This may be a stupid question but...

...As I received my laptop just a couple of days ago, will it be loaded with all the latest video, sound, input device etc drivers?

Thanks.

 

it should be.....the driver ones will be the dell ones and you can get more up to date ones from a site that someone below me will quickly copy and past for you (lol I don't remember)

 

u might want to do a clean install make your laptop perform better

 

= no bloatware, and you also might just want to go to the drivers manufacturer site, and make sure your up to date.

 

Les's clean install = awesome!

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




Cin

 

I really wonder whats with all these clean install making your laptop perform better suggestions. I mean no offence to you Xirurg, but its just that I think, IMHO, Dell doesn't anyway come with 'bloatware' as such these days.. even when I got it back in june there was nothing in it that I didn't want or that was unnecessary... not even the ms works.. there was just norton n roxio, but I had asked for them anyway.. and its not there by default... well, probably the media center thing, might be part of the 'bloatware', but again its not an universally accepted notion that media center IS bloatware, No?? I mean, I have my system now, fast n furious, and I don't see clearly how a clean install would have made it better or made it 'perform better'... Anyway.. may be there is, but I don't know.. Anyway.

Anyway, to the OP... its your choice remember. As Xirurg said "you might want....".. But if you decide to do a clean install, before doing that, *read carefully* every word of Les' guide (Sticky in the Dell forum) and follow it to the word.. and get everything you need.

Else, you could go to directly tweak Vista, again using Les' guide (sticky in the Windows forum), and this, IMHO again, does give your Vista experience a major boost

And as for updating the drivers from the manufacturer site, the OP must keep in mind that some drivers from the OEM, though bit old, are optimized for your system.. Most of the time they just work perfectly fine, but its not a must to get in the latest drivers... I have seen issues for people with touchpad for example, who were having problems with scrolling and such.. but with the OEM drivers, I haven't had any issues till now.. though I did update the Intel drivers (both the chipset and wireless), sigmatel audio drivers without any issue, not because I had some issues with the prev OEM drivers, but just to see what happens.....

In your case, the video driver must be 175.97 probably.. the latest released from Dell.. and I recommend sticking with it. Input device drivers also must be quiet close to the new ones.. Remember, the main thing is, are they functioning well? And yes, the OEM drivers do function well.

So first off, get used to your system, make sure everything is fine and such... and then you can go around updating to the latest drivers if you want..

And oh I just remembered, if you really want to check the drivers (yours vs. the latest available), I highly recommend trying out the "drivermax" program its a free program that scans and lists all the drivers you have, and then lists the latest driver version, and you can then update/install the latest driver if you wish.. the good thing is instead of doing it one by one, drivermax lets you update to the latest driver' in one go through the driver max agent.. if you want more, it was recommended by another member in the best free software thread (sticky in windows forum) and I tried it... it worked so well and there was another member who tried it too, I think it was Hiker.. anyway search around for 'drivermax' and u might hit those posts with the details its very easy to use tool. Good luck.

It also lets u export all the drivers u have installed, and u can burn them onto a CD may be and use them when u are doing a clean install of ur system in the future nice handy program

 

wow,a long post

maybe that soft was useful for u,but it still slows down the system as we have seen many time(like from 3d mark scores before and after)...and i dont think that clean install is too difficult

 

@ Xirurg >> Of course I didn't question you or anything I was just wondering.. anyways..

So yeah, may be u r more experienced than me in this, but for example, NIS these days is very light on the system anyways... and so is Roxio.. but yeah, probably with those benchmarks n stuff, one might see a diff... anyway, for me I honestly didn't feel any effect.. or may be I just missed noticing it...

Yo OP, u r all by yourself... ... lol.. j/k. Do whatever is comfortable for u, but remember there are experts like Xirurg and Les and many others here who can guide u anytime if u decide to do a clean install.. but before messing up ur system, just remember to read the guide' well good luck.

 

Clean install FTW, Some people do it religiously once a month.

 

Agreed! And, I do it when I need to! Getting pretty good at it! LOL


Cin

 

I just bought a 500 gig MyBook, I wuold like to develop a system so that I could be able to, but not excatly sure where to start.

