Ugh. That doesn’t exactly fit my idea of a plug-it-in-and-it-works.

I did double-check; other Dell laptops give you the option for installation media for your OS, but with the Inspiron 1520 they just give you the option of WinXP Home or Professional – no mention of install media. I’m assuming that I can just download all the drivers I need from the Dell website? Or is it that the Drivers CD is a simple click-and-install kind of setup?

I’ll definitely take you up on the WinXP Install Cd, though. Do you have my mailing address?

Edit: Takaza just pointed out to me this item from the itemized order list “Item #313-5812 – XP DELL RESOURCE ,BACK-UP DVD 1520”.

It is. Trust me on this. Dell puts so much shit into their OS that even if you strip and uninstall most of the extra crap, the OS simply isn’t that stable out of the box. As Ripley said…..nuke it from orbit….its the only way to be sure.

It doesn’t always ship with install media. I think on checkout you need to select OS CD or all it will ship with is an image on the hard disk that you reimage with.

Tip. call up Dell a week after you get your laptop. Assuming you don’t get a Windows CD in the mail. Tell then you are getting a BSoD on boot, and tell them you want to redo the image on your system. They will have you hold down a set of keys on boot that will drop you into dell’s image partition. They will walk you through this. Pick an early % say 18% and tell them while they are on the phone that it freezes at 18%. After a couple times ask them for the install CD and Drivers CD. They will send it free of charge to you. A bit of work but they will send it to you.

I can ship you a Dell Windows XP install CD. I know I have one floating around here somewhere.

I would concur with the other as well on the warranty, and not because its a dell…but just because its a laptop.

I am currently seeking applecare for my MBP through ebay…

Ever seen this place?
http://www.colorwarepc.com/

It’s still very cool looking, though!

Hee hee hee!

Well, the options were black, brown, blue, and pink. Black and blue would delay shipment by a week, and brown was just too…boring. Pink was available at no additional charge and wouldn’t delay shipment, so there ya go.

Plus, it’s FABULOUS! 🙂