Buying a laptop, then reformatting

Noel Gallagher · 29 Nov 2009 at 13:57

Hey

I'm considering buying a laptop, but most of my price range + what i'm looking for in a laptop only have Windows Vista Basic/Premium, and I have a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate. So is it like possible to reformat the laptop, install Windows 7 and it'll still be under guarantee?

Cheersss

Nymins · 29 Nov 2009 at 14:32

Yea of course. It's the hardware that will be under guarantee, not the software. That's the first thing I do with laptops, the bundleware is shocking sometimes, so I just reformat and install my own copy of the OS.

CryptKeeper · 30 Nov 2009 at 10:02

Is there any better way to get rid of bloatware? I'm buying an Acer laptop that comes with Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit. Is is simply just a case of un-installing all the other progs?

ninja2000 · 30 Nov 2009 at 10:47

With the amount of bloat acer puts on it would actually be quicker to format and put a fresh copy of W7 on than uninstall the carp. And I am not joking.

Nymins · 30 Nov 2009 at 11:03

This is true. I just got an Acer 6935G and the amount of stuff on it is shocking. The taskbar (beside the time) is literally half way across in length with the amount of stuff running. I looked at the startup/services in msconfig and its just horrible.

Much much better to just format and install a fresh copy and then download the drivers.

Sam · 30 Nov 2009 at 11:42

How do people feel about the Dell XPS 16 laptops ?

Shall i just uninstall all the crap or is a reformat needed ?

Nymins · 30 Nov 2009 at 11:44

I only have experience with the Inspiron 1545's and they aren't too bad for bundleware. I still reinstalled Windows on them anyway and it did make it feel faster.

Depends whether or not you could be bothered reinstalling Windows and then reinstalling all the drivers.

mike gunnz · 30 Nov 2009 at 12:49

Never does any harm to format a new laptop imo.

CryptKeeper · 30 Nov 2009 at 14:37

Nymins said:
This is true. I just got an Acer 6935G and the amount of stuff on it is shocking. The taskbar (beside the time) is literally half way across in length with the amount of stuff running. I looked at the startup/services in msconfig and its just horrible.

Much much better to just format and install a fresh copy and then download the drivers.

The PC comes with win 7 home premium 64 bit. How do I go about reinstalling this? Do CULV/netbooks come with windows DVDs? How will I know my cd key?

Could I "download" windows 7 home premium from a website and use my legit cd key (assuming acer provide it) to activate?

Nymins · 30 Nov 2009 at 16:39

The laptop if bought new should come with the oem disk I would think. Depends whether or not the disk has the bloatware on it, it shouldn't but I always use my own retail copy anyway, so it doesn't affect me much.

reflux · 30 Nov 2009 at 16:41

Nymins said:
Yea of course. It's the hardware that will be under guarantee, not the software. That's the first thing I do with laptops, the bundleware is shocking sometimes, so I just reformat and install my own copy of the OS.

Bane · 30 Nov 2009 at 18:03

CryptKeeper said:
The PC comes with win 7 home premium 64 bit. How do I go about reinstalling this? Do CULV/netbooks come with windows DVDs? How will I know my cd key?

Could I "download" windows 7 home premium from a website and use my legit cd key (assuming acer provide it) to activate?

Most laptops require you to make your own recovery disks, but that won't be same as doing a fresh install from a generic Windows disk.

Don't know if you can request a Windows disk from the manufacturer, although I seen people mention Dell sending out disks on request.

Should be a licence sticker on the base of the laptop with you product key.

Little_Crow · 30 Nov 2009 at 18:13

CryptKeeper said:
Is there any better way to get rid of bloatware? I'm buying an Acer laptop that comes with Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit. Is is simply just a case of un-installing all the other progs?

I've heard this is very good, but have never needed to use it

Noel Gallagher · 1 Dec 2009 at 00:32

Thanks for replies guys

Now to buy a laptop..

Aod · 1 Dec 2009 at 11:50

Bane said:
Most laptops require you to make your own recovery disks, but that won't be same as doing a fresh install from a generic Windows disk.

Don't know if you can request a Windows disk from the manufacturer, although I seen people mention Dell sending out disks on request.

Should be a licence sticker on the base of the laptop with you product key.

actually most laptops DO come with proper windows disks - at least from manufacturers like Dell anyway.

fro5tie · 1 Dec 2009 at 13:22

Last laptop I bought, an Asus one with Vista on, I booted it up, created the recovery discs (as there werent any included), and then formatted, got rid of recovery partition, and put Win7 on. Best way to do it IMO, gets rid of all the crap, but just incase you still have the recovery media.

cuke2u · 1 Dec 2009 at 14:25

Hi, I've just done the same, win7 does bootup and shutdown quicker, but within the OS there's hardly anything to write home about when comparing to Acer's own Vista install on a Aspire 8930G. Plus Acer have less, so-called, 'bloatware' on it then say a Dell or a Sony, yuck. Formating is the wrong term to use anyway as you should delete the partition first and none of the 100 or so Acer's that I've worked on have ever had a taskbar nearly to halfway, here is my own school's 5920:

Chris

Nymins · 1 Dec 2009 at 16:04

Could be because yours is an older model, my 6935G has the worst bloatware i have ever seen. If you google it, most people tend to agree that Acer are the worst for this. Dell aren't much better, but they don't come anywhere near Acer from my experience of them:

http://gizmodo.com/5392862/acers-bl...to-boot-time-hp-dell-and-sony-not-much-better

shankii · 1 Dec 2009 at 16:26

Aod said:
actually most laptops DO come with proper windows disks - at least from manufacturers like Dell anyway.

do you have to ask them for one or do they send it by default?

cuke2u · 1 Dec 2009 at 20:19

Nymins said:
Could be because yours is an older model, my 6935G has the worst bloatware i have ever seen. If you google it, most people tend to agree that Acer are the worst for this. Dell aren't much better, but they don't come anywhere near Acer from my experience of them:

http://gizmodo.com/5392862/acers-bl...to-boot-time-hp-dell-and-sony-not-much-better

Hi, I've school Acer laptops ranging from 5 years ago to three we got just last week, my personal ones being a 8930g, purchased in March, to a 5920G, purchased in the summer. What really guts me is having to take off Vista off the school's laptops and put on XP just so it has the county's service support...
Chris