irocpractice

So I am looking around and I found The DELL Computer Auction Site.My question is IF I buy a refurb.Dell WITHOUT an operating system...what do I do FOR an operating system?Are these as good a deal as they first appear to be?
I want the good/bad and ugly.facts are more appreciated than opinion.

Blake Clark

If you need an OS and want Windows, you just run down to Walmart, Best Buy, Office Depot, etc and buy a copy.

If you have a legal copy of Windows that you would want to use that was deactivated and uninstalled from its computer, you could use that.

If you want freeware such as Linux you have to get someone to download you a copy and burn it for you.

Jim Lane

With Dell you are going to need to have the restore disk that came with that particular computer because they have all of the drivers for the motherboard.

I have loaded Windows XP on Dell desktops and had a hard time downloading the drivers from the Dell website. It can be done but it is a pain in the rear without the OEM disk.

Doesn't the computer have a working operating system on it when you get it?

If it does and you do not have the restore disk there should be an image of the disk on the hard drive that you can burn to a disk but only once.

With the restore disk you will have the drivers and applications then you can easily load Windows XP, it probably won't support Vista of 7.

If it is not too old Dell will sell you the OEM disk for a fee.

Jim

1-2-3

You don't need the OEM disk. Just a good copy of XP and the service tag. With a working computer, download the chipset and NIC drivers, install them on the Dell after the XP install, then set it to automatically update. You'll get all the drivers you need automatically. I just reloaded my new laptop today and that's exactly what I did.

Colo_River_Ram

Drivers should be online at Dell (check out their site for options). Once you get the thing up you can make a disc of the current drivers.. A salesman should be able to tell you what OS you can put on it.. I have W7Pro64 bit on my newest Toshiba laptop. XP Pro is like a good 5.9 CTD (hard to beat) .. Ubuntu or Kubuntu from Linux is free but drivers for your peripherals can be a bugger to find at times.. Check fleaBay and Amazon for the cheapest prices

Jim Lane

That is the trick, without a working computer you are stuck. I just had to reload 4 Dell Dimension's where someone misplaced the restore disks and without the driver disk or the network drivers there is no way to access the internet to download the drivers, my USB NIC wouldn't even work because the USB wouldn't work without its drivers. Really frustrating at 4:00 A.M. when they had to be working by 7:00 A.M. when the office opened.

Can't believe they would sell a computer without a working O.S.

All because the girls installed MySpace and Facebook on the office computers, they got so infected it brought down the entire network.

Colo_River_Ram

Toshiba's site is user friendly, When I did the upgrade from Vista to Win7 on my 2 y/o laptop they had all of the drivers for W7 in one file that you burned to a disc.. the upgrade went smooth W7 is rock solid they just hide some things on you and program compatibility can be an issue..

Jim sounds like you need a NAS device.. HP has a computer restore option in its software. crash a computer and it restore it from the daily backups.. I have the predecessor to this one w/ 2 mirrored HD's in it:

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en...6-4021709.html

BigIron70

You can buy the Windows 7 OEM 32 bit version. Full install little over $100 at Fry's. Add some more RAM while you're at it.

Jeff in TD

I don't know about the no operating system deal, but I do have some experience with Dell auctions.

I bought a small referb laptop from Dell Auctions for a motorcycle trip to Alaska (so I didn't want much money into it).

I think I ended up under $400 with like 4 gig ram, a CD/DVD writer, Windows XP P+, 64m vram. Came with XP-P pre-installed and also included the disk. No other garbage installed, which was nice.

I put open office on it, and updated my anti-virus suite for another machine for a couple bucks.

I wanted XP anyway, so it turned out to be the way to go. Computer held up fine for 9,000 rough miles up the hall road to the arctic ocean, up to inuvik, and so on.

If you look closely you can see a bit of wear on the keyboard, but the laptop is fast and performs perfectly, including the battery (I suspect they may have replaced it). Well packaged, shipped promptly...

Bottom line: I was quite happy with what I got for the money from Dell auctions.

DieselDaze

I have been using Linux as my personal OS for several years (At home).
The Linux of choice for me is Ubuntu.
http://www.ubuntu.com/
Ubuntu is a Linux operating system that is free. It comes complete with OpenOffice, a free office suite.
You may think free=low quality.
Well, I started using Ubuntu on version 8.04. Im now running on 10.04 and have no issues that would make me want to revert back to Windows.
Now, I will caveat this by stating, if you game, then Linux is not for you.
With that said, Ubuntu is Linux. Linux is not susceptible to the Windows based viruses and natively more secure against on line attacks.
It does not require the amount of hardware to do the same job as Windows.
There are more free software options available than I could possibly list.
Linux does not fragment files like some of the older Windows versions, so Linux does not have the same tendency to become slower over time.

On the down side, it does not run some of the high horsepower games available on the Windows platform.
Also, there are fewer choices for printers on Linux. The major brands work fine (HP, Cannon, etc,) but Ive had issues with Lexmark and Linux.

But, with the all things considered, I have no current plans to ever go back to Windows.

knc77

If you want to give Ubuntu a try, they make it easy to set up a dual boot system. IE choose to boot into Windows or Ubuntu.
I like Ubuntu and the most recent versions are very Windows like.

I would caution on the idea that Linux doesn't get viruses though. While Linux is less susceptible to a virus for a variety of reasons, they are out there. As the Linux community continues to grow, more viruses will be targeted to that OS.

irocpractice

Ok you guys back to the original premise..herehttp://www.dellauction.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=133639106&prmenbr=75267554& aunbr=133985816...page 4, No.133985816,a "Precision series" lap top W/O an operating system.I like the big screen and, the primary use would be to load all the business computers programs on it and use an outboard device to update data 2/3 times a week with a clic-free.This would be kept off site prob at my house.

Colo_River_Ram

Ico your answer is simple, what OS was the programs previously ran on? Like I posted on W7 not all programs that ran on XP will run on it. (and even fewer mainstream business software will work on Linux) You can use Carbonite or Norton for online backups.. If your buying new programs then do W7 Pro 64 bit or even jump up to ultimate for the file encryption. Here is a link for comparing W7 versions:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...e/default.aspx

BTW your link is "temporarily not working"

irocpractice

Ram,1 business desktop is using Win.7,mine is Xp Pro(2000) w/sp 3.
The Precisions I am looking at are older units like the M-65 and M6300 these at the moment are running 210.00/250.00 with one day to go.Intel core 2,1 or 2 mb and 80 gig hard drives.These are by no means the newest units.

Colo_River_Ram

Ico,

W7 is probably out of the picture (if the machine was running and on your desk) you could run the W7 update adviser.. I would go XP Pro as It has better networking capabilities than XP. Like mentioned max it out with ram.. I would not go over the $300 range on an older unit because with the price of the OS and Ram added on your getting into a new laptop top on sale price range. You can add a keyboard and plug a monitor into the laptop for the desktop feel..

Hope this helps..