So, if I take that laptop out of commission, I can never use that license again?
Pretty much. (Assuming it is an OEM license). They are tied to the hardware. If you want the transferable license, you have to buy a retail version.
What if I have a Lenovo lwin7 aptop with the default lenovo OEM key from the bios and installed on original Lenovo discs. How does the upgrade work, do I have to use the key on the sticker on the bottom?
You don't need the key on the bottom. If you install it on an activated W7 copy, W10 will automatically be activated, which will then be tied to the machine code (which is based on your hardware). After you install the upgrade, you'd be able to do a clean install without any activation problems (and I don't think you'd need a further key for it). But the caveat is you need to install/activate the upgrade version first.
I installed the upgrade on my T420 yesterday. Had to remove a few pieces of relatively useless software (some random Lenovo things that were either deprecated after W7 or not necessary in W10), but otherwise, it's been working great. And there were no problems in the process. Plus, if I want to do a clean-install (even without having any W10 media), it looks like there is an "in-place" option for reinstalling Windows completely.
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