With the fall semester just around the corner, Best Buy and Microsoft is offering a program in which a student can purchase a Windows 7 laptop and get a free Microsoft Xbox 360. This is a great offer for students who are in the market for a new laptop and is a great way for Best Buy to boost laptop sales.

Best Buy has recently introduced a new program in coordination with Microsoft, in which students can receive a free Microsoft Xbox 360 with a purchase of a laptop installed with Microsoft’s new Windows 7. This new program is a great way to boost sales of the more expensive laptops that come with Windows 7. The deal behind this program is that students enrolled in higher education classes can use their student email address(must be a valid .edu address) or valid student I.D.( yes,this means middle school, high school, and college students, so long as they can provide a valid school I.D.) to receive a promotion code for a $199.99 4GB Xbox 360. The other end of this deal is that a student must purchase a Windows 7 installed laptop that is $699.99 or higher to earn this discount. Best Buy does provide a listing of 36 different laptops that are qualified for the promotion. The laptops do range quite a bit in price and brands to give the student a good selection of great laptops to choose from. The prices range from $749.99 to $1799.99 and the brands include: GammaTech, ASUS, Dell, HP, Samsung, Lenovo, Sony, Rain, Acer, and Toshiba. All of these laptops from bottom up are great selections and all of them are rather powerful laptops and notebooks for excellent use for all academic applications. Once the student has selected their laptop they can go to checkout(be it online or by store) and go get a Microsoft 4GB Xbox 360. For the online store Best Buy has made it easy with their online selection to add the Xbox to your cart. For in-store purchases a sales associate is sure to be able to help you. Once you are a checkout the promotion code will take effect thus eliminating the $199.99 from your purchase. This does not take away taxes as the promotion still adds the actual Xbox to your cart as being purchased.

In the end this is a wonderful promotion from Microsoft. It is also not limited to just Best Buy as you can go to several different sites including Microsoft and HP amongst others to receive this promotion. Though Best Buy does have the best rundown of the complete listing of the laptops that qualify for the free Xbox 360. The only real downfall of this program is the version of the Xbox 360 you are receiving. This version is only a 4GB(the hard drive) version and comes with only the bare essentials to run the Xbox(1 controller, AV wires). This means you would have to purchase a game and an HDMI cord (for High Definition 1080p output) and any other accessories that you wanted. This version does come with built in Wi-Fi capabilities and as with all new Xboxes, a free 1 month membership to Xbox Live. If you are in the market for a new generation laptop this is an outstanding deal that shouldn’t be passed up no matter the version of the Xbox. This promotion runs through September 22nd 2011 and started the May 22nd. One has to wonder if this is not only a ploy to sell more Windows 7 laptops, but also to push existing Xbox 360s out the door in preparation of Microsoft’s much anticipated Xbox 720.