may be extra charges.
Still, none of those restrictions stop you
from picking programs up while holidaying abroad, or asking someone else to do
it for you. The versions on sale are normally identical to the European or
‘international’ version, bar the inclusion of certain language packs, and
region selection should mean that you can even convert it to British English
from the American default without much difficulty.
Buying Download Versions
A convenient alternative to retail
purchases comes in the form of digital distribution. It’s hard to overstate the
convenience of being able to download the software you want direct from the
manufacturer, even if it’s not quite as cheap as you’d expect.
For instance, it would be fair to assume
that the price of downloadable software would be substantially lower than the
price of boxed retail copies, because they involve no fabrication process, and
distribution is both more efficient and economical. There is normally some
discount to be had, but much of the ‘value’ of software is deemed to be
inherent in its existence, rather than its physical form.
In actual fact, a large part of this is
because publishers don’t want to upset long-nurtured relationships with various
retail partners. If people can download a copy of software, they’ll be less
likely to make the effort to go and buy it in its physical form from a shop. If
people stop buying a product from shops, retailers will recognise that and use
the shelf space for programs that they can actually sell, a downward exposure
spiral, which can end with the product becoming relatively obscure. The way
publishers combat this problem is by ensuring that download prices don’t
undercut the price of physical copies in any significant way, so that there’s
still an incentive to buy in-store.
There are benefits to buying a physical
copy of software, of course, not least the potential secondary market value
-you can’t resell a download. However, if you’re looking for a lower price, you
can save a small amount by going purely digital.
Buying Upgrade Editions
One way of getting a bargain software
upgrade is staggeringly prosaic, and yet it is often overlooked: all you have
to do is buy an upgrade edition.
If you’ve previously installed a retail
copy of almost any popular software package, be it an office suit, your
operating system or an image editor, it’s a safe bet that you can also buy an
upgrade edition of the same title. Publishers are keen to keep people using
their software, and the best way to do that isn’t to force them to pay out
several hundred pounds every few years.
Buying
Upgrade Editions
Instead, if you buy upgrade copies, you can
maintain your position on the software’s industry’s cutting edge without
breaking the bank. One current deal allows owners of Windows 7 to upgrade to
Windows 8 for as little as $40. Even at full price, it’s only $72. Both are
astonishingly cheap ways to get the latest Microsoft operating system to
upgrade Windows 7 from XP or Vista easily cost double that.
There are inconveniences associated with
upgrade editions, of course. The secondary market value is poor, and for
obvious reasons, you can’t use them to do clean installations. This means that
if you want to set the software up on a new system, first you have to install
the old software, and then install the upgrade version on top of it. However,
unless you do a lot of clean installs, we’d argue that it’s worth the very
occasional nuisance in return for the financial savings you can make via this
circuitous route.
Buying Student Copies
There are many perks offered to students
that other sections of society are denied: reduced council tax, cheaper travel
on public transport and a 10% discount at shops up and down the country are
just some of them. However, good deals on software might be the most
jealousy-inducing of them all. Aware of the high price retail software
commands, publishers have come up with the idea of so-called ‘student editions’
and educational licenses, which offer reduced prices in the hope of getting
programs into the hands of the next generation of workers. That’s great; if
you’re a student.
Although the software is only legally
available to students, some organisations will allow you to buy it for a
student member of your family. You may need student ID, but many websites allow
you to purchase student editions without even asking for that. In most cases,
the software is unrestricted, except for student edition branding. In some cases,
output will be clearly branded as originating from an educational copy of the
software, as any commercial distribution would require a full license to be
applied to it.
If you’re wondering what prevents
non-students from buying educational editions, the answer, really, is nothing.
That said, if non-students buy educational editions, the license will
technically be invalid. In effect, you’ve pirated the software by obtaining it
without the proper license, even if you’ve have paid some money towards it.
If you’re interested in student software,
numerous online retailers sell it – Software 4 Students
(software4students.co.uk), Student Superstore (studentsuperstore.com, which
requires a digital copy of Student ID) and Student Expressware
(studentexpressware.co.uk), for example. It’s also available in campus shops.
