support for windows 8

When Dell say they don't support Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 on a system it essentially means they won't bother to release newer drivers for it.

It doesn't mean that it won't work with Windows 8.1.... I have got many much older systems to work with Windows 7 and 8.1 and made unofficial driver sets for them. Moreover WIndows 8.1 has a vast native driver support.

In the case of systems where Dell released Windows 7 drivers, they will work for Windows 8.1 there are a few exceptions however where you may want to look for newer drivers, see my notes here:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/driver-sets/#Win7

I would advise installing the Windows 8.1 Enterprise evaluation with a clean install:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-microsoft-windows-and-office/download-microsoft-windows/download-windows-8-1-enterprise-iso-90-day-trial/

This will give you 90 days to assess how well your system runs on Windows 8.1. I would also recommend upgrading your system to a Solid State Drive for optimal performance. If not you can revert back to Windows 7, see my Windows Reinstallation Guide/A Clean Install of Windows for more details:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/a-clean-install-of-windows/

Thanks.

I have gone through your post and tried it.

I own Win 8.1 Professional, which I installed on my laptop (Dell Inspiron N5010) and I found out that some essential features(according to me) are not working. For instance Bluetooth is not showing up, inspite of trying all the methods described on Internet. I could not see my wireless printer neither I can make my laptop a hot spot. Display drivers are not available either. And there is no workaround unfortunately, none of the suggestions worked for me.

Because of all these problems that hinders my everyday work I reverted back to Win 7.

Any chance Dell will ever release official drivers or its abandoned forever?

I want to use Win8 on my laptop as its really fast and fluid specially the start up. Also I have invested in buying this OS.

For the Bluetooth (Dell Wireless 365) the Broadcom Bluetooth Update should work:

http://www.broadcom.com/support/bluetooth/update.php

For the Video you should be able to get the drivers direct from Intel and AMD or use the ones provided at LeshCatLabs.net