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Is there a laptop manufacturer that is bloat free?

FordGT90Concept

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My go-to vendor used to be Systemax because they don't put any bloat on computers unless you explicitly request it. They seem to be exiting the business so I'm looking for a different bloat-free vendor that offers laptops for less than $750 (must have a DVD+/-RW). Anyone know of any?

An acceptable alternative bloat is that comes with Windows install disk (bloat not on the images). I perfer disks no matter what.
 
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FordGT90Concept

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If you are ordering in bulk I believe you can get your run-off-the-mill Dell not to install bloat, if the order is not large enough for specifics then its small enough for you to manually reformat everything :D
 

FordGT90Concept

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There is a decrapifier program for new laptops and pc's just for this purpose:
http://pcdecrapifier.com/
I'd rather there be no bloat in the first place. Programs like that inevitably miss files, folders, and registry keys.


If you are ordering in bulk I believe you can get your run-off-the-mill Dell not to install bloat, if the order is not large enough for specifics then its small enough for you to manually reformat everything :D
No, just one. :(

Does Dell come with the necessary disks to do a clean install? Obviously, said disks can't have the bloat on them or it defeats the purpose.
 

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Does Dell come with the necessary disks to do a clean install? Obviously, said disks can't have the bloat on them or it defeats the purpose.

Well I purged my sister's Dell, installed a fresh Win7 recovery off one of my backup discs, then proceeded to install drivers (actually only the AMD driver) from the Dell website. No bloat. You can do that for most laptops, the only "bloat" necessary is usually special drivers for the graphics and sometimes audio, and for some laptops keyboard and touchpad shortcuts.
 

FordGT90Concept

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Unfortunately, this will be a Windows 8 laptop and I don't have any Windows 8 disks yet. If it doesn't come with one, that option won't work. :(
 

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Unfortunately, this will be a Windows 8 laptop and I don't have any Windows 8 disks yet. If it doesn't come with one, that option won't work. :(

You can probably download a copy of win8 into a USB stick or external harddrive, set that as bootable partition and continue from there as in win7.
 

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My go-to vendor used to be Systemax because they don't put any bloat on computers unless you explicitly request it. They seem to be exiting the business so I'm looking for a different bloat-free vendor that offers laptops for less than $750 (must have a DVD+/-RW). Anyone know of any?

An acceptable alternative bloat is that comes with Windows install disk (bloat not on the images). I perfer disks no matter what.

Just use your own discs to re-install the OS without bloat, I throw away any disc that comes with any laptop I buy and format the hard drive and re-install from my own clean disc right when I pull the laptop out of the box.
 
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Yep just get a copy of Windows 7 from digitalrivercontent and use the key off your new laptop. Keep the image in place just in case you need to send it back for any reason
 
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can't you not uninstall all the bloatware? just asking.

Like Newtekie said re-image with ur favorite OS and configure the way you like it. That is what I do. I pulled the disk that came in my laptop, replaced with SSD, installed my own W8 and used the disk for storage.

When compared to other Dell comes with less bloatware.
 

FordGT90Concept

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Just use your own discs to re-install the OS without bloat, I throw away any disc that comes with any laptop I buy and format the hard drive and re-install from my own clean disc right when I pull the laptop out of the box.
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2845942&postcount=8


Yep just get a copy of Windows 7 from digitalrivercontent and use the key off your new laptop. Keep the image in place just in case you need to send it back for any reason
Laptop will definitely have Windows 8. He expressed a need to boot quickly and Win8 boots much faster than Win7. I can't find any Win8 links related to digitalrivercontent. Not to mention, Win7 computers are rare already.


can't you not uninstall all the bloatware? just asking.
Every computer that came packed with bloat would:
a) take longer to uninstall said bloat than quickformat, install new OS, install drivers, and get everything updated.

b) Uninstalling bloat has often lead to system instability.

c) Uninstallers rarely completely remove the software.

Best solution is to simply not have it exist in the first place.


When compared to other Dell comes with less bloatware.
I gravitated towards Dell first (Inspiron 15R) but when I went to customize, it didn't ask about hardware, it asked about software--about 15 pages of it. Most of them it doesn't give an option to opt out of (e.g McCfee crapware is mandatory). I said "fuck that," closed it, can started this thread.
 
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Download win 8 and reformat with it? Making sure you copy your key before doing the reformat.

