What laptops don't come preloaded with bloatware?

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Bdonedge

Gawd
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Jun 10, 2010
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Title says it all. On the market for a laptop but last time I bought one I saw how many of them came loaded with crap bloatware. Are there brands that DON'T do that besides apple?

I know HP and Acer do and that's about as far as my knowledge goes
 
1. Buy laptop, choosing the cheapest HDD option
2. Remove HDD
3. Install third-party SSD
4. Install OS fresh
= no bloatware
 
Toepunch said:
Buy the laptop that you want. You can reinstall with the CD key it came with. If no sticker is on the bottom use https://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/ to get your cd key
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Hey that's a pretty handy program.

My brother got an MSI for Christmas and I set it up for him, I don't recall seeing any bloatware on it, maybe just McAfee or something. Nothing like the endless pop-ups that HP gives you.
 
The HP Spectre x360 is plain jane Windows 8.1 and nothing else. I know the windows store has a couple of laptops that are considered "premium" and have nothing but the operating system.

Any HP also has a minimal reformat option which will format the OS partition with nothing but the OS and drivers. No key needed.
 
Weirdly enough, other than a few driver update utilities from Dell, the last Alienware laptop I bought only had one piece of bloatware, McAfee Virus(can). Also if you buy from the Microsoft Store they have a program called "Microsoft Signature" that means the system ships without bloatware. But realistically, just buy what you want to buy and then wipe it. It's 100% guaranteed and you end up with the exact hardware you want.

Anyone saying about a sticker for reinstalling Windows is a bit out of date, all systems that shipped with Windows 8 or newer have the key embedded in the bios from the factory so all you need to do is download the installation image from Microsoft and install it, it will read your key from the BIOS without you having to do anything at all.
 
what i tend to do is. i have a USB with windows 7 and others with windows 8 and so on. i usually get belarc and get all the licence keys for my software. included the OS key, and any software packaged that i want to keep. i then just reformat and re-install the OS. takes a little while but helps removing all that crap ware. i personally like clevo and sager laptops ive had several and never had bloat ware. it depends on where you get it from.
companies like dell, HP, lenovo, etc. all have their own software they install. most of it is junk, but they also have contracts with other companies like McAfee, norton and so on. to install their software.

so in short get what ever computer you want, copy the licence keys you want to use. re-install windows and happy computering to you
 
This may sound stupid, but how do you get the legal windows image to install on a computer?
I thought you had to format to install windows on a computer?

I'm looking at a bunch of computers that don't have optical drives, so are you all saying to put it on a USB drive and then just do a fresh install?
 
Bdonedge said:
This may sound stupid, but how do you get the legal windows image to install on a computer?
I thought you had to format to install windows on a computer?

I'm looking at a bunch of computers that don't have optical drives, so are you all saying to put it on a USB drive and then just do a fresh install?
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Install images can be obtained via torrents (these images do not work without licenses these are not illegal warez images), just make sure you validate the file hash against the published hashes on MSDN. If it doesn't match, DO NOT USE IT.

More info: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#step1
 
you can actually download them right from windows. it requires a windows account. and you get the "trial version. of the software you want and then activate it with your product key from you laptop.
the download will be an ISO file usually, if you have a 8gig or higher flash drive you can burn the iso on there.
there are tons of guides that show this online.

torrents are fine, you can go that route. just make sure you get the same version OS,
EX: if you have windows 8.1 home, download the home version. this way your key will work for it.
 
campingtomz said:
torrents are fine, you can go that route. just make sure you get the same version OS,
EX: if you have windows 8.1 home, download the home version. this way your key will work for it.
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Torrents are definitely NOT a good way to get ISO's unless you know how to verify them with an MD5. I can package up an ISO that installs windows for you all day long, complete with my own preloaded malware on it. Also, not every image of a similar level will activate with every key.

Also, as far the key goes, most Windows 8 OEM workstations these days don't ship with a COA anymore. Instead the key is written in the BIOS and the installer picks it up automatically.
 
valid point with torrents get from a trusted source. example: privet torrent sites, or one with plently of comments if you want to go that route.
another option you have and ive done this. is call up the manufacture and request an ISO or a DVD with the OS on it. depending on the manufacture they will sent it to you with out any issue.

as to the Key being in the BIO's thats only if you are using the OEM disk and if the computer is set up that way, which i advise you doing. you can still use several tools to get the product number of the OS. to reuse.
 
You don't need a 'trusted' source, you just need to verify the hashes against the published ones on MSDN. Use sha1sum on *nix or FCIV on Windows. It is probably the easiest way to get proper install images. If the digital river links were still up that would be preferred, but they are not.
 
You can buy a signiture addition of the laptop you want from the Microsoft store. The price is usually the cheapest as well.
 
Other than MSE, I think the only installed "bloat" that come with Microsoft Signature PC's is Windows Essentials. It's one item uninstall if you don't want mail and such.
 
FRZ said:
You can buy a signiture addition of the laptop you want from the Microsoft store. The price is usually the cheapest as well.
Click to expand...

That was my first thought as well.

The other option is going with a business computer. If you buy a business dell for instance you have the dell security software and maybe an av trial to remove.
 
The problem I have had with reformatting a laptop to remove bloatware is sometimes all the drivers aren't on the makers website. I had an issue like that with my asus laptop, where one of the drivers was preinstalled but it wasn't on their website and its one of those stupid drivers that the manufacturer of the part tells you to see laptop maker to get it.
 
munkle said:
The problem I have had with reformatting a laptop to remove bloatware is sometimes all the drivers aren't on the makers website. I had an issue like that with my asus laptop, where one of the drivers was preinstalled but it wasn't on their website and its one of those stupid drivers that the manufacturer of the part tells you to see laptop maker to get it.
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You've got a couple of choices there:

Usually drivers installs are sitting somewhere on the machine. Might be in a plain folder, or somewhere on a hidden partition. Poke around, odds are the drivers are sitting there for you already. These things are usually deployed in a way that the OEM puts the drivers in a folder and tells their image to look in a specific folder for drivers while it's doing driver discovery. That means you can find that folder and use it, too. My Asus was like that.

You could also use Driver Magician Lite to back up the driver into a folder, and then just install it after you rebuild.

You could also post here for help in locating the driver...someone has it, or knows how to get it!
 
I can confirm that there was no bloatware on the Dell XPS 13 Microsoft Signature edition. It looks like a clean install.
 
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