What to do with NP8662 right out of the box

I will be purchasing a Sager NP8662 in about a week when I get paid. Specs are as follows:

P9700 processor
GTX 260 M Graphics
4 gig ram
320g 7200 Hard drive
Vista Premium

My laptop now is about a 5 year old Dell. It has been giving me fits for about a year now. My questions is what to do (or what did you do) when I first get it as in installing certain drivers, lowering temps, removing certain programs that come with it, ect....
It has been awhile since I have had a new computer so I just want to make sure I do it right the first time. I am not to "technically inclined" but I do have a friend who can help.

Thanks

 

Well, this is what I would do.

1) Download HWMonitor and see how your temperatures are
2) Install Drivers (Including Intel Matrix Storage Console)
3) Windows Updates
4*) Disable Windows Indexing
5*) Disable Automatic System Restore
6*) Disable Superfetch

* denotes optional, but they have been proven to reduce HDD temperatures.

 

As far as temperatures are concerned, I'd open it and apply a proper thermal paste to the GPU and CPU (assuming this won't void your warranty).

 

Don't some resellers like Xotic already apply thermal paste before they ship?

 

There are thermal paste on it from the factory, but you get better results if you apply OCZ Freeze or something else.

 

I'll Hijack your thread here:

What drivers do you install when you just get it? I'm getting mine within a couple of days.
I assume all the latest drivers have already been installed unless you buy it without an OS, can someone please take some time and go into detail about what drivers exactly need to be added/updated?

 

UMM

Don't open it and screw around with it (assuming you don't know what you're doing since you're even asking what to do once you receive it). If the temp is in acceptable range, don't mess with it.

 

Not true. If you purchase with the OS, you get the OS installed, not the drivers. You still have to install the drivers.

It's a good idea to install video driver, then use the CD that came with the computer to install misc drivers such as touchpad, hotkeys, etc. There are drivers for most of things. You can find which one isn't installed with the driver in your device manager.

 

Is 54 degrees for HDD (max) acceptable?

 

<60 is good