Kaby Lake Windows support

[PenPoint]

So I think I'm soon going to get a brand-new, state-of-the-art laptop which has a Kaby Lake mobile processor in it.

But in the official statement, the manufacturer said the only Windows operating system you can install and use is Windows 10.

I can install Windows Server 2016 because I can legally get the license for free, but since I can also get a Windows 8.1 Embedded Industry Pro license, I want to install the latter.

 

So.... in conclusion, can I install and use Windows 8.1 on Kaby Lake-based system?

[SCHISCHKA]

your laptop is unlikely to have drivers for win 8. windows server is pretty useful to have as a desktop system, its what i used when i had access to it at uni

[ProjectBox153]

I would go for Windows Server. I use it on a daily basis as a main desktop, and it's fine for that. You'll get a few weird quirks, such as the wireless and stuff, but overall it works great. 

[PenPoint]

15 minutes ago, SCHISCHKA said:

your laptop is unlikely to have drivers for win 8. windows server is pretty useful to have as a desktop system, its what i used when i had access to it at uni

 

2 minutes ago, Jamiec1130 said:

I would go for Windows Server. I use it on a daily basis as a main desktop, and it's fine for that. You'll get a few weird quirks, such as the wireless and stuff, but overall it works great. 

Okay, it seems like I should install Server 2016 rather than 8.1 Embedded. Thanks guys!

[ProjectBox153]

Definitely, especially because it should have driver support and processor support (I think). How did you get the license for free? School?

[AlTech]

9 minutes ago, PenPoint said:

 

Okay, it seems like I should install Server 2016 rather than 8.1 Embedded. Thanks guys!

remember to mark as solved!

[PenPoint]

10 minutes ago, Jamiec1130 said:

Definitely, especially because it should have driver support and processor support (I think). How did you get the license for free? School?

Microsoft Imagine(a.k.a. Dreamspark) gives every students nice licenses for free

[ProjectBox153]

1 minute ago, PenPoint said:

Microsoft Imagine(a.k.a. Dreamspark) gives every students nice licenses for free

Oh wow, didn't know about that one. Thanks!

[Falconevo]

CPU will work ABSOLUTELY FINE.  It is an x86 processor, it is backwards compatible.

HOWEVER, you will not have some of the new instruction set features which aren't supported on Windows 8.1.  Thats it, the CPU will work fine but it won't have some of the newly added instruction sets.  It simply means that Microsoft will not be going back and adding support for the new instruction sets on Windows 7 or Windows 8.  Simple.

[AlTech]

1 hour ago, Falconevo said:

CPU will work ABSOLUTELY FINE.  It is an x86 processor, it is backwards compatible.

Microsoft and Intel have been scheming to try and circumvent this.

1 hour ago, Falconevo said:

HOWEVER, you will not have some of the new instruction set features which aren't supported on Windows 8.1.  Thats it, the CPU will work fine but it won't have some of the newly added instruction sets.

Again, It's hard to tell. Microsoft wanted Skylake and above to not be supported on Windows 7 or 8.1 .

1 hour ago, Falconevo said:

 It simply means that Microsoft will not be going back and adding support for the new instruction sets on Windows 7 or Windows 8.  Simple.

A lot of people, including myself, thought that they meant something different.

 

[Falconevo]

Kabylake is simply a refresh of an already available x86 Skylake architecture.  It will work absolutely fine, I can guarantee it.  So will AMD's Zen x86 architecture, that will also work just fine on Windows 7 and 8 but just not have access to newly available instruction sets.  Thats it.