[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by carboy

How much does renting a laptop cost? Any reliable shops which rent out laptops in Mumbai?

A search for "Laptop Rentals" on http://wwww.justdial.com turns up a few results. Tried calling any of those?

[barathvajan]

Help me out guys,

I have placed an order for a vaio f series laptop (from USA) and the issue is that they are not providing me the windows OS dvd for the same. Since the HDD will not be partitioned when i receive the laptop, i intend to do partitioning (of course i dont know how to do it and need your help) i am afraid what happens if the OS fails? No software available for reinstallation.
I have mailed them and they said that they will not be providing OS in DVD.

What should I do?

Barath

[NetfreakBombay]

Those with Samsung laptops, secure your laptop as soon as possible if it is used for things like Net banking or any other confidential work.

A keylogger has been found on "default" installs done by Samsung.

Details : Samsung responds to installation of keylogger on its laptop computers

[vasudeva]

Originally Posted by barathvajan

Help me out guys,

I have placed an order for a vaio f series laptop (from USA) and the issue is that they are not providing me the windows OS dvd for the same. Since the HDD will not be partitioned when i receive the laptop, i intend to do partitioning (of course i dont know how to do it and need your help) i am afraid what happens if the OS fails? No software available for reinstallation.
I have mailed them and they said that they will not be providing OS in DVD.

What should I do?

Barath

Depending on key for which version of windows 7 you have, these download links may help. Just download the iso, burn to dvd and that is the install dvd for windows 7. They are from digitalriver, which is authorised to electronically deliver Microsoft products:

Windows 7 ISO x86 and x64 Official Direct Download Links (Ultimate, Professional and Home Premium) » My Digital Life

You can choose to download or not and you can verify the genuineness of the download by comparing hashes. Or you can use this:

Windows 7 ISO Verifier, for your downloading pleasure – istartedsomething

Of course, this is only the windows 7 rtm version of July 2009 and since then windows 7 with sp1 has been released (very hard to find links at present). This is however available on technet/MSDN. Hardly matters though as this windows 7 with sp1 contains windows 7 rtm version (digital river links above)+ updates from 2009-10+sp1. All this is anyway available from windows updates.

As to partition, use this free and excellent partition management utility.

Partition Wizard Bootable CD allows user to boot computer directly to manage partition.

Download the small image (perhaps 40MB) burn to cd and boot. Make partitions and ensure the first partition is set active. Then boot from
windows 7 install dvd and install. Of course, you can skip the partition tool altogether, just boot from windows 7 dvd and create partitions and then install.

[msdivy]

Please be aware of this:
Are there keyloggers on Samsung laptops?

Same as the post by @NetfreakBombay. Saw it just now.

[barathvajan]

Originally Posted by vasudeva

Depending on key for which version of windows 7 you have, these download links may help. Just download the iso, burn to dvd and that is the install dvd for windows 7. They are from digitalriver, which is authorised to electronically deliver Microsoft products:

Thanks vasudeva.

First it is going to be a win 7 home premium only 64 bit version.

But i am sorry to say this. I am not able to understand your solution for OS back up. You mean to say that i go to that link and download an iso file which is actually authenticated and the same can be used to reinstall win 7?
Please explain little more clearly. I am a mech guy and initially was afraid of touching a pc as i dont know what to do with it.

[NetfreakBombay]

Please ignore that issue (with samsung laptops).

It turned out to be a false alarm.

[vkochar]

Urgent Laptop Purchase Required -

My IBM Thinkpad R 52 ( 5 years old ) developed a virus problem yesterday and is acting way too slowly so I do not want to bring it back to life. It was a fantastic machine and one of the best I have ever owned.

So now all I have is a Samsung Netbook - which is good only for movies, browsing, emails.

I need a decent specced machine urgently.Need not be a powerhouse - here are the specs I have in mind - i3/i5 processor, 500 GB HDD, 4 GB RAM, has to have HDMI, 14'' and no more as 15.6 is way too big to be carried around.

