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Looking for a laptop running windows 7

  • 12-02-2015 5:47pm
    #1
    IrishWelshCelt
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 317 ✭✭


    Hi lads some help needed please. I really hate windows 8 and am hoping it's possible to get one with 7 on it. Is it still possible to get a new laptop with 7?

    Ideally it'd cost around €400-450. My recently deceased laptop served me well and had an i3 with 4gb of ram and 500GB HDD. If I could match those spec or get better that'd be great. A hdmi port would be great as that only had VGA and of course as long of a battery life as is possible for that price.

    I need to get a new one for college fairly urgently so any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm in Dublin for the next week or so so can pick up a laptop anywhere that Dublin bus serves!


Comments

  • #2
    Digital Solitude
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,397 ✭✭✭✭Digital Solitude


    You can transfer the old HDD into a new laptop if you wanted, or get a windows 8 laptop and then install windows 7 over it, a key is only €20 on reddit


  • #3
    IrishWelshCelt
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 317 ✭✭IrishWelshCelt


    Digital Solitude wrote: »
    You can transfer the old HDD into a new laptop if you wanted, or get a windows 8 laptop and then install windows 7 over it, a key is only €20 on reddit

    Yeah I'm hoping to get the HDD removed as all my work is on it. How would it work if I had a laptop with 7 and 8 loaded on it? Would it not significantly reduce performance?


  • #4
    Digital Solitude
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,397 ✭✭✭✭Digital Solitude


    IrishWelshCelt wrote: »
    Yeah I'm hoping to get the HDD removed as all my work is on it. How would it work if I had a laptop with 7 and 8 loaded on it? Would it not significantly reduce performance?

    No I meant you could completely wipe 8 off it, and install 7. It'd be as good as if it came with 7 installed. If your old HDD has 7 on it, you can probably just put it inside the laptop, and use the new laptop as an external drive with an enclosure. You'd have all your files, windows 7 and a new external drive for minimal fuss


  • #5
    IrishWelshCelt
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 317 ✭✭IrishWelshCelt


    Digital Solitude wrote: »
    No I meant you could completely wipe 8 off it, and install 7. It'd be as good as if it came with 7 installed. If your old HDD has 7 on it, you can probably just put it inside the laptop, and use the new laptop as an external drive with an enclosure. You'd have all your files, windows 7 and a new external drive for minimal fuss

    Would that be a simple process I could do myself? Or would I need a professional to do it?


  • #6
    Digital Solitude
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,397 ✭✭✭✭Digital Solitude


    Its very simple, you can do it yourself with a regular Philips screwdriver

    How old is the older laptop?


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  • #7
    IrishWelshCelt
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 317 ✭✭IrishWelshCelt


    Digital Solitude wrote: »
    Its very simple, you can do it yourself with a regular Philips screwdriver

    How old is the older laptop?

    It's 2010/11 Acer.


  • #8
    Digital Solitude
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,397 ✭✭✭✭Digital Solitude


    Ah perfect, its just a matter of switching the cases on the hard drives. The whole operation shouldn't take 10 minutes. There's really nowhere to go wrong


  • #9
    Mark Tapley
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,193 ✭✭✭Mark Tapley


    Digital Solitude wrote: »
    Ah perfect, its just a matter of switching the cases on the hard drives. The whole operation shouldn't take 10 minutes. There's really nowhere to go wrong

    Won't windows be configured for different hardware? If the version of windows is OEM it won't activate on the new laptop.A new key will be needed . I doubt it will be as plain sailing as you think. New drivers will be needed at least.


  • #10
    Digital Solitude
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,397 ✭✭✭✭Digital Solitude


    Mark Tapley wrote: »
    Won't windows be configured for different hardware? If the version of windows is OEM it won't activate on the new laptop.A new key will be needed . I doubt it will be as plain sailing as you think. New drivers will be needed at least.

    Ah. I didn't realise that would be a problem, never had an issue like that myself.

