There is little doubt that the preferable choice would be to use the resource available from the manufacturer if available.
Anything you download can be suspect - you take your chances. Most such things have reviews (which can be false too of course) and other ways to help make a judgment. I have original copies of oem windows 7 and xp home edition, which I have used to do fresh installs on PC’s with existing product keys, as well as an oem version of XP Pro that I downloaded and used for a Dell we had with an XP Pro product key. I have no reason to believe it was doctored with malware.
If you are a college student or know one, you can also get Windows 7 Professional Upgrade for $29 (downloadable) direct from Microsoft and the authentic install DVD for another $5 to $10. This ought to be easier to deal with than an OEM key or a SLP auto-activated disc.
You can install it over the existing OS on your new laptop (if it doesn’t already have 7) or you can install XP from an old disc and then immediately put 7 over it.
What’s really cool about Windows 7 (and even Vista) is that you can 100% legally copy the install disk to a USB drive for installation purposes.
That said, the old way to deal with this was to get an OEM copy of the exact version of Windows you already used. It can even be a burnt CD. As long as it’s OEM, your code should work. As far as I know, Microsoft doesn’t make special codes for special companies. And laptop support people are known to be mistaken or to lie.
And while you’ve done this before, I cannot leave without reminding you to make sure you have the driver pack (usually available at your laptop manufacturers website) before you reinstall. Laptops (and even some desktops) often have proprietary drivers.
The aspect of this that I’ve been concerned about is Sony telling me specifically that they will provide a disc to recover the OS to factory shipment standard only, ie. all thier bloatware. When I asked about re-installing with my own disc and the keycode that they provide for the laptop, the response was very clear: “it will NOT work”. They only license the “sony delivered version” (my words) of the OS.
Maybe Dell doesnt limit the OS in this way, but I looked for specifically this point on thier site for 60+ minutes with no success and then got no clear answer from their useless chat session. Nevertheless, skipping through the Dell website looking for the ballpark specifications that I’m interested in has me running more than $200 over what Sony wants for the same class machine (15-16" 1920x1080 display, GeForce w/1Gb, and the i7 processor). When it came to HP and Lenovo, I couldnt even figure out how to option out a machine with a 1080p display and good graphic card.
The good news is that if I up the OS to Win7 Pro, I can get the “Fresh Start” function from Sony that Patty O mentioned earlier, meaning a recovery disc that is only the OS and nothing else. I think they’ve almost got me sold.
I did the reinstall referenced earlier in this thread on an Acer Aspire. If you are in the market for a new lappie, go with a mfg that is more or less “industry standard” rather than something like Sony which is “customized”. Besides Acer, there is MSI, Asus and a host of others.