My main work is 80% browsing, watching movies, 20% word & excel, no gaming or photo editing. Simple machine I can use for a few years.

Now being in Agra, I am limited to few options. Sony Vaio - How is it ?

Dell - my #1 choice and the Inspiron 14 is around 34.4k

My budget is 30 - 35k and not more.

Please help !

Also how do I get a dell ? I filled a cart on dell.co.in and it asked me if I would like a call by a rep, no one has called so far. Also I do not use credit cards.

Thanks for the help in advance.

[vasudeva]

Originally Posted by barathvajan

Thanks vasudeva.

First it is going to be a win 7 home premium only 64 bit version.

But i am sorry to say this. I am not able to understand your solution for OS back up. You mean to say that i go to that link and download an iso file which is actually authenticated and the same can be used to reinstall win 7?
Please explain little more clearly. I am a mech guy and initially was afraid of touching a pc as i dont know what to do with it.

Those are original dvd iso. Just burn to dvd, boot from this dvd, and go on. Install is very easy and lots of tutorial on the web. You have a new PC with hardly any data and absolutely no potential to go wrong. Anyway backup your data.

[NetfreakBombay]

@barathvajan,

Be very careful with this.

1. This install might wipe off "recovery" partition that holds factory image of OS. You have to select proper options to ensure that does not happen.
2. OS Key that you have with your laptop, might not work on the ISO that you are going to download. Laptops ship with VL images that are not available for download.

[vasudeva]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

@barathvajan,

Be very careful with this.

1. This install might wipe off "recovery" partition that holds factory image of OS. You have to select proper options to ensure that does not happen.
2. OS Key that you have with your laptop, might not work on the ISO that you are going to download. Laptops ship with VL images that are not available for download.

The above is largely true. OEM preinstalls of OS are a pain, and it is much easier and cheaper to just get a blank DOS laptop. Do anything with full freedom, and purchase/install the software you want. No need to pay for preloaded crap software. With all the recovery software available for free for most hard disks (see Acronis), it is quite an easy job to install any OS and to create a backup image. Do it 1-2 times and one can do everything with eyes closed.

PS: the iso images in the link are genuine. their hash can be checked on technet/msdn site and also with the software link.

[NetfreakBombay]

Yes these ISO are genuine, issue is with serial keys.

Technet/MSDN ISOs would not work with key that he already has (Sticker on laptop).

[vasudeva]

Of course there are ways to activate that iso but that is not the purpose here. As to what all that OEM crap does, take a look at this:

No More Crapware : Windows 8 Wish List

This is just startup and some other benchmarks. Pay for crap/trial and slow down your computer as a double wham.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by vasudeva

Of course there are ways to activate that iso but that is not the purpose here.

And all those methods are illegal.

Is there ANY legal way for him to use these ISO images (other then paying full price for OS again)?

[vasudeva]

One option that may be cost effective if the laptop preinstalled OS is basic, and office 2010 is required. Get a technet standard subscription (from UK or US based billing address). Lots of people do it, MS knows about it, and winks at it. I got a technet pro subscription for 230 pounds by paying from Indian credit card and having my brothers address in the UK as the billing address. What one pays for is the key and access to 100% genuine isos. Plus, one gets so many keys (all paid for) that even if one formats and reinstalls every week, the keys won't run out for years.

As an example, technet pro entitles one to 500 activations of windows 7 enterprise and perhaps close to 1000 activations of other windows 7. Similar numbers for vista. Plus all the servers. One gets 5 keys for office 2010 pro plus and 5 keys for office 2010 standard. Similar for project pro, visio, etc. Each key generally auto activates (internet) at least 25-30 times with phone activations for later on. For a person who wants to be genuine, I consider technet a great bargain. Plus, subscription is for 1 year and keys remain valid for lifetime (can be used even after 50 years for example). A person can buy into 1 cycle (in this case windows 7 and office 2010), let it expire after 1 year (do not renew) and then buy into the new cycle (windows 8 and next office, etc).