Laptop with Win 7 or Win 8 downgradable to 7

Hello there,

I need a laptop and all I see in market are Windows 8 laptops. I need this for my Office purpose, however, my office apps are not compatible with Win 8.

Could you please recommend me a laptop, which is with Win 7 (OR) a Win 8 laptop, which can be downgraded to Win 7 with no issues?

Thanks you all.

Pretty much any computer that comes with windows 8 pro installed can be downgraded to windows 7 just by installing windows 7 over it and then calling microsoft to get it activated. Here is an article with several links about it: Link [lifehacker.com]

You might save a bit by getting a notebook with Windows 7 Home Premium because you won't have to spend the $70 to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro so you can downgrade to Windows 7 Pro. Lots of companies are still offering Windows 7.

Look in the Dell Outlet, especially on the business side, and you will find plenty of Windows 7 laptops with the same warranty as new.

http://www.dell.com/us/dfb/p/laptops

Quote from viziotelevision : Hello there, I need a laptop and all I see in market are Windows 8 laptops. I need this for my Office purpose, however, my office apps are not compatible with Win 8. Could you please recommend me a laptop, which is with Win 7 (OR) a Win 8 laptop, which can be downgraded to Win 7 with no issues? Thanks you all.

Are you quite sure that the apps you want to use are not compatible with 8?
As best as I know, any and all programs that work in 7, also work in 8.
Downgrading an 8 machine is a nightmare most of the time, and lots of Win 8 laptops have hardware for which there are no 7 drivers, thus you are left with a crippled machine after downgrading.
I don't know if you are aware that Win 8 can be made to look and function like 7, in 5 minutes flat, so if you have been misinformed about

Quote : my office apps are not compatible with Win 8.

,
then you could go ahead and buy any model that suits you and we can give you the very short and easy instructions for modifying 8 to run like 7.

As previously mentioned, try the Dell outlet or anything from their business line will still have the option of Windows 7. Really, you can buy any Windows 8 laptop and downgrade it as long as the manufacturer has drivers for Windows 7.

Quote from RockySosua : As best as I know, any and all programs that work in 7, also work in 8.

The second app I tried to install when testing Win 8 failed to install. It was a VPN client app that works perfectly on Win 7.

Heck, there are even plenty of apps that don't even work properly with Win 7 unless you provide the user with Admin privs. Even some simple stuff like Adobe Reader and Java updates prompt for privs. PowerChute software for UPS systems from APC is another that won't open without privs. And in a typical office environment there are plenty of users that should NEVER have admin privs. So yeah, I expect there will be a lot of stuff that won't work properly on Win 8 for years to come.

(Don't even get me started on why (what should be) a simple PDF reader app requires a system reboot after it is updated.) I'm looking right at you, Adobe!

Quote from HarryH3 : The second app I tried to install when testing Win 8 failed to install. It was a VPN client app that works perfectly on Win 7. Heck, there are even plenty of apps that don't even work properly with Win 7 unless you provide the user with Admin privs. Even some simple stuff like Adobe Reader and Java updates prompt for privs. PowerChute software for UPS systems from APC is another that won't open without privs. And in a typical office environment there are plenty of users that should NEVER have admin privs. So yeah, I expect there will be a lot of stuff that won't work properly on Win 8 for years to come. (Don't even get me started on why (what should be) a simple PDF reader app requires a system reboot after it is updated.) I'm looking right at you, Adobe!

Yes all updates should require admin privileges. You don't want the user updating software on their own. And most apps work fine with out admin rights, in a business environment I have almost never seen apps that require admin rights for normal usage.

As for the reboot that is normal with most updates because adobe/java/office/windows have processes running 24-7 even if the application is not open. Though most of the times the update will be applied even if the computer is not restarted. But to be %100 sure you need to reboot the pc, plus you got those users who never restart their pc (me) and if they have something like adobe open the entire time its just a big hole waiting for someone to find.

Quote from viziotelevision : Hello there, I need a laptop and all I see in market are Windows 8 laptops. I need this for my Office purpose, however, my office apps are not compatible with Win 8. Could you please recommend me a laptop, which is with Win 7 (OR) a Win 8 laptop, which can be downgraded to Win 7 with no issues? Thanks you all.

I would recommend buying a Win7 laptop from a seller with good rep on Ebay. There are plenty to choose from. Buy new or used. All you really need is four gigs of ram and a dual-core cpu. I would sell you my Windows 7 install dvd if you wanted it. But there are plenty of those available on Ebay as well.

Right now I am using a Thinkpad R60 I bought on Ebay. Very happy with it, although I doubt it would be suitable for your purpose, which is Windows 7.

