Given Microsoft’s blitzkrieg advertising for Win8 and retailers’ obsession with selling the next new thing, you could easily conclude that new Win7 PCs are no longer for sale.
You’d be wrong. You won’t find Win7 systems at the big-box stores, but major PC manufacturers still offer them online. You just have to know where to look.
Keeping an old OS in the sales pipeline
The life cycle of Microsoft operating systems was more or less set in stone back in 2010 when the company announced the release of Windows 7 SP1 Public Beta. In that announcement, Microsoft stated:
“In the interest of providing more consistency and predictability with how we manage the Windows life cycle, we are confirming our current policy of allowing retailers to sell the boxed version of the previous OS for up to one year after release of a new OS, and that OEMs can sell PCs with the previous OS pre-loaded for up to two years after the launch date of the new OS.”
Given Windows 8′s general release date of Oct. 26, 2012, retailers should be able to sell boxed copies of Windows 7 until October 26 of this year, and PCs preloaded with Win7 should be available into October, 2014 — assuming, of course, that Microsoft doesn’t change the rules. And that could happen if Windows 8.1 sales aren’t significantly better than sales of Windows 8.
For now, Windows 7 is alive and well. Businesses are rapidly migrating from Windows XP and Vista, and they’ve found it’s most cost-effective to keep the familiar keyboard-and-mouse-driven interface of Windows 7. Take a look at Dell’s and HP’s business-focused websites; you’ll still find a cornucopia of Windows 7 systems.
A few considerations when buying a new Win7 PC
There are some drawbacks to sticking with Windows 7. The OS is now four years old and hasn’t had any real improvements since its launch. And with Windows 8, Microsoft seems ready to change its versioning rules. Version 8.1, for example, isn’t just a service pack; it has real enhancements (though Microsoft was more or less forced to make those enhancements).
Moreover, PC manufacturers are often not equipping new Win7 laptops and desktops with the most advanced hardware. Most of these systems come with older CPUs (such as the Intel Core i3 processor) and without USB 3.0 ports or high-speed solid-state drives.
And, as reported in several Windows Secrets stories, it’s relatively easy to completely bypass Windows 8′s most controversial feature — the tiled Metro/Modern UI/Microsoft Design Language interface. Third-party apps such as Start Menu 8 (site) let you boot directly to the classic desktop and put back the familiar Win7 Start menu. In the Feb. 28 Windows 8 story, I reviewed four more utilities that let you kiss the Metro UI goodbye.
With all that in mind, if you still want to stick with Windows 7 on your new computer, now’s the time to starting looking and comparison-shopping. Let’s begin the hunt.
Hunting online for a new Windows 7 PC
As with most Internet shopping, I started looking for new Win7 systems with a Google search. Typing in “windows 7 laptop sales” produced a list (see Figure 1) of the usual suspects: Amazon, TigerDirect, Walmart, Dell, HP, and BestBuy.com — some in paid ads, others as direct links.
Figure 1. A Google search is the best way to start looking for a new Win7 PC.
Google proved a better approach than starting with the homepages of mainstream PC manufacturers. Finding Win7 offerings on vendor sites typically required clicking through layers of webpages. The process was a bit faster if I used the product-search filters found on most vendor sites, but ultimately it was still faster to use the links provided by a Google search.
For example, Google’s Dell link took me immediately to a Windows 7 shopping page for both home or work systems (see Figure 2). Nice!
Figure 2. A Google search took me directly to a Dell Win7 PC shopping page.
In a rough count, the site offers about 100 laptop configurations and close to 200 desktop configurations, with either Win7 Home Premium or Win7 Professional installed. Prices range from U.S. $400 for a basic home laptop to over $11,000 for fully tricked-out business desktops.
Like Dell, HP’s PC-shopping site is divvied up into home and business. (You make your selection by clicking a relatively unintuitive slider bar in the middle of the page, as shown in Figure 3.) But HP’s business side has most of the available Win7 laptops and desktops. I counted about 75 models, all loaded with Win7 Professional. The least expensive system was $489 — one of the four Win7 laptops offered at the online HP Home & Home Office Store. Business laptops with Win7 started at $649.
Figure 3. To find HP's business-PC pages, you have to slide the blue bar (bottom of the screen shot) to the middle position.
Some years ago, Lenovo (site) purchased IBM’s ThinkPad division, and it’s currently the world’s top PC maker (as reported in a New York Times article). But you wouldn’t know that from the number of Windows 7 systems it offers. Using the site’s product-search filters, I found 34 laptops (starting at $499) and just two desktops (starting at $589). The Lenovo site (see Figure 4) doesn’t make a clear distinction between consumer and business systems, but using the filters will probably help you find what you’re looking for.
