Monkey will let you know - If I have to, I'll buy a new HD, and replace the stock one - if the existing HD won't take Wdw7 ... Not me, am taking it to S-I-L who is a tech.
The expense is non-relevant at this point - I made a huge mistake buying the new LT with Wdw8 on it ... so, am paying for that both in time, in hassle, and in 'overage' data use on Hotspot.
BTW: For those following the "data over-use" issue with Hotspot, I called the Verizon tech today, again. First question he asked - "Did you recently buy a Windows8 PC" ... so, that tells me something. And, Wdw7 here we come again.