Windows 10: Microsoft launches Easy Trade Up scheme that will pay people to upgrade laptop

UK customers can get up to £100 if they buy a new Microsoft model

Microsoft wants to buy your old laptop (so you buy its new one) (Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images)

In order to get people hooked on its new Windows 10 operating system, Microsoft has launched a ‘limited-time-only’ promotion in which they will buy your old laptop so long as you buy their new one.

The Easy Trade Up scheme, which runs until October 27, means UK customers can claim up to £100 by trading up to one of the latest £500 Microsoft machines.

If you spend less than that, you get less in return; a purchase of between £350 and £499 nets you £50 for your old computer; and spending between £250 and £349 means you’re entitled to £30 for your existing machine.

Here's how much you can get (via Microsoft) (Microsoft)

To be eligible for the deal, trade-in machines must meet a set of criteria — they have to be in working condition, undamaged, less than six years old, and if they’re laptops or ChromeBooks then they have to have a display of at least 11.3 inches.

And then of course there’s the purchase, which has to be one of the brand new Windows 10 products such as the Surface 3, notebook, two-in-one or desktop.

Surface Pro 3, Windows Pro, phones, tablets and all-in-ones are off the table.

The promotion is also running in the US, for a shorter even more limited time but with larger cashback and greater range of eligible items, and in Canada, Brazil, France, Germany and Taiwan.

Microsoft have previously used this a sales strategy so some success, having incentivised iPad-to-Surface swaps, PS3-to-XBox One trades, and MacBook Air-to-Surface Pro 3 exchanges.