Figure 4. To find Windows 7 PC offerings on the Lenovo site, you need to use its product-search filters.
Shopping at the big-box stores — online
Looking for a Win7 laptop at the major retailers can be an adventure. For example, searching Walmart.com with “windows 7 laptops” turned up over 300 results. (A search using “laptops with windows 7″ turned up over 400 hits, including the type of windows you look through.) Many of the listed laptops were either refurbished and/or loaded with relatively old CPUs: Celerons, Pentium Dual Cores, etc.
Some of the offerings were “In stores only.” (Unfortunately, there’s no way to tell in which of Walmart’s many hundreds of stores.) Probably the majority of the listed laptops were actually Windows 8 systems, but the site doesn’t offer an “OS” filter (see Figure 5).
Figure 5. Walmart's generic filters can make finding a Win7 PC time-consuming.
Visiting any actual retail stores proved fruitless. When asked about Win7 PCs, the sales clerk at my local (San Francisco, Calif.) Best Buy gave me a blank look and then stated that Best Buy no longer stocks Win7 computers. That was only partially true: a search of BestBuy.com (see Figure 6) produced over 600 hits, with systems loaded with Windows 7 Starter to Ultimate.
As with Walmart, closer inspection revealed that many of the listed computers were refurbished or included older components. Most of the Windows 7 systems were sold through the Best Buy Marketplace by third-party sellers. Moreover, Best Buy’s return policy is just 15 days — from the day of purchase, not the day of delivery. I’d avoid both Walmart and Best Buy for a new Win7 system.
Figure 6. BestBuy.com appears to have a large selection of Win7 PCs, but many are from third-party vendors on the Best Buy Marketplace.
Tigerdirect.com is another site that puts customers on a short return leash — 14 days from purchase. It also tacks on a restocking fee that can be as high as 15 percent. However, the site does have lots of Windows 7 systems — many with recent components — from major PC makers.
And then there’s Amazon — that supposed brick-and-mortar-store killer. Amazon.com has a gargantuan inventory of Windows 7 computers, so finding what you’re looking for requires knowing how to make focused searches.
The default Amazon search results are based on “relevance.” Many of the computers that show up here are relatively outdated, some with processors dating back to 2007. If you switch the drop-down sort filter (upper right side of page; see Figure 7) to “price high to low,” you’ll find the latest systems loaded with some version of Windows 7 — and a lot of electronics you weren’t looking for. Go back to the product-search filters and limit the selection to laptops or desktops and operating system. Be sure to read the specs of each model carefully; a Windows 8 machine might get mixed in with the bunch.
Figure 7. To find the right Win7 system on Amazon, use the search and sort filters carefully.
Taking the OS upgrade/downgrade route
Microsoft might be rather strict with its software licenses, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some wiggle room with its EULAs — especially with its OEM customers. With pre-approval, the company lets OEMs sell Windows 8 systems that allow you to downgrade to Windows 7.
This can work two ways: an OEM pays for the Windows 8 license but installs Windows 7 at the consumer’s request, or, less commonly, the customer gets a Windows 8 system that includes Windows 7 discs. You might see OEMs listing these configurations as “Pre-installed with Windows 7.”
Upgrading from Windows XP or Vista is also a viable alternative if your existing PC meets the minimum requirements for 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7. But purchasing a shrink-wrapped copy of Windows 7 requires some caution. Here’s why:
Microsoft offers full-retail packages, upgrade packages, and OEM System Builder DVD packs. Individuals can still purchase the OEM version, which costs about $70 to $80 less than the full-retail version. There is, however, a major restriction. Microsoft states:
“Use of this OEM System Builder Channel software is subject to the terms of the Microsoft OEM System Builder License. This software is intended for pre-installation on a new personal computer for resale. This OEM System Builder Channel software requires the assembler to provide end user support for the Windows software and cannot be transferred to another computer once it is installed. To acquire Windows software with support provided by Microsoft, please see our full package ‘Retail’ product offerings.” [Source: Amazon product description]
In other words, the OEM version binds itself to your computer’s motherboard and components and can’t be installed on another machine. There’s also no technical support from Microsoft. You also need to go through the arduous process of backing up your data and then wiping your hard drive completely before installing the new OS. And only the full-retail version includes both 32-bit and 64-bit discs in the same package; with the OEM editions, you need to specify either 32-bit or 64-bit.
Upgrading to Win7 from XP and Vista isn’t always easy, even with the full-retail version or upgrade editions. But at least you can get tech support if needed. An upgrade version of Win7 Home Premium costs about $115 and a full-retail version about $170. Both editions let you upgrade to Win7 without starting from scratch.
For now, you still have a good selection of new Windows 7 systems from which to choose. Unfortunately, you’ll still have to take the time to transfer data and applications.