 

One man's garbage is another man's treasure... If you're happy with the stuff Dell pre-installs on your system then good for you. Many aren't and uninstalling software always leaves crap on your drive and in your registry. The best option is a clean install where you only add the software you want.

After you've done creating your fresh install download 15 day trial of Acronis True Image. Use Acronis to create and store an image of your installation on your external HD. Then create a recovery CD using Acronins and you're in business. The demo will expire but your recovery CD will continue to work so once you have an image and a recovery CD you can recover your system has many times as you would like. Purchasing the software is quite cheap ($49.99) and that would allow you to create new recovery images at any time.

edit: Here's a link to the software download. http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/download/trueimage/index.html

 

Oh yeah, thats true... I understand the uninstalling leaving crap on the drive n reg... but isn't it possible to remove all those using tools like the built-in uninstall with CCleaner / Easycleaner or with something like RevoUninstaller?? I have used this / use this, and I think they do the job pretty well.... Just trying to understand better Thanks Rhodan

 

Sometimes I think it's a way for some posters to demonstrate their alleged tech savvy.

Really, I actually cringe sometimes whe I see the (apparently obligitary) "clean install" suggestion. It's fine when a poster actually asks about it and seems interested in pursuing it. But it's routinely tossed out there as a near necessity to individuals who are either cleary uncomfortable with the idea, or even worse to posters (like Bazil83 here) who merely asked if the shipped drivers will be up to date.

A clean install is fine. Great. But it's hardly the absolute requirement that people on this board represent it to be. People who want to do it will. But it's disingenuous to suggest to people that don't that their laptops will essentially be garbage because they choose to keep the factory install.

 

This is so true. Fresh installes are great, but a waste of time to many.

 

Alleged tech savvy? In case you haven't noticed most people answering posts here are actually knowledgeable. And the garbage comment earlier in this thread was about bloatware and apps, that must have been lost on you.

Of course you can use your dell laptop out of the box. Of course you can uninstall applications and clean your registry with your favourite reg cleaner app. Go ahead have a blast if that's what you fancy.

The question that always comes up is "What stuff should I remove from my laptop?" and the answer most people give is to do a clean install. Why? Because a clean install is exactly that, Clean... It only takes about 1 hour to do so and then you can install the apps you are actually going to use. You can spend much more time than that just uninstalling apps, rebooting and cleaning the registry.

There's no smilies in this post because I'm tired of the peeps who have nothing better to do than put down people who genuinely trying to help here

 

Oh please. The OP merely asked if he could expect the installed drivers to be up to date, and the second response to his question was a suggestion to do a clean install. It's ridiculous. He wasn't asking about bloatware. He didn't inquire about how to format his system. He was just asking if the system shipped with current drivers. Telling him to do a clean install isn't "trying to help."

I've been buying PC's since 1985. I work in IT. I understand the relative benefits of a fresh installation. I do it all the time. But I think it's a crazy thing to suggest to individuals who weren't even asking about it, which seems to happen here 5 times a day.

 

Yes someone suggested a clean install. The best time to do a clean install is when you received the laptop, so before you start using it. So the suggestion was appropriate since it gave the OP additional information allowing him/her to research this further if desired. This is what this site is about.

And throwing your pseudo credentials here means little. Some peeps here have been around computers even longer than you and we don't see them using that to justify their positions...

 

Yes you can use tools to clean up your system. My issue with that is it can take longer than a clean install.

For me it's faster to do a clean install and then create an image I can use to bring back my system to it's original clean state.

 

An ok... Thanks probably its quicker to do a clean install... I don't know, coz I didn't have the time to really do it...

But till now, I have been just working with stuff, uninstalling things I didn't need (which was almost nothing btw ) and used Revo/EasyClean., and CCleaner.. and for me it was not all that time consuming.. but yeah, probably for people who don't want some stuff absolutely in their computer, a clean install is probably the way, because they can remove it once n for ever Anyways Thanks again Rhodan... You are chhhhhhoooo chhhwweetttt...