New 1530 - Worth Reformatting?

Hi

I've recently ordered a new 1530 from Dell and noticed that "generously" they're bundling it with Microsoft Works, a 30-day trial of McAffe and inevitably other trialware.

Usually the first thing I do when buying a new PC is to reformat it to remove the bloated rubbish it comes with - so I was just wondering if
1) People have found the XPS 1530 comes with a lot of pre-installed rubbish
2) The laptop comes with a Vista disc of some kind

Thanks!

 

Take a look at this

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=157838

And when your done with that.......

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=166532

 

Before you actually do whats in those, keep in mind that the "bloat" on the XPS really is very very minimal and are easy to find and remove. The main ones are:

1) Trial of MS Office
2) Antivirus (Can choose to not come with configuration before production.)
3) Roxio (Good CD/DVD burner, but takes up way too much space and requires a lot of memory. Better alternatives out there.)
4) Not really a program, but just web links that direct you to various places you dont need, though all these links are in a folder on the CD drive that you can simply delete.

Let me tell you about my experience. I ordered an M1530 like yourself (with 4 gigs ram, 7200RPM 250GB hard drive). It came in, but it had a few physical defects like the base wasnt level, the CD/DVD drive was really loud, the bottom RAM cover was not screwed on, etc. So I called in for a replacement. Since I was able to hold onto my old one, when my new one came, I tested boot speeds, which were identical at both 4 gigs of ram. Then I thought to myself, hey, what if I reformatted?

So I followed instructions to reformat the one that I was gonna ship back and after installing the appropriate drivers and everything, things were good. However, I decided to have another speed test turning both on at the same time.

Guess what happened? The one that I reformatted, lagged behind the other one by 6 seconds of startup time.

Thats what got me to NOT reformat my perfect replacement after actually experiencing that.

On top of that, other reasons why you shouldnt reformat, is you destroy the hidden partition on your drive which allows you to restore your laptop to factory condition. Also if you choose to reformat and reinstall media direct, the media direct partition takes up 3 gigs as opposed to the 2.5 gigs it takes up right out of the box.

Many people on the forums who receive their dream M1530s who believe that reformatting is awesome and bloat this bloat that, who carelessly reformat don't actually know sometimes what the consequences are and were never able to test two equally specced M1530s and test it out like I did.

I am sure glad that I got the replacement and was able to try it out for myself. If I had a perfect unit the first time, I might have reformatted it and have an even longer startup time.

 

Thanks forte. That is good to know.

 

Thanks for that, although there's also the nuisance factor of finding pre-installed content and having to uninstall / them interfering with my new proper-software installations.

Anyway, I eagerly await my 1530 then I can see if I think it needs it or not...

 

Nope, there is no nuisance whatsoever. Its just a matter of running the uninstalls that I mentioned above. And the web links I mentioned are in a root folder of the C: drive as well as your drivers which are in another folder. There is literally nothing difficult about locating them and removing them whatsoever. If you really really want 64-bit Vista... well, then you gotta reformat and do that no matter what. No choice there. If you call up dell and request a 64-bit windows disk, they will send it to you for FREE as it is per their policy that anyone with a system with a 32-bit version of Windows Vista is entitled to one. I got my 64-bit Vista disc just in case I ever feel like using it. Probably wont for a long long time, but its just nice to have around. ^^

In the end, the choice is up to you, but just keep my advice in mind.

 

Forte has some great advice for you.....I guess I just jumped to reformatting because I will be upgrading to 64 bit Vista haha

 

Oh ok - what's the deal with 64-bit Vista then please?

Sorry for my incompetence!! I've heard of 64-bit computing but never heard a genuine case FOR it.

And even though my 1530 has been dispatched can I still request a free 64-bit Vista DVD - since as Forte said - I can always do it later!

 

64-bit just lets you use up to 8GB of memory as opposed to 3.5GB being recognized. There really isn't anything thats worth moving to 64-bit simply because there are still many applications out there that arn't 64-bit yet.

Like I said in my earlier post, yes, you can still request a free 64-bit Vista DVD even after you receive your order. As long as you have a Dell computer with Windows vista, no matter how old it is, you are entitled to a free 64-bit DVD, they pay for shipping.

 

Nice - thanks for all your help Forte (repped btw!)

From surfing around people are saying 64 bit is generally faster too. My main use for the laptop is Office / Web / Email but I also do a bit of video editing, digital graphics and a little bit of gaming - would there be any benefit to 64 bit do you think?

 

Thanks a lot Forte! I was also set to follow the bloatware instructions when my M1530 gets here. You've made me reconsider that course of action. Frankly, I've always just uninstalled the bloat from my other machines, but thought I'd take the full plunge this time. This will be much simpler now.

 

Very few Graphic programs truly take advantage of 64bit. Next version of Adobe photoshop is designed around 64 bit. Older games (Battlefield 2142) run slower on 64 bit. Newer games may take advantage (Crysis). I run my laptop with 32 bit Vista due to driver issues with scanner and GPS. Having 4 gig or more of memory makes more of a difference than anything else you can add whether 32 or 64 bit.

Since 1995, I always reformat, rebuild, configure, and then make an image.

 

A couple of points Forte makes are rather valid if true. But do realize, you're not going to avoid reformatting forever. Ultimately, if you do save that 500 MB, it's going to be short lived. Depending on how often you access your hard drive, it's best to reformat every 6-12 months.

Also, 64-bit = 2^64 = 18446744073709551616 bytes = 17179869184 GB of RAM (17.18 billion GB), not exactly the 8 GB you claim is it?

Waiting for 64-bit color... 18.4 quintillion colors.