You need to purchase another license for Windows 7. Windows 7 has reached end of sales and a license is getting difficult to come by.
Moreover Microsoft are going to make both Windows 7 and 8.1 obsolete come late summer and autoupdate them both to Windows 10 for free. Windows 10 fixes many of Windows 8 problems.
Therefore there is very little point in going through the hassle to purchase and install Windows 7.
I advise following the steps here to make Windows 8.1 usable and hold off until Windows 10:
I've only tried it with Office 2010 and not Office 2007. It should run both however it is still incomplete and theres no telling if Microsoft will change something to make it incompatible.
At current most software which works on Windows 7 and 8.1 will work on Windows 10 but badly written software which spends a lot of time in the Windows registry etc. may not work perfectly.
Related question: Considering replacing my Inspiron 1720 with an Inspiron 17 7000, but from all I've read and seen I don't like the overall look and feel of Win 8.1.
Not knowing anything about the reliability or look of Win 10, I don't believe coming out with Win 10 is going to obsolete anything.
Assuming for a moment that one has a full copy of Win7 64, with product key, are there any hardware/driver/software issues that would prevent me from, upon receipt of the new machine, reformatting the drive and doing a clean Win 7 install?
Its a waste of time and money to purchase a Windows 7 license for a Windows 8.1 system. Both Windows 7 and 8.1 will autoupdate to Windows 10 in late summer so why pay for 2 Windows licenses?
You are best to customise the default settings of Windows 8.1 to make it usable:
And yes you will have difficulty obtaining the correct system drivers for the downgrade, Dell are no longer providing Windows 7 drivers for most new Inspiron systems:
If you are insistent on downgrading a Windows 8.1 system to Windows 7 then get a Latitude. New Latitudes still have Windows 7 drivers. You can check the Dell FTP website for drivers before purchasing.
Philip_Yip
9 Legend
•
16.1K Posts
0
March 8th, 2015 17:00
You need to purchase another license for Windows 7. Windows 7 has reached end of sales and a license is getting difficult to come by.
Moreover Microsoft are going to make both Windows 7 and 8.1 obsolete come late summer and autoupdate them both to Windows 10 for free. Windows 10 fixes many of Windows 8 problems.
Therefore there is very little point in going through the hassle to purchase and install Windows 7.
I advise following the steps here to make Windows 8.1 usable and hold off until Windows 10:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/a-clean-install-of-windows/a-clean-install-of-windows-8-1/customising-windows-8-1/
Philip_Yip
9 Legend
•
16.1K Posts
0
March 8th, 2015 18:00
It is all Windows 8.1 and all Windows 7 users who will get the upgrade to Windows 10 for free:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7he2uiYFDWc
KenC46
4 Posts
0
March 8th, 2015 18:00
It is my understanding that only those with Windows 8 Pro would be updated to 10 for free. Have you heard that?
KenC46
4 Posts
0
March 8th, 2015 20:00
Phillip
Thanks. Do you know whether 10 will still run MS Office 7 and other softwares?
Philip_Yip
9 Legend
•
16.1K Posts
0
March 9th, 2015 04:00
I've only tried it with Office 2010 and not Office 2007. It should run both however it is still incomplete and theres no telling if Microsoft will change something to make it incompatible.
At current most software which works on Windows 7 and 8.1 will work on Windows 10 but badly written software which spends a lot of time in the Windows registry etc. may not work perfectly.
KenC46
4 Posts
1
March 9th, 2015 21:00
Thanks for your feedback. Guess I'll wait for "10".
alocksley
10 Posts
0
March 17th, 2015 18:00
Related question: Considering replacing my Inspiron 1720 with an Inspiron 17 7000, but from all I've read and seen I don't like the overall look and feel of Win 8.1.
Not knowing anything about the reliability or look of Win 10, I don't believe coming out with Win 10 is going to obsolete anything.
Assuming for a moment that one has a full copy of Win7 64, with product key, are there any hardware/driver/software issues that would prevent me from, upon receipt of the new machine, reformatting the drive and doing a clean Win 7 install?
Thanks.
Philip_Yip
9 Legend
•
16.1K Posts
0
March 18th, 2015 06:00
Its a waste of time and money to purchase a Windows 7 license for a Windows 8.1 system. Both Windows 7 and 8.1 will autoupdate to Windows 10 in late summer so why pay for 2 Windows licenses?
You are best to customise the default settings of Windows 8.1 to make it usable:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/a-clean-install-of-windows/a-clean-install-of-windows-8-1/customising-windows-8-1/
And yes you will have difficulty obtaining the correct system drivers for the downgrade, Dell are no longer providing Windows 7 drivers for most new Inspiron systems:
http://downloads.dell.com/published/pages/inspiron-17-7737.html
If you are insistent on downgrading a Windows 8.1 system to Windows 7 then get a Latitude. New Latitudes still have Windows 7 drivers. You can check the Dell FTP website for drivers before purchasing.