Unique shopping opportunity at MS
June 6, 2017 12:53 PM   Subscribe

How to make the best purchase at the MS employee store in Redmond?

Tomorrow (May 7th) I have a chance to visit and maybe purchase something(s) from the Microsoft company store at the headquarters in Redmond. These are the items exclusive to MS employees such as software/hardware. Any opinions/help as to what would be the best bang for my buck? A new surface tablet/book? Gaming? Other hardware? Any technically savvy help and suggestions appreciated. Info about me: I do have a surface pro 3. I game rarely and use mainly steam and a usb controller.
posted by alchemist to Shopping (4 answers total)
 
I have absolutely no information about what they have or discounts, but if it were me I'd look for Xbox One controllers on sale, particularly a neat color/design. It's a really nice controller.
posted by selfnoise at 1:33 PM on June 6, 2017


I worked for Microsoft for 2.5 years starting in 2012, and I don't recall there being exclusive employee / HQ versions of tech[*] items, or if there were, they didn't talk them up during orientation. My information may be stale!

[*] If you ever wanted Microsoft logo golf accessories and baby onesies, you're in luck!

My friend, who also worked at Microsoft around the same time, says he got a good deal on headphones ($5 off $25 purchase price), but that may have been with an employee discount.

(If you are meeting up with a friend who is an employee, I would go around drinking their coconut water and almond milk, which were definitely not part of the drinks fridge when I was there.)
posted by batter_my_heart at 1:54 PM on June 6, 2017


Best answer: Best bang for your buck are licenses for software. Office, MS Project, Windows etc., are hugely discounted for employees. The software is in small boxes in shelves in the area behind security and these days the boxes just have numbers in them for after you download, not actual software. The official deal is that these are for personal use only, not for resale or barter, so keep that in mind.

I've bought mice and keyboards back there but it's only really worth it if you like them. There may be some Surface accessories you'd use, but the hardware discounts aren't that great. Software is where it's at. Before I left the company I bought a copy of Office for Mac and I didn't even own a Mac -- yet.
posted by girlhacker at 5:12 PM on June 6, 2017 [3 favorites]


If you can get a better than retail deal on a Surface Pro 4 keyboard, buy that. It's far, far better than the SP3 keyboard.
posted by cnc at 9:45 AM on June 7, 2017


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