Thanks for the info. I would be completely content with purchasing a Windows 7 factory DVD from HP. I do have a general manufacturer open source Windows 7-64 bit Professional but wiould prefer one that had all the drivers and other software from HP. I swear about 25% of the time the cursor and touchpad are locked up and rendering my computer inert. I would prefer a return to DOS where I could write my own programs in HPL, C and Pascal. HPL was a great programming language for robotics. Except for all the hardware problems, I would really like to go back to XT or even 98 SE.
Noting the battery life on Windows 8, the touch feature uses up a lot of power. And I find it difficult enough keeping my screen clean without having the touch feature.
Off subject, I bought an HP printer for a girlfriend sbout 10 years ago. And about a 50 mile drive to her place only to find the printer did not have any printer ink cartridges at all. That was the last HP printer I ever bought They should have at least said on the outside of the box that ink cartridges were not included. I worked extensively with HP electronic equipment in my career. I sure wish HP gave the sort of support they did to professionals. I mean they were great. But then I worked for such companies as Bell Aerospace, Morton-Thiokol, Allied-Signal and Northrop- Grumman.