Can I install full retail Win 8 Pro on a Lenovo R500 with a Win 7 Pro preload?

Lenovo does not support Windows 8 on the R500. Can someone please tell me why.
When Windows 8 became available, I ran out and purchased a copy to install on my R500, foolishly thinking that Lenovo would support the upgrade on its older machines as it had previously, whenever a new release of Windows had become available in the past.
I was quite surprised to not find that my R500 was not supported.
So, will Windows 8 install, or will the installation fail? What functions would give me problems? Obviously, the touch screen functions won’t work, but can I attach an external touch screen?
Is the problem a hardware deficiency or is it a software deficiency?  
So, do I have a useless Win 8 software box? I hope someone out there has an explanation.
ThinkPad R61 8932-CTO T8300 2.40 Ghz 3GB RAM Win XP
ThinkPad R500 2714-CTO P8600 2.40 Ghz 3GB RAM Win XP; Two ThinkPad R500's 2714-CTO T9600 2.80 Ghz 4GB RAM Win 7
ThinkPad T500 2241-DB9 T9600 2.80 Ghz 4GB RAM Win 7
ThinkCenter A63 5237-CTO 3GB Ram Win XP; A21m and a pair of 380XD's

Hi Chuck,
R500 is a pretty old model and i guess Lenovo like other manufacturers cannot support all the old models for every new Windows version. So they have to draw a line somewhere and the R500 is too old.
Windows 8 should install fine, but you might find that there are some drivers which is not available for your computer. You might find that some features do not work because of missing drivers and software for Windows 8.
I never had a R500 and usually upgrade my computer every year so i cannot say for sure what might not be working. Some of the drivers might be available from other manufacturers like Intel.
I'm sure your Windows 8 won't be useless as you will probably buy a new computer in the close future since the R500 is pretty old. At least Windows 8 is pretty cheap compared to earlier upgrades from Microsoft. The Windows 8 compatibility list from Lenovo been available for pretty long and the R500 never been listed.
gan

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