Possibly, but I was under the impression that the free upgrade to Windows 10 (and the inexpensive upgrade for Windows 8) was to entice people to move to the new

Possibly, but I was under the impression that the free upgrade to Windows 10 (and the inexpensive upgrade for Windows 8) was to entice people to move to the new operating system in order to reduce support costs. By making a hardware upgrade a prerequisite of an operating system upgrade for a larger number of people will just encourage people to stick to Windows 10. That's especially true for desktop computers, where a moderately old machine will outperform many modern laptops.