Quote from mrbobhcrhs : Yes all updates should require admin privileges. You don't want the user updating software on their own. And most apps work fine with out admin rights, in a business environment I have almost never seen apps that require admin rights for normal usage. As for the reboot that is normal with most updates because adobe/java/office/windows have processes running 24-7 even if the application is not open. Though most of the times the update will be applied even if the computer is not restarted. But to be %100 sure you need to reboot the pc, plus you got those users who never restart their pc (me) and if they have something like adobe open the entire time its just a big hole waiting for someone to find.

Well, you have fun with that when you have 50-100 systems to update every month (or for Java, it seems to be weekly lately!) Small businesses that don't have domains and software distribution servers have to do all those updates manually. Office updates itself just fine without admin privs, why can't Adobe and Java?

Reboots should only be required for processes that are part of Windows, or are pretending to be, and simply can't be stopped and reloaded without causing major system problems. Lots of apps that are far more complex than Adobe Reader can shut down any running instances of themselves and/or background services, update the required files, restart any services and continue on their merry way without requiring a system restart. All Adobe Reader has to do is let the user read a freakin' PDF file. It shouldn't need hooks into system files to do that. Alternative PDF readers, like Foxit Reader can update themselves just fine without a reboot.

OP, the easiest way to get a latop with Win 7 pre-installed is to go directly to the manufacturers website. Pretty much everything that you find in a store now is going to have Win 8 on it and most consumer-grade systems don't come with a free downgrade right anyway.

You will find the best selection of systems with Win 7 by looking at laptops aimed at the business market. For example, if you go to http://www.dell..com and look at their small business laptops and then select Windows 7 in the Operating System section on the left, you'll find 120 laptops with Windows 7. Here's a link:

http://www.dell.com/us/soho/p/lap...791344&p=1

Most businesses have zero interest in Windows 8. The learning curve for all of their employees plus the cost of testing their apps and fixing the ones that don't work is something they don't want to deal with. Heck, a large number of businesses are still running Windows XP. It works and it's paid for. Many business owners and managers are well aware that all expenses come straight out of the bottom line and behave accordingly. Anyway, this is why you'll find more OS options in the business-class laptops.

Quote from HarryH3 : Well, you have fun with that when you have 50-100 systems to update every month (or for Java, it seems to be weekly lately!) Small businesses that don't have domains and software distribution servers have to do all those updates manually. Office updates itself just fine without admin privs, why can't Adobe and Java? Reboots should only be required for processes that are part of Windows, or are pretending to be, and simply can't be stopped and reloaded without causing major system problems. Lots of apps that are far more complex than Adobe Reader can shut down any running instances of themselves and/or background services, update the required files, restart any services and continue on their merry way without requiring a system restart. All Adobe Reader has to do is let the user read a freakin' PDF file. It shouldn't need hooks into system files to do that. Alternative PDF readers, like Foxit Reader can update themselves just fine without a reboot.

With that many systems you should spend the $5k on setting AD network.

Wusus and sscm are not that hard... Also enjoy adding / removing accounts from those PC's every week.

Quote from HarryH3 : Well, you have fun with that when you have 50-100 systems to update every month (or for Java, it seems to be weekly lately!) Small businesses that don't have domains and software distribution servers have to do all those updates manually. Office updates itself just fine without admin privs, why can't Adobe and Java?

Office doesn't update itself without admin privileges. Microsoft designed it so that the update is handled with admin privileges without user intervention.

Why can't you give all users admin privileges anyway? My company has tons of users spread across the globe and everyone has admin privileges. We get along just fine.

Quote : Reboots should only be required for processes that are part of Windows, or are pretending to be, and simply can't be stopped and reloaded without causing major system problems. Lots of apps that are far more complex than Adobe Reader can shut down any running instances of themselves and/or background services, update the required files, restart any services and continue on their merry way without requiring a system restart. All Adobe Reader has to do is let the user read a freakin' PDF file. It shouldn't need hooks into system files to do that. Alternative PDF readers, like Foxit Reader can update themselves just fine without a reboot.

AR probably is using a shared library that is in use by another program, possibly Windows itself, that can't be updated. Windows provides programmers the ability to figure out who has a DLL in use and then the program could ask the user if they want to shut the other program down. However, this takes:

- Design
- Architecture
- Programming
- Test
- Documentation
- Support

All on a free program. Guess where Adobe's priorities lie...?

Quote from redmaxx : Office doesn't update itself without admin privileges. Microsoft designed it so that the update is handled with admin privileges without user intervention. Why can't you give all users admin privileges anyway? My company has tons of users spread across the globe and everyone has admin privileges. We get along just fine. AR probably is using a shared library that is in use by another program, possibly Windows itself, that can't be updated. Windows provides programmers the ability to figure out who has a DLL in use and then the program could ask the user if they want to shut the other program down. However, this takes: - Design - Architecture - Programming - Test - Documentation - Support All on a free program. Guess where Adobe's priorities lie...?

I feel bad for you and your IT peeps! And from a security perspective all I can say is wow!