Solved! Can I easily downgrade to windows 8.1 on IdeaPad 110?

Apr 11, 2018
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I have the Lenovo ideapad 110-15ACL. 64bit. 4gb ram. 500gb HDD. Preinstalled with windows 10.

Since November my experience with this laptop has been poor. It takes forever to boot up or shut down. It takes about 2-5 minutes to open the browser or other programs. It lags when I try to use documents or browse the web. Other times it just stops responding and I need to press and hold the power button.

It is very frustrating to use this thing. I don't know what is the problem. I think maybe it can't handle windows 10 properly so I want to try either downgrading, add higher ram (it currently uses 2.2/3.4) or add an ssd.

Downgrading would be the cheaper option. I have an old Windows 8.1 32bit tablet that I have the product key for.

I was wondering if it is possible to download the 64bit windows 8.1 from the windows site and use that key with no problem? I will of course remove it from the tablet since I can only use one key. I read something about an OEM that would make it impossible? Idk how that works. My product ID has AAOEM in it.

If possible are there drivers for ideapad 110 for full functionality? I checked lenovo's site but they were mainly for windows 10 like the audio driver for example.

I don't know exactly how bios works but there is a windows 8.1 version for it. Would that suffice to make it work properly? Or would I lose functionality by downgrading?

I just need this laptop for my classes.
 
Solution
If Lenovo don’t provide drivers for Windows 8.1 you would likely run into problems with things not running properly. I also doubt switching to 8.1 would fix your problems, Windows 10 is no harder to run than 8.1.

Also your 8.1 licence is not transferable and will be tied to the tablet so you would need to buy a license.

You might be best to do a new install of Windows 10 without all the crap (bloatware) Lenovo probably included and upgrading to 8gb RAM. As SSD would also help but your upgrade is getting expensive.

sizzling

Distinguished
If Lenovo don’t provide drivers for Windows 8.1 you would likely run into problems with things not running properly. I also doubt switching to 8.1 would fix your problems, Windows 10 is no harder to run than 8.1.

Also your 8.1 licence is not transferable and will be tied to the tablet so you would need to buy a license.

You might be best to do a new install of Windows 10 without all the crap (bloatware) Lenovo probably included and upgrading to 8gb RAM. As SSD would also help but your upgrade is getting expensive.
 
Solution
Apr 11, 2018
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I guess upgrading is my best option then.

If I do the new install of windows 10 then what Lenovo programs do you recommend to remove? I let the PC handle everything without customizing so I guess I have all of the bloatware currently.
 
Apr 11, 2018
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Update:
Eventually I got frustrated enough that I went through with it. Downloaded the iso, used an old product id, uninstalled it from the old pc and into my laptop, activated.

Installed the drivers which still somehow worked despite being only for windows 10. Lost like a couple features since only 2 drivers kept failing but nothing major.

Now it works perfectly. No lag, no crash, quick loadup & shutdown. Windows 10 was the issue afterall.