    Even still, if it comes to it, a reddit key as I've suggested and a clean install will still leave him with his 'Windows.Old' folder with all his files


  • #11
    Digital Solitude
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,397 ✭✭✭✭Digital Solitude


    Or the €20 key on the new laptop and the old one as an external drive. There's plenty of solutions and none are very complicated


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  • #12
    Mark Tapley
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,193 ✭✭✭Mark Tapley


    Digital Solitude wrote: »
    Or the €20 key on the new laptop and the old one as an external drive. There's plenty of solutions and none are very complicated

    What's the story with those reddit keys ? Selling windows 7 retail for €20 seems too good to be true.
    I'm wondering if the OP is up to downloading a windows 7 ISO, installing and locating necessary drivers.
    I have Windows 8.1 on a tablet at the moment and you can pretty much ignore all the tiles and stuff and run it from the desktop. Saying that I stuck with 7 on my laptop. Like you say sticking the old hard drive in a caddy is the easiest way to access all the old files.


  • #13
    beauf
    Closed Accounts Posts: 22,648 ✭✭✭✭beauf


    Seems a lot of bother when 30secs turns W8 back to W7.

    The New uefi bios on new machines makes things a little trickier than in the past.

    If you want to go back wards to win7 make sure you make a note of all the hardware and drivers that are listed in W8 before you install 7. Then get all the W7 drivers downloaded before you start.


  • #14
    Digital Solitude
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,397 ✭✭✭✭Digital Solitude


    I know nothing about the reddit keys to be honest, they're what's recommended in the Building and Upgrading forum so I am just passing along the knowledge.


  • #15
    Mark Tapley
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,193 ✭✭✭Mark Tapley


    Digital Solitude wrote: »
    I know nothing about the reddit keys to be honest, they're what's recommended in the Building and Upgrading forum so I am just passing along the knowledge.

    Thanks for that , worth checking out for sure. Also handy links for the ISOs.


  • #16
    Mark Tapley
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,193 ✭✭✭Mark Tapley


    Classic Shell might be an easy option - http://www.classicshell.net/
    To make windows 8 similar to 7.


  • #17
    IrishWelshCelt
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 317 ✭✭IrishWelshCelt


    Thanks for the info gents. Any good deals going on laptops these days?


  • #18
    dub45
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 12,450 Mod ✭✭✭✭dub45


    Mark Tapley wrote: »
    Classic Shell might be an easy option - http://www.classicshell.net/
    To make windows 8 similar to 7.

    Yes I agree totally - that and a few settings changes can make life so much easier with w8.

    If you google for something like " make w8 look like w7" you will get lots of suggestions but installing the classic shell is a huge step in the right direction.


  • #19
    ED E
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,170 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    Shadowcopy is still gone though and win8 still has its "quirks". I run 8.1 on my laptop daily using classicshell but if it wasnt for boot times I've had reverted it 7.

    In your case OP 8 might not be too bad. And I'd keep the new drive in use unless that old one is much larger, the older drive will be more worn and statistically more prone to failure.


  • #20
    shanec1928
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,203 ✭✭✭shanec1928


    Windows 7 can still be got. You'll be looking at a business machine though. So windows 7 pro. We source our own at work. But never have a problem getting them for a standard machine 15" i3 and 4gb ram 500gb hdd


  • #21
    cerastes
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,601 ✭✭✭cerastes


    Digital Solitude wrote: »
    You can transfer the old HDD into a new laptop if you wanted, or get a windows 8 laptop and then install windows 7 over it, a key is only €20 on reddit
    Is this something I might be able to do with a laptop with xp?getting a key ? For it? If possible if like to be able to use it with Windows 7? Wouldn't want win 8 and I don't know how it would function with an OS newer than that?


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  • #22
    ED E
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,170 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    cerastes wrote: »
    Is this something I might be able to do with a laptop with xp?getting a key ? For it? If possible if like to be able to use it with Windows 7? Wouldn't want win 8 and I don't know how it would function with an OS newer than that?

    Yep, assuming its not super ancient and there is driver support.

    Dont put 7 on anything with less than 2GB of ram, ideally 4GB nowadays.


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