Dell laptops

xb8browney · 30 May 2008 at 08:11

After spilling a full glass of water over my laptop I’ve ordered an Inspiron 1525.
I haven’t had a computer from a shop for some time and was wondering if it’s worth formatting the laptop when it arrives and putting a clean install of vista on to get rid of dells pre installed software or is this not needed anymore?

Tesla · 30 May 2008 at 08:32

Experience dictates their is a fair bit of Dell rubbish on there so from an enthusiast user's point of view I would recommend doing your own clean install and tweaking it just how you like.

xb8browney · 30 May 2008 at 09:25

Thanks, When I got my Acer laptop over a year ago now it came with a corrupt XP so I formated straight away any way.

Emlyn_Dewar · 30 May 2008 at 09:39

Definately format, Dell do like to bloat out their OS installs with quite a bit of rubbish.

xb8browney · 30 May 2008 at 09:41

Just out of interest

Order Date: 28/05/2008
Estimated Delivery Date (on or before this date): 12/06/2008

Your order is in production as of 29/05/2008

How often does your item arrive before the Estimated Delivery Date

Raumarik · 30 May 2008 at 11:47

It's fairly random mate, I'd be more worried about it being "lost" on the way by the courier than I would about it being late or early!

Nice system though, wish I could afford that! I'm currently looking at the Dell outlet for one that takes my fancy over the weekend

xb8browney · 30 May 2008 at 11:52

I didn't think that problem happend to often :S do they use UPS?

Joebob · 1 Jun 2008 at 10:00

xb8browney said:
Just out of interest

Order Date: 28/05/2008
Estimated Delivery Date (on or before this date): 12/06/2008

Your order is in production as of 29/05/2008

How often does your item arrive before the Estimated Delivery Date

I ordered a laptop from Dell a few weeks back and it arrived much quicker than the suggested delivery date.

TheVoice · 1 Jun 2008 at 10:06

Yep, definitely worth wiping it clean and doing a fresh install of Vista. Also a good idea to download the latest drivers beforehand from the Dell website so it's all up-to-date.

xb8browney · 1 Jun 2008 at 14:16

The order is now at the state were the delivery company will phone to arange a date.

I dont think I'll format as soon as I get it.. Maybe in a few weeks time.

fish99 · 1 Jun 2008 at 14:39

I just uninstalled anything I didn't like and it's running like a dream now.

MagicBoy · 1 Jun 2008 at 14:51

Try uninstalling the crap first. If that doesn't work then Nuke it.

There's always that one driver you can't find :-)

Yurka · 1 Jun 2008 at 15:15

do the CDs/Keys they provide when you with allow you to reformat without needing a new key? or is it a one off install? also do the OS install CDs come filled with bloatware etc?

xb8browney · 1 Jun 2008 at 17:53

Yurka said:
do the CDs/Keys they provide when you with allow you to reformat without needing a new key? or is it a one off install? also do the OS install CDs come filled with bloatware etc?

I'do also like to know this. Although I use MSDN atm

Qdos · 1 Jun 2008 at 19:44

Yurka said:
do the CDs/Keys they provide when you with allow you to reformat without needing a new key? or is it a one off install? also do the OS install CDs come filled with bloatware etc?

As far as needing a new key, no - the one attached to the laptop base is the only key you need. That's for XP anyway, don't know how it works for Vista.

I found with my Vostro, because it's a business machine, it didn't come with the usual bloatware from Dell - the only thing it had is the Dell Service Centre. Certainly better than any PC/laptop coming from the Dell Home site.

fish99 · 1 Jun 2008 at 22:17

Weird because my Vostro was full of bloat. Simple job to get rid of though, just takes a few hours.

The CD is just a regular oem OS CD AFAIK not a repair CD so there should be nothing dell on there.

GeForce · 1 Jun 2008 at 22:34

I just reformatted my Vostro 1500 pretty much as soon as I got it. Was nice and easy, drivers all from the Dell site.

Jon

TheVoice · 1 Jun 2008 at 23:50

Yurka said:
do the CDs/Keys they provide when you with allow you to reformat without needing a new key? or is it a one off install? also do the OS install CDs come filled with bloatware etc?

Assuming you get Vista, you won't need to enter a product key. I have a feeling you don't have to activate either, but I can't remember.

The OS disc is just Windows, nothing more. The only tell-tale sign that it's an OEM version is the Dell logo on the System Information screen.

Yas786 · 2 Jun 2008 at 00:12

As far as i know, with my XPS 1210 laptop which came with Vista Ultimate, there isnt any need for a key etc and neither is there any need to activate it. I just re-installed Vista on my laptop as originally i was running win xp pro. But Vista runs like a dream on it, although it seems a bit more resource hungry than win xp was.

As for bloatware??, compared to the other crap ive seen on other manufacturers laptops...Dell arent as bad. But definitely worth giving it a re-format and re-install though.

Yurka · 2 Jun 2008 at 10:22

TheVoice said:
The OS disc is just Windows, nothing more. The only tell-tale sign that it's an OEM version is the Dell logo on the System Information screen.

The OEM bit is the worrying bit for me though, as the CD key they provide is only a one off install isn't it? (i.e. OS installed at Dell - being the one time use only of that key) hence not allowing you to reuse the key which is stuck onto the OS disc. I take it this is the case with XP... (I kinda prefer XP to vista) as vista just recognises the hardware signature that is linked to the key when it is first installed.

or have I just got that completely all wrong? :confused: