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
1251 Views
The advantages of building your own computer seem to be smaller these days.
- 02/05/2011 05:19:09 PM
1003 Views
I take satisfaction in tinkering with computers...
- 02/05/2011 06:40:12 PM
1356 Views
Also, one of the big savings for building your own computer...
- 02/05/2011 07:27:37 PM
1026 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
1020 Views
It's not hard at all anymore. Link for Lorraine, too
- 02/05/2011 09:32:48 PM
1141 Views
I always buy Intel. Papa works there
- 02/05/2011 09:39:00 PM
1091 Views
- 02/05/2011 09:39:00 PM
1091 Views
Huh, small world. What site?
- 02/05/2011 10:36:55 PM
1211 Views
I have no idea what the name of his site is. Probably not that one
- 03/05/2011 01:50:38 AM
978 Views
- 03/05/2011 01:50:38 AM
978 Views
I don't know about you...
- 02/05/2011 08:21:41 PM
1072 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
515 Views
Build it.
- 03/05/2011 02:54:12 PM
1175 Views
Warranty/Troubleshooting
- 03/05/2011 04:14:47 PM
1008 Views
How?
- 03/05/2011 05:04:27 PM
990 Views
Re: How?
- 03/05/2011 06:47:56 PM
979 Views
Wow, I never heard about that.
- 03/05/2011 07:10:07 PM
1029 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
965 Views
Yeah, I meant the power supply of the problem machine.
- 03/05/2011 08:10:04 PM
1017 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
558 Views
I like how you seem to think I'd buy a Dell
- 03/05/2011 04:17:58 PM
1012 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
990 Views
#1 reason to build your own: no pre-loaded bloatware. *NM*
- 03/05/2011 04:52:45 PM
533 Views
Or just format when you get it. *NM*
- 03/05/2011 06:48:47 PM
512 Views
With a pre-built you can't often do that.
- 03/05/2011 07:19:28 PM
1021 Views
for the record, sometimes stores will remove the bloatware for you
- 03/05/2011 07:28:58 PM
950 Views
Do prebuilts come without OS discs these days? That's bullshit. *NM*
- 03/05/2011 07:43:39 PM
542 Views
Yah, they don't.
- 03/05/2011 07:47:36 PM
978 Views
Well, it's understandable, just annoying.
- 03/05/2011 08:05:00 PM
973 Views
You really should just stop using Dell as your example
- 03/05/2011 10:51:10 PM
958 Views
- 03/05/2011 10:51:10 PM
958 Views
Oh, hush.
- 04/05/2011 12:50:15 AM
1150 Views
- 04/05/2011 12:50:15 AM
1150 Views
YOU SHALL NOT MALIGN THE HP!!!
- 04/05/2011 10:16:50 AM
998 Views
Re: YOU SHALL NOT MALIGN THE HP!!!
- 04/05/2011 04:55:49 PM
1041 Views
My anecdotal evidence has HP failures being rare but spectacular.
- 04/05/2011 08:19:52 PM
999 Views
I had a Compaq laptop (built after HP had bought Compaq).
- 04/05/2011 09:13:54 PM
962 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
962 Views
Yes, almost without exception.
- 03/05/2011 07:58:32 PM
1128 Views

*NM*