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27 Aug 09 - 04:49 PM (#2710137) Subject: Tech: Installaton of Windows Vista on new PC From: gnu The kid at "Staples The Business Despots" said if I bought the new PC, the installation of the Vista Home Premium in the box would take me 3 to 4 hours but they could do it for $90 plus tax. 3 to 4 hours? Really? |
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27 Aug 09 - 04:58 PM (#2710144) Subject: RE: Tech: Installaton of Windows Vista on new PC From: bobad That's interesting! There's a sign out front of a computer shop in the town near here that says "we remove Vista and install XP". It seems that the Vista boondoggle has been a boon for computer shops - they get you coming and going. |
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27 Aug 09 - 05:20 PM (#2710150) Subject: RE: Tech: Installaton of Windows Vista on new PC From: Amergin My advice would be not to install vista.... I have Windows 7 on my pc...and I like it....alot more stable and less clunky than vista...though windows 7 is not yet officially released. It will not be officially released until 22 October. |
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27 Aug 09 - 05:20 PM (#2710151) Subject: RE: Tech: Installaton of Windows Vista on new PC From: Amergin Oh and Windows 7 doesn't take three to four hours to install....at least not at this point. |
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27 Aug 09 - 05:28 PM (#2710160) Subject: RE: Tech: Installation of Windows Vista on new PC From: Joe Offer Gnu, is this a new computer? If it had Windows Vista preinstalled, which should be the case, it should take you less than twenty minutes to set it up. And I believe Staples is giving all current computer purchasers a copy of Windows 7 when it comes out October 22. I bought a Dell laptop for my boss at Staples last week, for $100 less than Dell wanted for the same computer. I had to put up with the Staples salesman begging me to buy this and that along with the computer. I confess I did break down and buy an HP all-in-one printer with it, but I didn't fall for anything else. If you have a reasonably fast Internet connection, it shouldn't take you long to download and install Windows 7 when it comes out. The prices at Staples are great - as long as you don't take all the extra "upsales" they want you to buy. Oh, and I wouldn't let Staples "technicians" touch your computer. -Joe- |
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28 Aug 09 - 02:59 AM (#2710430) Subject: RE: Tech: Installation of Windows Vista on new PC From: JohnInKansas Any new machine should have an operating system preinstalled; but lots of "bargain" machines may have "Vista Basic" which is a little less than half an OS, and may come with disks in the box to upgrade to Vista Home Premium, which is perhaps a little better than a half-OS system. A little-published bit of information is that any legal Vista installation disk should contain all the files necessary to install any and every Vista version. Microsoft offers an "instant upgrade" whereby you can send them the money and they will give you the "unlock code" for any version you want, and with the code you can install that version from your original disks. (You may have to download a version-specific installer once the version change is approved.) A full drive format is recommended for any initial Vista installation, and is preferred for most upgrades. With a modern sized hard drive (at least 180 GB?) the format alone will take the computer a couple of hours, although you'll only need a few minutes to start the process and you can go drink coffee(?) and play some music while the machine does its thing. After the format is done, the installer will need to copy some files to the hard drive, and this can take a while, since you're essentially copying a DVD at "low-X" speed. The format, copy, and installation process should be almost completely automatic from the start, although you may be asked to tell it about some of your preferred "options." The time needed for you to give the machine instructions on what you want done shouldn't be more than a few minutes; but since you don't really know when the process will ask a question you will need to look occasionally to see it's running or waiting for you to give it some information about what you want. It may take the computer a few hours to install a full Vista version; but your participation should be minimal, if you have something else to keep you amused and can check on progress occasionally. Once a new version is installed from original disks, it will likely take about as long to download the latest "updates" as for the installation (not including format and copying), unless you have a fast connection. Fortunately, updates are "cumulative" so the latest set will incorporate all the necessary earlier ones and the downloads shouldn't be more than a few (or a few hundred?) megabytes. John |
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28 Aug 09 - 04:51 AM (#2710467) Subject: RE: Tech: Installation of Windows Vista on new PC From: SteveMansfield Organisations like Staples will use drive imaging software to blast a copy of Windows onto the hard drive, which takes a minimally trained teenager about 30 seconds and two mouse clicks to start, so who knows how they justify that price. Even if you did pay your $90 you'll most probably still need to enter your name and some preferences on the first boot, and you'll also probably need to time getting rid of all the completely worse-than-useless 'free' software they'll splatter all over the machine as part of that image. Vista Ultimate from the Microsoft DVD, onto a virgin hard drive, on a not-particularly-fast machine, took less than an hour. That was on a desktop machine, but I can't believe that any laptop you're going to buy today will be so much slower than that. That's one hour from unwrapping the new hard drive and putting it in the machine to booting into a clean copy of Vista. After installation you'll also need to download and install whichever patches the Update service decides you require, but that will happen in the background once you're up and running (until it needs you to reboot to finish applying the patches obviously). You'll also need to set up your Internet connection and email, load your actual applications (Office, etc.), and load the software for attached devices like your printer, but you'd have to do all that on top of the Staples image anyway. And, as has already been said, make sure you've got a clear path to Windows 7, because that's part of the deal now for anyone buying Vista. $90 a machine? I'm in the wrong business :) |