Just in the past couple of weeks I’ve participated in a couple of discussions where acquaintances mentioned that they’d just bought a new laptop/notebook PC. While they were generally pleased with the hardware, they bemoaned the fact that they’d had no choice but to accept Windows 8.x as the operating system.

There is a choice, although (generally speaking) the consumer has been denied that choice, with the major retailers and computer outlets stocking only Windows 8 machines. Corporates, on the other hand, certainly have no problem sourcing Windows 7 machines. Provided you know where to look, certain dealers are also able to supply brand new, brand name desktop and notebook machines with Windows 7 pre-installed, or where the OS is “downgradeable” to Windows 7.

So, if you’re in the market for a shiny new Windows 7 desktop or notebook, please give us a shout and we’ll source it for you. The following machines are currently available:

• Generic/white box desktops (range of specifications)
• Dell desktops (certain models)
• HP desktops (certain models)
• Acer notebooks (certain models)
• Dell Latitude notebooks (certain models)
• HP Probook 430 G1, 450, 470 and 650 notebooks (certain models)
• HP EliteBook 850 G1 notebooks (certain models)
• HP ZBook 15 and 17 notebooks (certain models)

If you’re already stuck with a Windows 8.x machine, and you’d like it to behave just a little bit more like the Windows machines you’re used to, we recommend downloading and installing Start Menu Reviver (2.0), which you can download here. Read about it in this TechRepublic article (Start Menu Reviver 2 offers a better program manager for Windows 8.1) first if you’re not sure.

If you’re not comfortable with downloading and installing an application from the Internet, we understand, and we’ll gladly assist you with that too!