Windows 7 Acquisition and Usage in 2016

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Mar 19, 2016
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Windows 7 Acquisition and Usage in 2016

I'm working on a plan to purchase a pre-built Windows machine in the next 3-4 weeks. Years ago, I would have built something from scratch, but have been out of the game for almost 15 years and just don't have it in me to go that route.

After revewing plenty of "prospective" pre-builts, I have a lot of "general" questions. Here is my Windows 7 question.

I hate Windows 8, and don't really like Windows 10. Because I work from home and want a stable OS that I can navigate as a power user, I want to run Windows 7 Professional grade OS, or even Windows 7 Ultimate, should I be so lucky to aqcuire.

Most of the machines I have been looking at come with either Windows 8 or 10, and my plan is buy a crappy 1 license version of Windows 7 to install in place of what comes on the machine I buy. I'm aware that at this point, an OEM install is probably unavoidable.

So my question is, what are the pitfalls of installing (or downgrading to) Windows 7 on these newer machines.

I don't think it really matters, but here are some specifics of the type of machine I am looking to buy and also upgrade:

Ram: at least 12 gigs out of the box
Video - 2 video cards, probably going to be NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or something in that general range
CPU: Intel Core i5 or i7

Machine Usage: Medium to Heavy (Video Streaming, Photoshop, Video Rendering, some medium end Gaming) Machine will be turned on and very active 16 hours a day. I don't need to a machine to play the very latest high end games, but I'd like to be able to play some of the titles that I keep hearing about. Skyrim, maybe?

I'd appreciate any feedback you all here on Toms Forum can provide. I'm savvy, but haven't a purchased a new machine since 2006.
 
Solution
You have two options regarding windows as I see it:
1: have the PC manufacturer install win7 pro
2: if they will not then get Win10 Pro. This version of windows can be downgraded to w2in7 pro. TY Microsoft Downgrade Rights

edit - price will probably be nearly identical
Thanks for the 2nd reply to my questions, Popatim. I notice you do not state anything regarding buying a Windows 7 disk. Is there some reason why you did not state anything related to that? Price have dropped somewhat, and Amazon usually has a deal going.

My biggest concern is that I don't run want to run into a problem when I wipe the HD of this pre-built I plan on buying, only to find Windows 7 doesn't recognize all the Ram or some other weird thing I can't anticipate because I haven't done much of this sort of thing in recent years.

I did recently re-install Windows 7 on my current machine, but that's diff because it's an HP machine, and I ordered re-install disks for this machine directly from HP. Came with a ton of crapware, but that's simple enough to deal with.
 
Well, you're right, there's that option as well but why spend money twice. Unless the manufacturer will sell you a "No-OS" system you'll be buying two copies of windows. Theirs and the Retail one. That is entirely up to you, I'm just a cheapskate. LoL