Wouldn't that work?
 

FordGT90Concept

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Download from where? I don't have a MSDN subscription. :(
 

theonedub

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You put your product key into MS Website and they will let you download the ISO, I did it with my Win 8 key a couple months ago. Let me find links.
 
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Download from where? I don't have a MSDN subscription. :(

A certain bay? You would have already bought the thing.

NVM: theonedub says you can just get the ISO directly form Microsoft.
 
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You know, come to think of it, last fall I bought a Clevo W110ER from Cyberpowerpc.com for Diablo 3 on the go and it came with ZERO bloatware AND a Custom Win 7 restore CD with the laptop drivers on it.
 

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Here you go:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/upgrade-product-key-only

Download the installer, follow directions, and you should be good to go. The only thing is I used this with a retail Win 8 Pro key, haven't tried it with a OEM Key.

If that doesn't work, I could easily ship you off a DVD with the ISO of Win8 Pro x64 (thats the ISO I have in hand direct from MS).
 

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Here you go:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/upgrade-product-key-only

Download the installer, follow directions, and you should be good to go. The only thing is I used this with a retail Win 8 Pro key, haven't tried it with a OEM Key.
Does the image it provide work on a blank drive (no existing OS)? Also, it will be an OEM key because the key will be whatever the computer comes with.

Eh, "this must be a PC that is currently running Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3), Windows 8 Release Preview, Windows 8 Consumer Preview, or Windows Developer Preview." And, "don't format your hard drive before installing Windows 8. Your current version of Windows must be running when you begin installing Windows 8." Sounds like upgrade only. I hate upgrades as much as bloat. :(


I'm finding systems at (Clevo search lead me there, Clevo seems like an OEM for large orders) Sager and CyberPowerPCs that may do the job (might have to talk him up a little on price). Anyone have any comments on Sager/CyberPowerPC laptops?

Edit: CyberPowerPC is looking a bit spendy and there's no way to option out a dedicate graphics card. Battery life is more important to this customer than performance. He'll be using it in a place where power is virtually nonexistant.
 
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I've been perfectly happy with my cyberpowerpc and they were cheaper than avadirect, xotic, ion, etc. when I purchased mine. Sign up and they have email holiday upgrades and promotions too.
 
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Think they did have some slim line hd4000 only laptops when I bought last year.
 

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Does the image it provide work on a blank drive (no existing OS)? Also, it will be an OEM key because the key will be whatever the computer comes with.

Eh, "this must be a PC that is currently running Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3), Windows 8 Release Preview, Windows 8 Consumer Preview, or Windows Developer Preview." And, "don't format your hard drive before installing Windows 8. Your current version of Windows must be running when you begin installing Windows 8." Sounds like upgrade only. I hate upgrades as much as bloat. :(


I'm finding systems at (Clevo search lead me there, Clevo seems like an OEM for large orders) Sager and CyberPowerPCs that may do the job (might have to talk him up a little on price). Anyone have any comments on Sager/CyberPowerPC laptops?

Edit: CyberPowerPC is looking a bit spendy and there's no way to option out a dedicate graphics card. Battery life is more important to this customer than performance. He'll be using it in a place where power is virtually nonexistant.

I believe it gives you the ISO that corresponds to your key. So when I put in my Retail Win8 Pro key it gave me the Full Win 8 Pro ISO which I then installed to a non-partitioned DBAN'd drive without any issue. There was no double install, no registry hacks, etc just install and go.

The upgrade part about not formatting would then only apply to those with upgrade keys (like the $15 promo upgrades, for example). Full retail keys need not worry.

Like I mentioned, the only hiccup I can foresee is it not accepting an OEM key. I'll text my brother and attempt to get the product key off his new Win 8 laptop and see if it works :cool:
 

FordGT90Concept

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Think they did have some slim line hd4000 only laptops when I bought last year.
"Slim line" probably means no DVD+/-RW which is also a must.

I pretty much ruled out CyberPowerPC as being too expensive/too battery draining. Sager looks like the best option I've seen so far. Can anyone comment on their bloat/inclusion of disks?


Like I mentioned, the only hiccup I can foresee is it not accepting an OEM key. I'll text my brother and attempt to get the product key off his new Win 8 laptop and see if it works :cool:
That'd be awesome.
 

newtekie1

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