Dell says wipe my m4500 and start over, Windows 8?

They tell me they won't provide any OS-related service if I switch because the machine never shipped with W8, they also say they won't provide any drivers but I can find them elsewhere if I want. I don't want this to be an OS comparison thread, I want to know if/how people have upgraded to W8 on their M4500's.

The reason for the wipe is because they've replaced the mobo and screen and are still having some plaguing issues so they suggest to start over...will the W8 upgrade from W7 be a fresh start? Will it keep my drivers? OR will I need to wipe/reformat and start clean and find the drivers on my own?

Thanks,
JD

 

Sssooooo...

 

While I don't have a M4500 I have dealt with Dell warranty repair a time or three. My suggestion would be to let them install W7 and see if they can fix the issues you are experiencing. If not i'd push for a machine replacement. As far as W8, yes, they will not offer support for it as they said. It should however load and work on your M4500 without issue.

 

I think teksurv's advice is the best.

Don't have an M4500, just an M4400 here. It runs Win 7 Pro just fine.

Can't think of any reason I would move to Win 8.

If you go to the Dell website today, all of the M4700 pre-configured models are still shipping with Win 7 Pro. (Win 8 Pro is "available", but not "Dell Recommended".)

So, it appears, that Win 7 Pro is still the best match for the Precision line.

 

I have had Windows 8 running on M4500 for about 4 months now - no problems what so ever. All the drivers included with Windows work very well, the only thing you'll want / need to install is the Nvidia drivers. The system is very stable, battery usage seems about the same as Win 7. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

Thanks guys. I'm going to take the smart warranty route and reinstall W7 to see if the problem is fixed. Then it's a simple upgrade if it does.