When buying a laptop...

[BennyC]

Hi Guys,

I'll be buying a laptop soon and as with any computer over time it will start to clog and slow down with unused programs and files. Usually what I tend to do is back up what I need and reformat as its the quickest solution.

My brother brought a laptop when he went off to uni. He asked me to reformat it for him about a year later, as it was being mega slow. I asked if he had the recovery disk or windows OS disk and he said no and was never given one. So i used my version of XP but it didnt have any of the drivers for his laptop so there was no sound etc etc. He therefore had to pay £50 to buy the recovery disks.

A mate told me that its against the law to supply a desktop or Laptop without a recovery disk or version of the OS and drivers.

Is this true? and could someone clear up what a recovery disk actually does. Does it return the computer to the state when you first turn it on after purchase?

I'm asking this as if the retailer im buying from doesnt supply the discs where do i stand? Can i demand them as its costing nearly £1k and quote a law or act? or threaten legal action in an extreme case? or was my friend merely speaking out of his ass?

Sorry for the long post, any help is greatly appreciated.

Benny C

 

[VeNT]

IANAL but iirc when a retailer sells you a PC they have to supply SOME way of re-installing the software, be it from disk or a image on a hidden partition on the drive

BUT
if its 2nd hand then its buyer beware

 

[BenJ]

I have no idea about the laws e.t.c, but you could have installed the OS from your disk as you did and then downloaded the drivers from the manufacturers website? instead of paying £50 for the drivers disk.

 

[VeNT]

I have no idea about the laws e.t.c, but you could have installed the OS from your disk as you did and then downloaded the drivers from the manufacturers website? instead of paying £50 for the drivers disk.

or just do a little research online and see what chipset it uses etc

 

[Deep]

when i bought my acer laptop they didnt send a recovery disk
however they make sure that you create your own! either on 1 dvd or 4 cd's.

excellent idea, it an image of the hard drive after the software and drivers they provided are already on there.

i was told that a lot of manufacturers do this

 

[Ambro]

No it is not illegal for a company to not supply the customer with a recovery disk, although when setting up the computer the common practice among mnaufacturers at the moment is to get the user to create there own recovery disk and not actually supply one so i'm guessing your brother probably forgot to do this.

 

[skanky]

problem with OEM supplied recovery media is that come time to actually use it, its most likely well out of date with security patches/hotfixes and bloatware-o-rama!

 

[Tk7]

What the one deep said is pretty much accurate for most manufacturers at the moment.

The pc's tend to come with a hidden recovery partition, and the ability to create recovery media.

Toshiba is the only manufacturer I can think of that still provide recovery disks with the pc.

Nowadays, most OEM machines prompt the user on first boot to make a recovery disk. So if the partiton is lost or rendered useless(which would likely happen if Windows was installed from a Windows disk) and recovery hasn't been made, you can end up facing a charge for recovery media

 

[MeatLoaf]

My new hp laptop has a recovery partition but it also prompts you to create a set of recovery discs when you first start the system, it also says they recommend a set of discs as they wont sent you any if your hard drive fails taking the recovery partition with it

 

[BennyC]

ahh okay guys, thanks very much for all the info

 

[MNuTz]

but if you have to replace the HDD in a laptop like i just have your in for some trouble.

On the bottom of the laptop was a serial code for XP HOME OEM, i cant find my CD for it and the recovery disks where absolutely pants. Bought a cheap XP PRO second hand after a mate upgraded to Vista and installed that.

As for drivers, i just downloaded the network drivers onto a CD and installed them onto the laptop. Then i connected to the Toshiba drivers page and downloaded/installed all the ones that i need.

Still one short but i have no idea what it actually is