I would buy a new OEM computer with things pre installed if the price was right. Found myself purchasing two, HP's, one desktop, one notebook last year from Best Buy due a fire we had at our house damaged 3 computers and insurance money we received back was pretty skimpy, cost savings buying off the shelf was worth it, and preinstalled software was easy to remove. Wake
Always format and install - one of the reasons I wouldn't look at Dell or HP. Laptops are more of a problem. I did find a Samsung last years that allowed me to remove - reformat and only install Xp and one or two minor programs.
Samsung, in my previous experience, the 'bloated softwares' were even of some use, like sound control, and simple managment for you computer. These would greatly help a novice user
I can't remember all of the software on offer but the point is that it was mostly optional - other manufactures should do the same.
OEMs get paid for installing crap, so bloatware has a long future ahead. Bloatware also helps to reduce the price of hardware.
I bought a cheap $397 Emachine computer from Wallyworld 2-years ago that has extra software installed. I had no choice in buying it,as it replaced my custom-built computer that lasted me about 7 years that was used for gaming,which finally died Some day,I'll have another custom built one,thats free of bloatware
Through the years I've bought many systems. Years ago, they sometimes came with the OS installed and programs of my selection already installed. The best thing was all came with the software (floppy disk in those days, lots of them, and manuals (the kind you can hold in you hand and read). Everything to reload, all of the hardware was included. Cases where a heck of a lot more solidly built in those days. Not like some of the tin they call cases these days. Hell even came with a wrist strap. I already knew about preloaded systems when they came to be the norm and not the exception. With one exception, I have never bought a "pre-installed" (as it's defined today) system. I prefer build my own, or have them to build to my specifications. What to install and to give me all software, manuals, papers and the boxes for everything that was installed, including the extras like screws, standoffs, knock out panels, etc. The one exception was I bought a Compaq Presario 2600+ AMD Athlon (XP Home) in 2002/3 for good price. I still have the 6 recovery disk (CD-ROM) I had to make to restore it to "store bought" load. I also have the nine disk I made after cleaning up all of the crap and deleting the recovery partition. That was the first and last pre-installed system I ever bought. That PC is still in use today running Solaris.
I rather not have software pre-installed... I normally just uninstall them if they exist (apart from the OS of course!)
If I can get the hardware cheaper by buying it with garbage installed, definitely. I'll copy any hardware specific drivers I need and anything else of interest. After that, it's DBAN time! The poll didn't ask if we intended to keep that software.
Had to vote yes because if you buy OEM machine you do, just uninstall and do clean up of what you don't want.... Yea, BigFix what a joke get rid of that after you run it once at first start up other wise it is a total waste. A real pest!! It was on PC 2.
I don't mind buying a store PC with stuff preinstalled, but I typically will do a reformat on my own before too long, so it doesn't matter to me too much either way. And yes, agreed, that BigFix thing is just silly....
For a couple a weeks ago I just bought a Acer i5 Laptop . And It was so loaded with crapware that I used more than one hour to get the laptop in shape Why i bought the laptop with pre-installed programs... because I was so lucky to get a fantastic offer/discount. So if the price is right then i will buy a PC with things pre-installed.
I've never had a problem with that, and we're frequently on the phone with Dell support for laptops/workstations and servers at our clients. The warranty is on the hardware, if Dell support determines it needs a different driver or some other system utility, they simply have you install it. As for me, the hardware components is what counts for me....not what comes preinstalled on the hard drive. I deal with business class computers mostly, which usually don't come with much fluff bloatware and trialware...but if I came across some PC I wanted, and it come with bloated junk...the solution is absurdly simple...."uninstall what you don't want!" Phew..that was hard! If you're one of those people who will lose sleep and bite your fingernails in fear because you worry there will be a few leftover registry entries from just uninstalling, what does Windows 7 take to install...20 minutes? Another hour to install and configure all your apps, some drivers, do updates, etc. Still a no brainer.
Your statement about formatting and installing Windows 7 is valid and OK if we speak for today. Back in the XP era some years ago installing Windows XP was a bit harder step (harder than Windows 7 is) . As for me I am now buying only computers with no OS included and no software installed . My last DELL Vostro is a perfect example .Windows 7 installation takes precisely 18 minutes for me - the other things are 1-2 hours and then when I create the image , it can't be easiers then. If some of my clients have bought some of the latest Toshiba , ACER or Asus and they don't want to reinstall the OS (but even if I try to use their Windows - it is an image with all the crap preloader) , it is ~ Snipped as per TOS ~ cleaning all the unnecessary software (takes at least 1 hour for complete removal).
Not much harder IMO....I've been doing them for a profession since Win3x, all the steps of all OS's are still burned into my memory from insane amounts of repition. Yes it took a bit longer back in the Win9X days...but since 2K and XP..getting easier and easier. However us performance nuts still go through the same steps...latest drivers for all hardware. Typical home users that just need "average" performance and can't tell the difference between native generic Windows drivers for components, vs manufacturer drivers...they can't tell the difference, so yeah Win7 seems easier. The steps are still pretty much the same. Install OS (can be trickier now with various RAID on home PCs)...then do mobo/chipset drivers, video, blah blah. Older hardware Windows will install built in drivers for and work OK, newer hardware often requires you to go download/install the latest (same for gaming PCs and us enthusiasts anyways...as native Windows drivers aren't the best). This was the same back with Vista, back with XP, back with 2K, back with 98se, back with 98, back with 95 a/b/c/d. It's just..yes, todays hardware has gotten so danged fast the install times are quicker than they used to be. But then again, prior OS's are moot...right? The topic of this poll is "Would you BUY...."..and to buy, that means..current OS's. Save for the small handful of biz PCs you can get the "XP downgrade on"...which you'll see rapidly coming to an end over the next coupla months.
YEAH all PC,s came with crap and good software pre installed and thats help to lower the final cost so i dont mind
i bought a used hp laptop with its bloatware still on it i tried uninstalling and cleaning still ran a bit slow so reformatted completely loaded my xp pro and a couple of drivers now it flies p4 2.4g 1g ram cost me $110 on ebay and a couple of hours to set up bottom line don't be scared to reformat if you have your own os disk
Nope, I wipe *ALL* new machines with a clean copy of the OS it had on it. I do the same for everyone else I know and recommend it to them. I trust nothing but a fresh install. It's like buying unpackaged food. I don't want my food "touched" before I open the package. A fresh install is me opening the package.
would not care either way because EVERY system i would buy would come home and get formatted anyway.. along with a fresh os install and drivers etc... i would never use a system with all the pre installed junk.. but the question was would you buy a system with things installed. almost every system you buy has stuff on it... so sure id buy one with stuff on it then format it
