XPS 420 Dimension Windows 8

Hi hankanen,

That appears to be the most recent version.

thanks for your reply; I was afraid that would be the case. I would have thought that a newer version would have been made.

Thanks for your reply, appreciate it and for the clarification of its purpose.

Dell won't update such an old system to support Windows 8 and UEFI/Secure Boot.

They won't even release the update for the XPS 8300 or XPS 8100 despite the systems having a lot of similar hardware to the supported XPS 8500.

Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 should have the same system requirements however.

I think DELL should support machines that are a minimum of 5 years old to a point.

However. having said that I have been running windows 8 for about 6 moths now with no issues, i was hoping to take 8.1 our for a test drive but perhaps not! when I bought the system it came with VISTA Ultimate 32 bit, although it will run as 64bit, I then upgraded it to Windows 7 and all was good, then to Windows 8 pro+media centre and all is still good.

i agree, they cant keep changing system requirments with each release/upgrade.

Wait until the final version of 8.1 comes out. I have the 64 bit version on a separate hard drive on my 420 and it's fine, but the final version will be more a finished product and will preserve your current files and settings. The bios was not a problem especially using the iso file burned to dvd. You should however install the 64 bit version of windows 8 if you have not done that already. The 420 can run it You would have to download and burn the win 8  iso file to dvd to switch to 64bits. You have to have a dvd burning program available since win 8 doesn't have one. Directions to download the win 8 installation again: windows.microsoft.com/.../upgrade-product-key-only

I have a Dell XPS 420 as well.  It is running Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) like a champ, but I am considering upgrading to Windows 8.1 Pro (64-bit).  This article explains why some Core 2 Quads (such as my Q6600) and their motherboards (such as Intel DP35DP) a won't work with a required instruction set: "Compare Exchange 128 CMPXCHG16b".  LINK: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2058683/new-windows-8-1-requirements-strand-some-users-on-windows-8.html

Windows 8.1 requires this instruction set, but Windows 8 didn't, leaving some machines stranded without the possibility of upgrading.

So, will my Dell XPS 420 support Windows 8.1?  I would rather not buy it and try it to find out it doesn't work...  Thanks for your support.

Install a Q9300. (You can buy one on eBay for under $100.) The Q9300 supports the instruction you reference.

For the record, I have been using 8.1 for a couple of months now and the UI is clunky. Unless you have a compelling reason for updating, I suggest staying with 7 and saving your money.

The "unsupported" CPUs can run Windows 8.1 32-bit as far as I know; it's the 64-bit version that's incompatible.

Give the enterprise trial a spin:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/evalcenter/hh699156.aspx?ocid=wc-mscom-ent 

That way you will get 90 days to determine how well Windows 8.1 works with your system.

I have successfully upgraded to windows 8.1 from the 'Store' with absolutely  no issues...this far anyway.  I did have to reinstall a few minor apps but no big deal. I am however having some minor issues with the audio cutting out after an update and I have to uninstall the drivers and the system reloads them and all is well again. Good luck.