LATEST DELL DEAL Great Laptop £292 Delivered !

gromituk

Cactus_Jack wrote: »

or if there was the option to have no OS or a free OS preloaded, for further discount. Come on, Dell!

Dell made headlines recently by actually wrestling free of Microsoft's stranglehold and announcing that it was going to start selling PCs with Linux pre-installed - Hooray! Let's hope it fares better than when it last tried to do this. Why doesn't someone ring Dell about this laptop and ask if it can have Linux on it instead? See how much that saves...

grayme-m

gromituk wrote: »

Dell made headlines recently by actually wrestling free of Microsoft's stranglehold and announcing that it was going to start selling PCs with Linux pre-installed - Hooray! Let's hope it fares better than when it last tried to do this. Why doesn't someone ring Dell about this laptop and ask if it can have Linux on it instead? See how much that saves...

...interesting point.

I've got XP and an OEM licence on a dead PC so I could use that on a new laptop; however I doubt they would knock anything off if I asked for a blank hard drive...

Still if I got this with Vista, then I would soon be formatting it to put that XP on. :rotfl:

redux

grayme-m wrote: »

...interesting point.

I've got XP and an OEM licence on a dead PC so I could use that on a new laptop; however I doubt they would knock anything off if I asked for a blank hard drive...

Still if I got this with Vista, then I would soon be formatting it to put that XP on. :rotfl:

I asked them a while back if I could have it with XP Pro, and use my licence number for a discount. No.

The other day, I asked their Tech Support about setting up a dual boot system and adding XP Pro. He said that the Vista installation might need repairing afterwards but it should work. I need to re-read some threads on the Techie board here, as it doesn't sound as straightforward as you'd hope.

So maybe your re-format suggestion is better, but I think they would substitute XP if you asked, just no discount for your existing copy

martmonk

Nicolefury wrote: »

They wouldn't accept me for a credit card, mainly because I'm a student and I haven't got a steady income, yet I could pay for one. Plus, my parents would probably go mental at me for having a credit card, even though it's got absolutely nothing to do with them. Saving up would take months seeing as I've got uni accomodation to pay for and so forth.

Uni computers are mainly rubbish, and I'd rather be able to sit and do what I want on my own computer, rather than use some outdated tat in the library. Looks like I'm going without for a long long time.

most uni's and colleges will have agreements with a PC vendor whether it's Dell, Viglen, HP or whoever. There are often schemes in place that offer discounts and/or financing to staff and students for personal purchases so I'd contact the purchasing department at your institution and see if they have anything in place - even if not ask who to speak to at their chosen supplier (they'll have a dedicated team or individual account manager) and ask direct.

rocko

grayme-m wrote: »

...interesting point.

I've got XP and an OEM licence on a dead PC so I could use that on a new laptop;

Except that of course to comply with the license agreement you can't install that OEM license on any other computer - it's tied to the conputer that you purchased it with, and effectively dies with the computer.

christofurriebum

put the cheapest Operating System on it and save your money.

I'm proudly not of the Microsoft crowd and would install Ubuntu on the first day of ownership.

The low cost of these laptops leads me to believe that they're really only a medium for selling the Operating System. Shame really, they should concentrate on long-lasting and good quality hardware and give an option for non-Microsoft Operating Systems.

Set yourself free with free software!

OK, rant over

grayme-m

rocko wrote: »

Except that of course to comply with the license agreement you can't install that OEM license on any other computer - it's tied to the conputer that you purchased it with, and effectively dies with the computer.

That may be so, but...

angeltoad

Changing from vista to xp would enhance the performance and speed no end. vista is a hungry piece of s***. Anyone know how to do this sucessfully bar reformatting the drive? Can it be supplied with NO operating system? It might be useful to take the quote to a real shop with real people and ask if they can price match it - but get xp instead.

joe.momma_2

I remember that you legally used to be able to get a Dell computer without XP, because to use the XP OS, you must agree to Microsoft's T's & C's, or return the product for a full refund. If you contacted Dell to make them aware that you don't agree, you could send it back and get a cheque for
£54!

From what I hear, Microsoft have only gotten stricter, so I doubt they've stopped making people agree.

Thinking about it though, maybe you can buy the laptop, and use the 7 day 'cooling' period provided by the Distance Selling Regulations to quickly alert Dell that you have "decided" to change your mind, and want a refund for the copy of Windows you purchased from them.
You keep the laptop, just tell them that you'll return the Windows disk only, and that they are legally obliged to refund you the amount that you were charged for it! It's probably still about the same price as XP was [probably].

It looks legally 'airtight'.

That would mean you can get a Dell laptop for less than £250!!!!!
THAT'S moneysaving, from an expert !!!!!

grayme-m

joe.momma wrote: »

I remember that you legally used to be able to get a Dell computer without XP, because to use the XP OS, you must agree to Microsoft's T's & C's, or return the product for a full refund. If you contacted Dell to make them aware that you don't agree, you could send it back and get a cheque for
£54!

From what I hear, Microsoft have only gotten stricter, so I doubt they've stopped making people agree.

Thinking about it though, maybe you can buy the laptop, and use the 7 day 'cooling' period provided by the Distance Selling Regulations to quickly alert Dell that you have "decided" to change your mind, and want a refund for the copy of Windows you purchased from them.
You keep the laptop, just tell them that you'll return the Windows disk only, and that they are legally obliged to refund you the amount that you were charged for it! It's probably still about the same price as XP was [probably].

It looks legally 'airtight'.

That would mean you can get a Dell laptop for less than £250!!!!!
THAT'S moneysaving, from an expert !!!!!

Do you get a disc with just Windows on it anymore?

I've got a nice silver hologram covered official XP disc that came with a PC many years ago (gosh, must be over five years ago, no wonder I feel due a new one), but I doubt you will get one with any new computers these days.

You don't even seem to get restore discs, you have to make your own.