Some of the boutique / enthusiast shops will send the disks along, but the major manufacturers don't like to and you have to wheedle it out of them, either by special request or extra fee. See the following image (I took two screencaps from dell's current website and pasted them together). Click me.
Now, they don't completely leave you hanging; they DO include a way for you to recover to factory settings (the hidden recovery partition), they just don't include a disk is all. Disks are an extra expense, Dell can charge extra for a disk if they don't include it by default, aaaaand I'm sure the companies paying to have their bloatware pre-installed don't like users having an easy way to get rid of it (recovery disks don't have bloatware; recovery partitions do).
Now, they don't completely leave you hanging; they DO include a way for you to recover to factory settings (the hidden recovery partition), they just don't include a disk is all. Disks are an extra expense, Dell can charge extra for a disk if they don't include it by default, aaaaand I'm sure the companies paying to have their bloatware pre-installed don't like users having an easy way to get rid of it (recovery disks don't have bloatware; recovery partitions do).
New PC: to build or not to build
- 02/05/2011 04:16:46 PM
1159 Views
The advantages of building your own computer seem to be smaller these days.
- 02/05/2011 05:19:09 PM
920 Views
I take satisfaction in tinkering with computers...
- 02/05/2011 06:40:12 PM
1267 Views
Also, one of the big savings for building your own computer...
- 02/05/2011 07:27:37 PM
938 Views
yah that's part of the problem. I don't have a desktop right now. Not even a case
- 02/05/2011 07:37:45 PM
926 Views
It's not hard at all anymore. Link for Lorraine, too
- 02/05/2011 09:32:48 PM
1047 Views
I always buy Intel. Papa works there
- 02/05/2011 09:39:00 PM
1005 Views
- 02/05/2011 09:39:00 PM
1005 Views
Huh, small world. What site?
- 02/05/2011 10:36:55 PM
1137 Views
I have no idea what the name of his site is. Probably not that one
- 03/05/2011 01:50:38 AM
884 Views
- 03/05/2011 01:50:38 AM
884 Views
I don't know about you...
- 02/05/2011 08:21:41 PM
980 Views
Just get a pre-made and add a few components (ie: graphics card) to make you feel like you built it. *NM*
- 02/05/2011 08:53:07 PM
478 Views
Build it.
- 03/05/2011 02:54:12 PM
1095 Views
Warranty/Troubleshooting
- 03/05/2011 04:14:47 PM
922 Views
How?
- 03/05/2011 05:04:27 PM
907 Views
Re: How?
- 03/05/2011 06:47:56 PM
885 Views
Wow, I never heard about that.
- 03/05/2011 07:10:07 PM
947 Views
Nah, it was years ago. The one you gave me advice for was the replacement of the replacement, hah
- 03/05/2011 07:41:24 PM
874 Views
Yeah, I meant the power supply of the problem machine.
- 03/05/2011 08:10:04 PM
926 Views
Ah. yeah, it was one of the pieces that got replaced. It was probably at least partially responsible *NM*
- 03/05/2011 08:12:50 PM
513 Views
I like how you seem to think I'd buy a Dell
- 03/05/2011 04:17:58 PM
929 Views
If you like tinkering, then build one. Quality control is all on you, but it's "yours" then.
- 03/05/2011 03:00:21 PM
902 Views
#1 reason to build your own: no pre-loaded bloatware. *NM*
- 03/05/2011 04:52:45 PM
492 Views
Or just format when you get it. *NM*
- 03/05/2011 06:48:47 PM
475 Views
With a pre-built you can't often do that.
- 03/05/2011 07:19:28 PM
931 Views
for the record, sometimes stores will remove the bloatware for you
- 03/05/2011 07:28:58 PM
864 Views
Do prebuilts come without OS discs these days? That's bullshit. *NM*
- 03/05/2011 07:43:39 PM
497 Views
Yah, they don't.
- 03/05/2011 07:47:36 PM
895 Views
Well, it's understandable, just annoying.
- 03/05/2011 08:05:00 PM
890 Views
You really should just stop using Dell as your example
- 03/05/2011 10:51:10 PM
872 Views
- 03/05/2011 10:51:10 PM
872 Views
Oh, hush.
- 04/05/2011 12:50:15 AM
1053 Views
- 04/05/2011 12:50:15 AM
1053 Views
YOU SHALL NOT MALIGN THE HP!!!
- 04/05/2011 10:16:50 AM
903 Views
Re: YOU SHALL NOT MALIGN THE HP!!!
- 04/05/2011 04:55:49 PM
955 Views
My anecdotal evidence has HP failures being rare but spectacular.
- 04/05/2011 08:19:52 PM
907 Views
I had a Compaq laptop (built after HP had bought Compaq).
- 04/05/2011 09:13:54 PM
879 Views
Huh. I have a Compaq too. It shipped with bad RAM, but once I fixed that it's worked like a charm.
- 05/05/2011 12:43:48 AM
873 Views
Yes, almost without exception.
- 03/05/2011 07:58:32 PM
1041 Views

*NM*