So it’s hardly a secret at this stage that the long-awaited release of Windows 10 will take place on Wednesday July 29. After years of patient waiting and a fair amount of lobbying to say the least, the much-missed ‘Start’ menu and a bunch of other classic features are once again heading our way – and free-of-charge for most of us.

However, there’s been some confusion as to what exact will be the case for new Windows-based PCs shipping as of the big day itself. A recent blog post from Microsoft suggested that as Windows 10 was still being tested and finalised, it wouldn’t be ready in time for new PCs to ship with the new OS as of its July 29 release date. Instead, it would be a case of those buying their shiny-new computers having to liaise with their chosen retailers in order to organise the necessary upgrades.

Suffice to say this doesn’t breed motivation for those looking to invest in a new computer – most of whom would probably have rather waited a while until Windows 10 was indeed ready to ship with new PCs and laptops.

Well, it now appears that the cries of Dell, HP, Lenovo and Acer were in fact right all along. Microsoft has now confirmed to Bloomberg that new Dell laptops and PCs along with those from a series of rival brands will ship with Windows 10 installed and ready to go as of July 29. Dell Inc. CEO Michael Dell had advised as such quite some time ago, but this is the first time the details have been confirmed by Microsoft.

One of the reasons why this confirmation is important is because it indirectly confirms that Microsoft’s “release to manufacturing” build of Windows 10 is finished, polished off and very much out on the wild. So as of July 29, laptop and PC buyers in the UK opting for a Windows machine would be well-advised to check carefully as to the version of the OS installed on their system, as brand-new machines for 2015 should by rights come with Windows 10 as standard.

Of course the update process from Windows 8/7 to Windows 10 is expected to be easy enough, so technically it’s not the end of the world for those buying more affordable systems shipping with older operating systems.