Electronics

[purrmom]

If I bought a laptop with Windows 8 could it be changed back to Windows 7?

[stevieb]

It can, but you might as well get used to 8. I'd venture the guess that most of what Windows introduces down the road, until their next big OS change, will be based on what's current now.

[Iambeezer]

Yeah as long as you buy a full version of windows 7 and then it will wipe your entire drive, you will lose everything unless you backed up and probably being a newer computer you will have issues with drivers.

[Nuttmeg]

You can still find a few computers running Windows 7. Dell sells them on their web site.

[NYC Susan]

I was told at Best Buy that computers with Windows 7 are still available, but have to be ordered.

I hated Windows 8 at first, but got used to it pretty fast. I have 8.1 now, and I'm happy even though I typically go kicking & screaming into any kind of change.

[JavaQueen]

This is generally response people have to Win8. If they don't know anything about computers or Windows tablets and phones, they love. It's a pain to do real work. Not browsing, email and consuming media. That's Ok.

If you have to switch around windows quickly, it's not geared for work. If you think about if, office computers and laptops don't have touchscreens and you're trying to manipulate with a mouse. Here's the irony. No one really wants Windows tablets and phones. Apple is the gold standard. Yet like it or not, we live in a Windows world.

What I hate is the embedding of flash and no easy way to upgrade. You are stuck. You have to fiddle with filtering and add ons. I added Classic Shell and the only I can see videos is using that browser with Classic Shell.

I don't think it would be possible to do a successful clean install of Win7. There is also the issue of drivers.

[ChynnaBlue]

I do think a successful clean install of Windows 7 is possible, but you'll be paying for Windows 8 and not using it, which seems a waste. You'll also need to buy a copy of Win7 if you don't have your own install CD (and you could run into licensing issues if you do have a CD you've used on an older system).

I've had to reinstall an OS on a computer before and install an OS on a brand new computer I built myself and the process was pretty much the same. When I reinstalled my old OS, there was a newer version available, but I didn't get it because the computer had issues and it would be a waste. (Also, the new OS then was Vista.) I installed the old OS and went online to find drivers for everything and it was fine. When I built my new computer, I installed the older OS on that one, too. (I still didn't want Vista because... Vista.) Again, I went online and updated all the drivers when I finished. It wasn't very difficult, but I've updated a lot of drivers.

Maybe someone with more experience will have better info, but in my experience, it's definitely possible. The real issue is, to me, do you want to pay an operating system you won't use, do you have access to a Win7 install CD, and do you feel comfortable doing your own install or do you want the additional expense of paying someone else to do it for you?

If you're not tech savvy enough to do it yourself, you're spending quite a bit of extra money to do this and it seems like a waste. It would be easier to find a computer with Win7 on it and might be easier to lean Win8 if you can't do that.

[IamDoodles]

If you want Windows 7 why not just buy a computer with Windows 7 installed? You can easily order one directly from the manufacturer-I've seen them at the Toshiba, Samsung, Dell, Lenovo websites. Build your own computer directly at these sites and get exactly what you want. It seems a bit silly to buy a computer with Windows 8 if Windows 7 is really what you want. Tiger Direct also carries Windows 7 computers. I'm sure there are others too.

[toria]

My new laptop has windows eight and I do not like it. I put all the icons for the sites I use on my "desktop" view. Then when I go on I just click on the desktop view tile and voila, I bypass all the windows eight stuff and go right to my little icons which I click on like before.

[PattySC]

I work for an electronic retailer, and we have people often wanting to purchase Windows 7 because they do not like Widows 8 so you could try that. Last year I had to purchase a new computer for my work from home job, and it came with Windows 8. The disc that I must use to work off of for the company, Windows 8 would not allow me to work off of that disc. Tech-support at the computer store where I purchased it tried their best to make it work, but they could not get it to work, so, they allowed me to return it was a full refund. I had to search for a computer with Windows 7, and I only was able to locate one computer in the entire large city where I live. I am just letting you know that the computers that were already loaded with Windows 7 were hard to find even a year ago. HTH and good luck!