Buying a laptop

The_One_2

Hi

I'm looking at spending around £600 to buy a laptop.

The thing is, i already have Windows Vista Ultimate and Microsoft Office 2007 Professional on disk at home which you can install on upto 3 machines (i think)

If i was to buy from places like Dell and PC World would i be able to say to them, "i want that laptop on the shelf, but can i have it without the operating system and the bundled software e.g. Microsoft Works, Norton etc? as i already have the disks at home" as i'm hope this would bring the price down alot

anyone any ideas or experience with this ?


Thanks

nomoneytoday

The cost of the oem software to the manufacturer is peanuts per machine.
You might save £10 if you are lucky..

seaweasel

You'll get more than that back, about £60 or thereabouts IIRC. Have a look on Google or Slashdot, there was a blog by a guy who did it in the UK recently. Just takes a few emails or phone calls to get the refund.

That's in the case of Dell by the way. Not sure about PC World but you should be able to do the same with them or maybe the manufacturer, it's in Microsoft's EULA. Not that I especially like Dells but they've also started supplying machines with Linux, or will be soon.

Alternatively, have a look at local computer shops, some might have laptops without Windows bundled.

The_One_2

I think this may be it http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6144782.stm

The_One_2

Yeah this BBC article this morning is certainly an interesting read http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6575089.stm