# Want to buy a laptop this week. Possible to buy a Win10 machine and a Win7 disc to overwrite the OS?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-buy-a-laptop-this-week-possible-to-buy-a-win10-machine-and-a-win7-disc-to-overwrite-the-os/738615>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 26, 2015, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-buy-a-laptop-this-week-possible-to-buy-a-win10-machine-and-a-win7-disc-to-overwrite-the-os/738615 "2015-11-26T09:40:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-buy-a-laptop-this-week-possible-to-buy-a-win10-machine-and-a-win7-disc-to-overwrite-the-os/738615/1 "2015-11-26T09:40:20Z")

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We’re looking to pick up a work laptop in the BF/CM sales. For a host of reasons (privacy, security, usability, etc.), we’re **not** going to have a Windows 10 machine in the house and office until LTS runs out on Win 7 in four years.

There are some laptops out there that will ship with Win 7, but the choices are somewhat sparse. Getting a Win 10 machine on sale may offset the cost of buying a Win 7 install disc.

Is there any way to check laptop components/chipsets ahead of time to see if Win 7 drivers are available?

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**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-buy-a-laptop-this-week-possible-to-buy-a-win10-machine-and-a-win7-disc-to-overwrite-the-os/738615/2 "2015-11-26T10:12:52Z")

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> [@Rhythmdvl](#):
>
> We’re looking to pick up a work laptop in the BF/CM sales. For a host of reasons (privacy, security, usability, etc.), we’re **not** going to have a Windows 10 machine in the house and office until LTS runs out on Win 7 in four years.
> 
> There are some laptops out there that will ship with Win 7, but the choices are somewhat sparse. Getting a Win 10 machine on sale may offset the cost of buying a Win 7 install disc.
> 
> Is there any way to check laptop components/chipsets ahead of time to see if Win 7 drivers are available?

It’s extremely unlikely that the same drivers won’t work on both. The only driver change is in video, and all the video card producers still have Windows 7 drivers available.

There are sometimes problems going the other way, but I’ve never heard of anyone having trouble downgrading. The driver formats haven’t changed–they only have problems on Windows 10 because it’s rather buggy.

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**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-buy-a-laptop-this-week-possible-to-buy-a-win10-machine-and-a-win7-disc-to-overwrite-the-os/738615/3 "2015-11-26T11:43:29Z")

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Thanks. Kind of makes sense—Win 10 is fairly new, so OS-specific hardware is still in the works.

Has there been any word of marketing-department imposed limitations? As in something like “_Hey Dell, if you want a discount on Win 10 preinstalls, you’ll have to add a version check in BIOS (or whatever’s technically feasible) and crap out if any other OS is installed_.”

Couple other possible issues–having only experience with building desktops where I have a lot more control, will I be able to format the drive and install Win 7 just as I’m used to? Install with an external DVD drive?

I guess it’s straying into IMHO territory, but will the downgrade process be more trouble than it’s worth (‘worth’ as in not buying a Win-7 machine, not ‘worth’ as in staying with Win 10). Or will it be pretty similar to building a new desktop from scratch?