I am not running a bank, i am running a personal computer with some music and stuff. If i want to secure my computer i prefer to do so in a way that is convenient to me, not to OS vendors to lock me out.

Anyhow, why should i have to 99$ to unlock my own computer? Whose idiotic idea is that. Let me guess, not the public.

There was a UEFI Bios on the AsRock mobo rig I built for my sister. It was intuitive and seemed like a good thing, but I was peeved because it was misrepresenting the CPU temperatures (thought it was running at 60c idle when in reality it was running at 28c idle... had a small heart attack for a while there). Other than that it's been a great experience. I still prefer an old-school BIOS though, but that's probably because I'm more comfortable and familiar with it. 

You mean the free options like disabling Secure Boot aren't good enough for you?  Fantastic, I'll write that down next time I'm in the mood to do something stupid.

So in other words you can't use Linux on those machines. Windows or nothing right?

Cores here all show 60c ....quasi-idle.....doing 'stuff' ....but it's Melbourne in summer...so outside it's 39c and counting...

You can keep Summer down there year round. I don't want it back up here.

a simple Google search would have revealed that you can use Linux on these machines.

Buy a dell laptop and say that again.

That is extremely unlikely.

The other free option would be installing Linux versions that already work with it, or ones that will soon enough.

You can still get Win7 on rigs from Dell.  FWIW.

Where you are, perhaps. In my neck of the woods, it's all Win 8 machines these days, and asking for/trying to order a Win 7 PC will result in a "no can do"  Proprietary machines now come only with Win 8 pre-installed here in Oz.  In mean, there may be the odd few stores in the boondocks with one or two Win 7 machines left, but they're as rare as rockinghorse shit in mainstream Australia.

I know of a few smaller PC shops that can still build Win 7 rigs for people, they still have the discs, but a recent query for my neighbour with one of the larger stores was met with: "Sorry Microsoft recalled all our Windows 7 Discs.  All we have left are Windows 8, if that's any good....."  It doesn't matter to me because I already have Win 8 installed an I'm loving it, but my neighbour is getting a bit frantic because she definitely does NOT want Win 8... despite my showing her that it is the same as Win 7 underneath and how easy it is to use with Start8, etc.  Nope, she won't have a bar of it and says she can't afford to get one with Win 7 built [about 200 bucks more].... so I'll leave her with it until she makes a decision one way or the other.

I really can't understand all this pissing and moaning over Win 8.  Sure it brought in some new features... call it Metro, but underneath is a sturdy, reliable and useable desktop just like Win 7's... only faster and with some useful new features.

starkers...if you are into those stores that currently ONLY stock Win8 junk....you are in the wrong stores for computers.

You're thinking Hardly Normal, JB, or the Good Guys...or some such.  They are not computer stores.  Try and find someone in any of those who actually gets past help such as "have you tried turning it off and on again?" ...

That's pretty much what I said... the larger stores, JB, etc.  I know smaller stores... as in specialist PC stores, that can build Win 7 machines, and a few still have a proprietary rig or two laying around with Win 7 on them, but for the most part, 7 has pretty much disappeared... and HAS in 99.99% of mainstream stores... eg Good Guys, etc. 

My regular PC store was contacted by MS to return all copies of Win to Sydney HQ... Pat told them he only had one left and it had been ordered by a regular so could not do so.  Truth was, he has about 11 copies: 6 Builders; One Pro and 3 Premium, but they didn't need to know that.

Soooo, like you said, it's pretty much as I said.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

Windows 7 isn't that hard to find. Just have to know where to look. Hey look at that even Jafo called Windows 8 junk.

Yeeah, we're making progress. Let's keep pounding more sense into them