Hoping to find a deal around BF or CM. Can I install Windows 7 on brand new hardware? Or did M$ make that impossible through bullying the hardware makers AGAIN? If so is there a workaround?
Only if they explicitly say it can be supported. Oh yes... If the UEFI doesn't have an option to enable CSM / Legacy mode, forget it. You won't be to even install 7. Then, you have the drivers factor: for sure not available anymore for oems. Perhaps for generic motherboards you could still find makers support for W7. As for laptops? Hmmm...
give the name of brand and model! if you can grab all drivers from vendor or if you can use first party drivers (eg intel or nvida directly) - maybe. but win7 and win8 are not capable to use all current hardware features, thats why win10 was made default on new hardware. where ever you will ask the answer in most cases is "no" or "not recommended" (reason above)
Looks like it at least must not have a processor later than an Intel sixth generation Skylake processor. "Windows 10: You probably won't be able to install Windows 7 on your next laptop MICROSOFT has confirmed Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 will not be supported on Intel’s next CPUs..." http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/science-technology/636116/Windows-10-Intel-Skylake-7-Support-End IIRC might be able to still find new laptops with WIN 7 OEM.
I'm on the same boat but for desktop. It seems that windows 7 can be installed on Intel skylake, kaby lake and Coffee lake cpus and Amd ryzen cpus. Amd backtracked on their statement that they won't release drivers for windows7 for the Ryzen family in August (they finally released the drivers for 7) and Intel followed for the coffee lake. ps. although they do not officially support windows 7 for those cpus. Panagiotis
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...ported-together-with-the-windows-version-that https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/11675/windows-7-windows-8-1-skylake-systems-supported That last link contains manufacturer links related to Skylake. You may have to search for it, but you can also find manufacturer comments on Kaby Lake and later. Dell examples: Skylake systems (some still available for purchase - Win7 Pro installed + Win10 Pro disk): https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/SLN300777 Kaby Lake systems (only Windows 10 operating system support): https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/4/sln304217/en I haven't really looked into work arounds for post-Skylake processors, but I saved two links at some point: https://github.com/zeffy/wufuc https://github.com/p-lider/WuaCpuFix
Does this mean anything if the manufacturers won't supply Windows 7 drivers? No it means jack ****. But whoopee for Intel & AMD.
Is this a joke? You can find drivers for win7 for all devices, from their manufacturer site as long as you know the devices ids... Only Intel and Amd had enforced (and now backtracked) the policy win10 exclusive compatibility... If you want official support for win7 just purchase models released before June 2016. Panagiotis