SOLIDWORKS 2015 SP5 and newer support Windows 10 Professional, which means if you’re running an older version of SOLIDWORKS you’ll need to upgrade. However as Microsoft updates Windows 10 every six months with major updates we cannot guarantee any SOLIDWORKS software versions outside the current support cycle will function on the latest versions of Windows 10.
To avoid issues and potential downtime you are best keeping to a recent SOLIDWORKS edition. For instance, SOLIDWORKS 2019 ends its support life cycle at the end of 2020 after this no fixes will be made to account for issues caused by Windows updates.
If you decide to continue using Windows 7 then not only will you be exposed to security threats but you will not be able to install SOLIDWORKS 2021 and beyond.
Consider what other companies in your supply chain are doing, SOLIDWORKS collaboration is the most seamless when everyone uses the same version. If they all upgrade, you may become the weak link!
While you may be able to update your current hardware, if things don’t go smoothly in the upgrade you may experience downtime and there may not be drivers for your hardware on Windows 10 potentially causing issues or not functional components on this new Operating System.
Given the age of the Windows 7, your hardware may be of an age where a hardware upgrade will be a better option as you are likely to see a significant performance improvement.
We supply SOLIDWORKS certified Dell Precision Hardware at a heavily discounted level for our customers.