Dell Drivers

I have never had a Dell laptop before , and am considering the new L702X .
From the little I've seen , I understand there is some "thing" with the drivers on the Dell laptops . You have to manually install them , and they don't come pre-installed as with other brands ? Or is it some other problem ? Can someone please elaborate on this ?

 

When you buy it you get the driver/applications disc. Dells don't provide the OS disc anymore for free, you have to make your own or buy it later/time of purchase.

All drivers can be had @ support.dell.com and punching in your Service Tag.

 

Thanks Tsunade_Hime . I had a look here
Dell - Support
It does look to be a source of possible complications . I have a 3 yr old HP , with all my install software on a small protected special partition on the HD . It has been very helpful and convenient over the years . Dell doesn't do this ?
I'm still not clear - you have to install using the driver/applications disc received on purchase , or it's all pre-installed , and this disc is required to make an OS disc ?

 

Right every brand new laptop comes with a recovery partition. However if your hard drive fails, your recovery partition is gone. HP recovery media will recreate the partition as well Acer/Gateway/eMachines and Lenovo.

No the drivers/applications disc is in case you DO have to reformat and your recovery partition is not working/corrupt. All your applications and stuff is preinstalled. Make sure you create recovery media because you don't get recovery media anymore from any manufacturer.

 

Thanks Tsunade_Hime . From the link I provided above - creating a recovery media requires DataSafe , or you can just do it without that ?
Can you provide a link please , for purchasing the OS disk ?
Since Oct , 2010 - you've made 3,201 posts - probably deserve a medal .

 

You don't need to purchase the OS disk if you own the license, you can just download it legally
Download Windows 7 ISO (Official 32-bit and 64-bit Direct Download Links) My Digital Life

 

Thanks stonetrap . Dell does not have their own special version of Win 7 for their laptops ?

 

If you contact them, they will send the OS disk for free. One per system.

 

OK - thanks deerchaser .

 

I'll confirm this. I did this and it works 100%.

 

I'm not aware of anyone that makes a "special" version of Windows 7. What companies will do, however, is add their own software (aka bloatware) to their installations of Windows 7. Dell has some stuff such as a little task bar thingy, face recognition login, and such, but nothing that I haven't since removed

 

Only if you are under manufacturer warranty.

Plus that OEM image is useless without a COA. Unfortunately after many years the COA can get rubbed off.

Dell has some of the least bloatware out of all the PC manufacturers. HP/Compaq, Acer/Gateway/eMachines, Toshiba and Sony have some of the worst bloatware.

 

Thanks RacingGun - I could be wrong . Forgetting bloat software - my understanding was that with laptops , as opposed to desktops , the manufacturer has a lot of proprietry software there - display drivers being a prime example . Generally , you can't just install the latest AMD/Nvidia/Intel drivers - the manufacturers themselves say not to do it . It may sometimes work , and there are workarounds available . So , I understood , there are all sorts of other drivers , and interfacing software to Windows , which are proprietry . I have actually never tried to install a standard Windows on a laptop - maybe someone out there has ?
Tsunade_Hime - COA is the special number ? It's on the disk ? Shouldn't the customer have a copy of that number ?

 

Hey guys, I don't wanna hijack your thread, but I needed to ask a related question, and you seem to know some stuff.

I'm looking at buying the 502 in Korea, but Dell here says they can only send me an English OS if I upgrade to Ultimate for $100. I'm thinking that I can just use the license key from the bottom of the machine to install an English version of Home Premium from those links; does that sound correct to you?

Thanks!

 

Speedboy3 -
1. well this is the question - as I've said above - I would think that wouldn't work - but I may be mistaken here .
2. My advice would be to somehow obtain a Dell Premium ( ? ) English OS for that model - shouldn't be any big deal . Dell Korea telling you , that you have to get Ultimate sounds like nonsense to me . Maybe try speaking there with someone else - more technical .
3. Even if installing from those links would work - as you know - strange things can sometimes happen with that - not the sort of thing you want to get caught up in .