Some of the boutique / enthusiast shops will send the disks along, but the major manufacturers don't like to and you have to wheedle it out of them, either by special request or extra fee. See the following image (I took two screencaps from dell's current website and pasted them together). Click me.
Now, they don't completely leave you hanging; they DO include a way for you to recover to factory settings (the hidden recovery partition), they just don't include a disk is all. Disks are an extra expense, Dell can charge extra for a disk if they don't include it by default, aaaaand I'm sure the companies paying to have their bloatware pre-installed don't like users having an easy way to get rid of it (recovery disks don't have bloatware; recovery partitions do).
Now, they don't completely leave you hanging; they DO include a way for you to recover to factory settings (the hidden recovery partition), they just don't include a disk is all. Disks are an extra expense, Dell can charge extra for a disk if they don't include it by default, aaaaand I'm sure the companies paying to have their bloatware pre-installed don't like users having an easy way to get rid of it (recovery disks don't have bloatware; recovery partitions do).
New PC: to build or not to build
02/05/2011 04:16:46 PM
- 1010 Views
The advantages of building your own computer seem to be smaller these days.
02/05/2011 05:19:09 PM
- 784 Views
I take satisfaction in tinkering with computers...
02/05/2011 06:40:12 PM
- 1110 Views
Also, one of the big savings for building your own computer...
02/05/2011 07:27:37 PM
- 777 Views
yah that's part of the problem. I don't have a desktop right now. Not even a case
02/05/2011 07:37:45 PM
- 771 Views
It's not hard at all anymore. Link for Lorraine, too
02/05/2011 09:32:48 PM
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I always buy Intel. Papa works there
02/05/2011 09:39:00 PM
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Huh, small world. What site?
02/05/2011 10:36:55 PM
- 981 Views
I have no idea what the name of his site is. Probably not that one
03/05/2011 01:50:38 AM
- 737 Views

I don't know about you...
02/05/2011 08:21:41 PM
- 811 Views
Just get a pre-made and add a few components (ie: graphics card) to make you feel like you built it. *NM*
02/05/2011 08:53:07 PM
- 386 Views
Build it.
03/05/2011 02:54:12 PM
- 939 Views
Warranty/Troubleshooting
03/05/2011 04:14:47 PM
- 786 Views
How?
03/05/2011 05:04:27 PM
- 715 Views
Re: How?
03/05/2011 06:47:56 PM
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Wow, I never heard about that.
03/05/2011 07:10:07 PM
- 800 Views
Nah, it was years ago. The one you gave me advice for was the replacement of the replacement, hah
03/05/2011 07:41:24 PM
- 716 Views
Yeah, I meant the power supply of the problem machine.
03/05/2011 08:10:04 PM
- 786 Views
Ah. yeah, it was one of the pieces that got replaced. It was probably at least partially responsible *NM*
03/05/2011 08:12:50 PM
- 425 Views
I like how you seem to think I'd buy a Dell
03/05/2011 04:17:58 PM
- 770 Views
If you like tinkering, then build one. Quality control is all on you, but it's "yours" then.
03/05/2011 03:00:21 PM
- 737 Views
#1 reason to build your own: no pre-loaded bloatware. *NM*
03/05/2011 04:52:45 PM
- 408 Views
Or just format when you get it. *NM*
03/05/2011 06:48:47 PM
- 394 Views
With a pre-built you can't often do that.
03/05/2011 07:19:28 PM
- 776 Views
for the record, sometimes stores will remove the bloatware for you
03/05/2011 07:28:58 PM
- 704 Views
Do prebuilts come without OS discs these days? That's bullshit. *NM*
03/05/2011 07:43:39 PM
- 411 Views
Yah, they don't.
03/05/2011 07:47:36 PM
- 734 Views
Well, it's understandable, just annoying.
03/05/2011 08:05:00 PM
- 725 Views
You really should just stop using Dell as your example
03/05/2011 10:51:10 PM
- 725 Views

Oh, hush.
04/05/2011 12:50:15 AM
- 891 Views

YOU SHALL NOT MALIGN THE HP!!!
04/05/2011 10:16:50 AM
- 744 Views
Re: YOU SHALL NOT MALIGN THE HP!!!
04/05/2011 04:55:49 PM
- 800 Views
My anecdotal evidence has HP failures being rare but spectacular.
04/05/2011 08:19:52 PM
- 746 Views
I had a Compaq laptop (built after HP had bought Compaq).
04/05/2011 09:13:54 PM
- 721 Views
Huh. I have a Compaq too. It shipped with bad RAM, but once I fixed that it's worked like a charm.
05/05/2011 12:43:48 AM
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Yes, almost without exception.
03/05/2011 07:58:32 PM
- 873 Views