HP Pavilion and bloatware

Hi,

I need to buy a new laptop and the HP Pavilion dv9340EA is one that I am considering. I have read on these forums that HP and other manufacturers load bloatware onto their machines. What exactly is this? Is this a big problem and can I or even should I get rid of this?

Also if anyone has any views on whether this would be a good choice for processing digital images, I would be grateful. I use Adobe Lightroom and may add Photoshop Elements too.

Thanks.

 

Sadly it is true they put quite a bit of bloatware on the consumer machines. HP is not the only one doing it. The software companies pay the notebook makers so it does help lower the cost of your laptop. There's a lot of trials and extra software you don't really need. They usually turn of with Windows so it often slows performance especially on a laptop which tend to use slower hard drives. If you have a Vista/XP disc you can do a clean install which would eliminate it. A business class machine is much less likely to have it, but those are generally more expensive. Perhaps you should visit and WSIB forum and consider the FAQ for a more detailed response as to which type of notebook you should get.

 

seriously its just like you see on the pc and mac commercial when the pc is all big and fat and moving reaaaaaallll slow and then he is like "what a minute.....forgot something"........laptop with bloatware takes longer to boot, useless popups of "sign me up for this trial" blah blah blah.........

Buying one with it is nice if you can nuke the install yourself and reinstall windows from scratch, if you've never done this, think long and hard about what you want to do.

Its been found also that removing some of it "breaks" other applications......its stupid really, but that is the way the game is played to get a cost effective solution.

 

Thank you both for replying. I don't know enough about computers to re-install an operating system so I think I'd have to live with the bloatware if I go with the HP.

Another machine I am considering is an Asus. Would that have less bloatware, do you think or all brands similar?

Thanks.

 

Bloatware is all the extra software that is installed on the computer which is not needed to run Windows, and also trial software and offers to sign-up for antivirus or internet providers. It's a way for the laptop manufacturers to offer lower prices on their computers.

I always remove any pre-installed setups and do a clean install of Windows, and then add in any drivers or software I want. That way I have a system with only the software I want on it, and it reduces the extra clutter in the system tray and on the desktop.

Contrary to what many believe, overall system performance is not greatly reduced by bloatware, but it does eat up precious hard drive space and clutters up the "look and feel" of a laptop - it looks messy compared to a clean install.

It should be more than enough power and video performance for your needs. I use full Photoshop and several other large demanding apps (no gaming) on basically the same hardware except mine has integrated video Intel GMA950 on a 15" display. I have no performance issues at all. Of course, I did a clean install to tidy up the system, but from the factory with all the extra bloatware, the laptop was still very fast.

Just don't judge performance the first day or two. Vista indexes your hard drive and programs and runs prefetching for a while and then a defrag. On the third day, the laptop will feel noticeably faster and more responsive than the first day.

 

Anyone have experience using the Decrapifier program on an HP? (This is the site I'm referring to: http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/)

 

i think all those kinds of brands have bloatware

the ones that might not are clevo, everax and similar but they might still have the bloatware

reinstalling an OS is nothing hard there are step by step instructions around for you to do all that. google is your friend......and so are the posts in this forum

 

Make sure you have a look at the Asus and handle it before you buy.

I shopped around looking at several different models and found HP to have the best overall design. The LCD screen, touchpad, and keyboard were all important factors for me, and the HP was the best of the brands and models I handled. It beat out Dell, Acer, Toshiba, and all the others in the stores and it sells at the same price (HP is the current market leader too).

I didn't get to see an Asus, so I can't comment on it directly, although I've had their hardware for desktop computers and have been very happy with the performance.

 

You can certainly go into control panel and remove a lot of the junk.

 

Bloatware are extra programs that HP, dell and all other pc makers put in there laptop that most people don't use. To get rid of it al you have to do is reformat and reinstall the operating system.

 

Right, there was a new Asus G1S review just posted, and the reviewer noted there was bloatware. Norton Anti Virus will be installed as a trial, and it will pop up and nag you over and over. Most of the software installed is a trial, only works for a month or two, then asks for money. About 35 gigs of the disk space will be gone. So if you're thinking about a 120 gig hard drive, only 85 will be left when you get it up and running.

The best answer is to reformat and start over. I put XP on my DV 6500T and it boots in seconds. With Vista it sits there loading all the junk, then Norton pops up saying my computer isn't protected. You can un-install most of it if you're not doing a re-format.

 

I guess bloatware is dependant on the country you purchase the notebook from.

For example, the dv2000t costs about $1500 in India. There is no bloatware installed at all. What is installed, is the OS Windows Media XP SP2 and Microsoft Works.

No shareware
No trialware
No nagware
Nada

This price though is nearly double as compared to the USA.

I think bloatware is a reasonable option for a 50% decrease in price.

 

agent007, $1500 is not double what it costs in the US for dv2000t. I think a well equipped dv200t still costs over $1000 in the US.