pre-installed vista question

cyberstar

I was looking at a Dell PC which is pre-installed with vista and I presume because the software is pre-installed it will not come on a seperate back-up cd/dvd format.

I want to know is do I actually need the software on cd/dvd format?

What if I want to re-install my operating system without the dvd, how would that work?

I'm asking because from my old PC, windows 98 came on a cd and if I needed to re-install the software the cd was required

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b=&c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&kc=D4XXPS03&l=en&oc=D02925a&rbc=D02925a&s=dhs&sbc=ukdhsftdppdesktop3

gaming_guy

most computers have a recovery partition on the hard drive, so if you need to restore the comp, you use the recovery partition

colin79666

yeah most big manufactures put an "image" on a hidden partition which you can activated using a key combination at startup.

It's cheaper for them but remember if the hard drive every fails (out with warranty) you will then have to buy a retail copy of Windows.