what software comes with xps 8700

Well, the XPS 8700 comes with a drivers disk and that's about it. The Product Key is supposed to be in the BIOS and when you do a install, the OS does a hash check on your hardware, compares it to the encrypted hash in the BIOS and then uses the Product Key in the BIOS. However, I found it to be in error.

The only thing the computer came with was a driver's disk. It came preloaded with the normal junk like McAfee and Cyberlink, and Microsoft Office 2013 starter.

Most important to create a recovery disk as soon as your get the computer, cause that's how you are supposed to reinstall the OS according to Dell. Dell support and I went around and around about this, cause I tried to do a clean install and the Product Key was not in the BIOS like it should be. When you are in Windows 8, you can run something like ProduKey, Belarc Advisor, etc, and it will generate a Product Key from the Product ID that is in your registry. I asked Dell how I was supposed to do a clean install without a Product Key in the BIOS and 2 "supervisors" told me to buy a retail key.

I was able to do a clean install on a new HDD from a Microsoft Windows 8 disk, and it asked for the key on installation. I used the key I had found using ProduKey and it accepted it. However, when I tried to activate it, it failed activation. I talked to Dell about this and a conference call was sent up with Microsoft Activation. The key I used was genuine, but because it was "tied to the hardware" (read hard drive), I could only activate it on the original hard drive. Microsoft gave me the opportunity to activate it on the 2nd HDD but generally I had to go through Dell cause they are OEM. While I understand the limitations, Microsoft agreed with me that the Product Key should be in the MSDM table in the BIOS (and it wasn't).

I ended up telling Dell their installation of the Product Key was faulty/computer was faulty/BIOS faulty. A replacement computer was ordered. However, a real problem occurs when you go over the 21 day return period. 21 days came and I decided to return the original computer and get all my money back. If I had accepted the 2nd computer (which arrived 5 days later) I would not have been able to return the 2nd computer if there was a problem with it. I had to get it fixed according to Dell support. The countdown to return a computer starts with the original ship date of the first computer only.

In returning the 1st computer, I tried to do a factory recovery/reset, but it failed at 27%. I wiped the HDD and sent the computer back.

The XPS 8700 is a fair computer, a bit overpriced because of the quality. Windows 8 activation OA3.0 sucks.

Am still looking for another computer; don't know if I would buy another XPS 8700 because of Dell method of activation of the Product Key, etc, etc, etc..

You can get a reinstallation disk if you request from Dell Tech Support. Talk to them on the phone though.

Stay with Windows 7, unless you want/need Windows 8 is my suggestion.