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Dissatisified with Dell computers

S

shankle

Weaksauce
Joined
Sep 28, 2008
Messages
89
Hope this is in the right place. If not please move it and tell me where you put it.

I asked Dell for a computer with no OS on the hard drive and a dvd with the full
Windows 7 pro 64-bit. They could not or would not accomodate me.
So I am looking around for another Mfg. that I can get this requirement satisfied.
Been hearing bad things about HP and their China connections. But I think with
all the stoppers I plan on putting on a new computer I can get around that.
Then there is the 2nd partition that HP puts on the hard drive. Don't know what
that is for but would delete it as soon as I got one of their computers.
Any Ideas????
 
Ideas for what? I'm not sure what you're looking for here.
 
The second partition is most likely for the restore information if it had an OS. Will Dell sell you the OS DVD? If you know you are going to have to wipe a drive, shop for the best deal on the hardware you want. As far as Chine goes, not sure HP is much different from several other OEMs.
 
Just about every computer maker these days has the OS and original software on a recovery partition. Dell, HP, Acer/Emachines, are some I know for sure who do this because I have owned them all.
You just get that recovery partition, no separate DVD with an OS. Of course at work we have a few Dell Precision desktops and I did see an OS DVD floating around for one of those, but I don't remember how old that computer was. It might have been a few years old and before this new trend.

Anyway, if you have one of these computers with just the OS and software on a separate partition there are a few workarounds to make sure you can reinstall things later if you really want to.

1. During setup it will ask you to make backup DVDs. Basically it dumps all the stuff from the recovery partition to about 3 or 4 DVDs and those can be used to reinstall everything even if the hard drive dies and you need a new one. Dell, HP, and Emachines/Acer have this part of the setup for sure, not sure of other brands. If paranoid like me, make the DVDs and then make a copy of those so you have two sets.

and/or..

2. Buy an extra hard drive. If you are paranoid about making sure you can reinstall the OS later, do number one above and make the back up DVDs. Next, pull the original drive and put in your new drive. Now you have the original drive with OS partition intact, plus the backup DVDs. You have two ways to reinstall the OS and software if you want later.
 
OP, are you serious? None of the major computer manufacturer sells blank machines in the US let alone blank machine with an OS disk. (Some do sell blank machines outside of the US)

Buy a Dell business machine and it comes with Windows 7 Pro x64 (the exception is the Vostro 1400 series which comes with Windows 7 home premium x64 and disk but you can upgrade to 7 pro for $70) and the Dell branded Windows 7 Pro DVD. WIPE THE HARD DRIVE and do what you want. The Dell branded OS disk contains only the OS and nothing else. They may or may not ship a driver disk depending upon model.I have yet to receive a Dell machine that didn't at least include the OS disk. If for some reason it does not have one, Dell will be happy to ship you one (usually for free). I just got a Vostro 3450 and it came with Win 7 Pro X64 and the disk.

You can also use WIndows 7 built in system image tool to create an exact copy of the installtion but you will need an OS disk to restore it. Dell does not overload their business machines with crap because they KNOW their customers don't like it.

Vostro came with

Dell Diagnostics
Dell backup/restore (data safe)
Trend Micro
Roxio Creator
 
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Thanks for your answers.
Guess I will have to accept a loaded HD.
If I get a HP, my method would be to back up the HD with Clonezilla-live.
Remove the D partition and back up with Clonezilla again. This way I have my
backups on an external HD, which has worked very well in the past.
Generally HP seems to offer more computer than Dell IMHO.
 
If you are so worried about a NON OEM loaded machine then just build one. Seems like a lot of trouble to go through for features you don't want.
 
People buy desktops for themselves ? Build one and have it your way. Dell is no Burger King.
 
Just in the way of an explanation, from what I understand from a friend who does a lot with SAP, it's not strictly speaking impossible to do this, but it would be such a PITA and probably require access that the rep doesn't have, that it may as well be.
 
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