Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

Microsoft releases Outlook.com Premium in the U.S. for $20 a year until March 31

Mark Coppock
By

how to sync your Outlook calendar with an iPhone
Christian de Looper / Digital Trends
Microsoft’s Hotmail email service became Outlook.com in 2012, and since then the company has reworked it into arguably one of the best email services on the market. As a part of Microsoft’s Office 365 productivity platform, Outlook.com offers a full range of email, contact, calendar, and other capabilities to compete with services like Google’s Gmail.

Outlook.com has been going through a complete revision to its online experience, and Microsoft has been previewing a premium subscription that adds even more functionality. Now, Outlook.com Premium is officially available, although only to users in the United States, as Thurrott reports.

Recommended Videos

The Premium service offers the following features on top of Outlook.com’s basic offerings:

  • Ad-free inbox: You can now access your email, photos, and documents via the Outlook.com site without being bothered with banner advertising.
  • More personalized email: You can create completely customized email addresses for up to five users using your own domain name, such as “bob@bobandfamily.com.” If you already own a domain name, then you can use it with Premium as well. All of your custom email addresses can sync to your existing Outlook.com mailbox. This particular functionality is free for the first year, and you’ll need to own that domain name separately or pick a new one that can be purchased through GoDaddy.
  • Enhanced sharing: You can now share your Outlook.com calendar, contacts, and documents, with users sharing email addresses on your domain being automatically configured for sharing.

In addition, Outlook.com Premium users gain access to the same new inbox experience that’s being rolled out to all users through 2017. By now, you’re likely familiar with the new experience and should have a good idea of whether or not it meets your communications needs.

Premium subscriptions are currently available at the same $20 annual price that was in effect during the preview period, but that special pricing ends on March 31. After that, the price rises to $50 per year. If you’re a U.S. customer, you can sign up today.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Mark Coppock
Mark Coppock
Computing Writer
Mark has been a geek since MS-DOS gave way to Windows and the PalmPilot was a thing. He’s translated his love for…
How to apply and clean off thermal paste
Thermal paste application on CPU.

If you're building a computer, you need thermal paste, or heat paste, to ensure that your computer's processor doesn't overheat. It's a gloopy, silvery material that you squirt between the processor and the cooler to fill in all the micro cavities in their surfaces, which enables a more efficient transfer of heat from the processor to the cooler. The best thermal pastes work so well they let your processor run harder and faster, at lower temperatures, making your PC quieter in turn.

You need to replace the thermal interface material every few years, too, so if you haven't opened up your PC in a while, it might be time to give it a spring cleaning. Keep reading to learn how to apply heat paste and how to clean it. Plus, we'll go over other aspects of its use, such as how often you need to reapply it and if there are any alternatives to using heat paste.

Read more
How to check how much RAM you have on Windows and Mac
RAM installed in slots.

You can only know if you have enough RAM, if you know how to check how much you have. Fortunately, doing so is super quick and easy and then you can decide whether you want to upgrade your memory -- here's how to choose new memory sticks -- or whether you have enough for what you need to do.

You certainly don't need to buy more or new RAM just for the sake of it, and if you have enough for what you need, more memory won't make much difference anyway.

Read more
The real reason so many laptops have moved to soldered RAM
The Intel 12th-gen Mainboard upgrade for the Framework Laptop.

The completely redesigned Dell XPS 14 and 16 came out this year as two of the most divisive laptops in recent memory. No, it wasn't just the capacitive touch buttons or invisible trackpad that caused an uproar -- it also moved to soldered RAM. This was a big change from the past, where the XPS 15 and 17 were both celebrated for their upgradability.

Of course, Dell isn't the first to make the transition. In fact, they're one of the last, which is what makes the decision so much tougher to swallow. Where soldered RAM was previously limited to just MacBooks and ultrabooks, it's now affecting most high-performance laptops for gaming as well. Even the fantastic ROG Zephyrus G14 moved to soldered memory this year.

Read more