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
- 1023 Views
The advantages of building your own computer seem to be smaller these days.
02/05/2011 05:19:09 PM
- 801 Views
I take satisfaction in tinkering with computers...
02/05/2011 06:40:12 PM
- 1123 Views
Also, one of the big savings for building your own computer...
02/05/2011 07:27:37 PM
- 792 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
- 783 Views
It's not hard at all anymore. Link for Lorraine, too
02/05/2011 09:32:48 PM
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I always buy Intel. Papa works there
02/05/2011 09:39:00 PM
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Huh, small world. What site?
02/05/2011 10:36:55 PM
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I have no idea what the name of his site is. Probably not that one
03/05/2011 01:50:38 AM
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I don't know about you...
02/05/2011 08:21:41 PM
- 822 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
- 393 Views
Build it.
03/05/2011 02:54:12 PM
- 951 Views
Warranty/Troubleshooting
03/05/2011 04:14:47 PM
- 799 Views
How?
03/05/2011 05:04:27 PM
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Re: How?
03/05/2011 06:47:56 PM
- 751 Views
Wow, I never heard about that.
03/05/2011 07:10:07 PM
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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
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Yeah, I meant the power supply of the problem machine.
03/05/2011 08:10:04 PM
- 800 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
- 434 Views
I like how you seem to think I'd buy a Dell
03/05/2011 04:17:58 PM
- 783 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
- 750 Views
#1 reason to build your own: no pre-loaded bloatware. *NM*
03/05/2011 04:52:45 PM
- 417 Views
Or just format when you get it. *NM*
03/05/2011 06:48:47 PM
- 402 Views
With a pre-built you can't often do that.
03/05/2011 07:19:28 PM
- 789 Views
for the record, sometimes stores will remove the bloatware for you
03/05/2011 07:28:58 PM
- 714 Views
Do prebuilts come without OS discs these days? That's bullshit. *NM*
03/05/2011 07:43:39 PM
- 422 Views
Yah, they don't.
03/05/2011 07:47:36 PM
- 748 Views
Well, it's understandable, just annoying.
03/05/2011 08:05:00 PM
- 740 Views
You really should just stop using Dell as your example
03/05/2011 10:51:10 PM
- 737 Views

Oh, hush.
04/05/2011 12:50:15 AM
- 905 Views

YOU SHALL NOT MALIGN THE HP!!!
04/05/2011 10:16:50 AM
- 758 Views
Re: YOU SHALL NOT MALIGN THE HP!!!
04/05/2011 04:55:49 PM
- 813 Views
My anecdotal evidence has HP failures being rare but spectacular.
04/05/2011 08:19:52 PM
- 760 Views
I had a Compaq laptop (built after HP had bought Compaq).
04/05/2011 09:13:54 PM
- 735 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
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Yes, almost without exception.
03/05/2011 07:58:32 PM
- 885 Views