new L540 - Win 8.1 downgrade to Win 7on a brand new machine

[acz]

In the process of ordering a new Thinkpad L540 last week, I had the opportunity to speak with three friendly Lenovo reps who answered various questions about my order. I told them that my wife (the user) would prefer to avoid the learning curve with Win 8, and thus stick with Win 7 for now, but might be open to Win 10 someday. I got slightly different stories about the OS choices on the configuration screen.


1. One rep said definitely to check the box for Win 7 because that way the machine would boot Win 7 upon arrival, and I would have a Win 7 license and probably a factory-provided Win 7 recovery disk; therefore we could easily do a recovery back to the factory loaded Win 7 with no problems. She said that checking the "Win 8.1 Pro 64 Downgrade Win 7 Pro 64" box would only give me a Win 8 license and no way to recover back to Win 7 in case of catastrophe.

2. Second rep said that I should check the "Win 8 Downgrade Win 7" box, and the machine would give me a choice of OS when it boots for the very first time. He said that about 45 minutes later, I would have the chosen OS installed. Assuming that I picked Win 7, then I should just creat my own recovery disk right away. In case of catastrophe I could use the Win 8 license and the factory-provided Win 8 recovery disk , or else the Win 7 recovery disk that I made myself.

3. Third rep said that the "Win 8 Downgrade Win 7" box was the right choice for a different reason. He was confident that the machine would boot right into Win 7 upon arrival; there would be no 45-minute delay and no need to see Win 8 at all. There should be a Win 8 Recovery disk in the box, and a Win 8 license, which will be handy for a free upgrade to Win 10 that would not be possible with only a Win 7 license.

I am not trying to be critical or mean, because the confusion is understandable.
However, I am curious as to what is correct and applicable to our new L540 which should arrive next week.

Does anyone have experience with a recent "Win 8 Downgrade 7" installation?
Thank you.

[acz]

Well, FWIW here is how the story turns out:
Rep #3 wins the prize.
The shipping box contained recovery CDs for Windows 8.1
Upon the initial power-up, the new machine booted directly into Windows 7 Pro, no questions asked.
Microsoft Windows Update offered about 80 patches.
Lenovo System Update offered about 6 updates.

So far, so good.