PC World: PC Performance

Hi,
I bought myself a new laptop a few months ago. Took out the PC World insurance on the laptop. Seeing as my old laptop died just out of warranty I took this gladly. Well, after a tad of convincing. But it seemed alright.

Anyway, It came with vista on it. And even though its got a 2.something dual core CPU, 4GB of ram ect... it runs stupidly slow. I can't stand it. Why pay for a decent laptop, for it to be slower than my 2 year old one which had 1/4 the spec.

Want to change the O/S to Windows 7. I emailed them numerous times to try to get a straight answer out of them, with regards to changing the O/S being covered by the package. As it's eligable for an upgrade I didn't see why not. But as expected they just gave me wishy washy textbook answers. Mentioned something about if something went wrong with it they would require vista putting back on it before they would touch it. Or some crap like that.
But then why offer me an insurance package for an upgrade eligable laptop. Its pretty obvious I'm going to get it.

Just want to know if anyone knows whether changing the O/S on the laptop would still be covered under the package. I.e It wouldn't invalidate my insurance.

Thanks,
Luke

no, it certainly wouldn't invalidate your service agreement (not insurance, as you don't pay a premium when you claim on it).
However, the machine would only be repaired if it had the OS it came with, as when it is repaired, a system restore is often required, hence needing the original OS. Just keep the original recovery partition, then if needed, it can be recovered when it is repaired.

Its an Acer Aspire 5536, and it doesn't seem to have a recovery partition, which is a pain in the ass. I have the option to make a factory restore / backup disc which is nearlly 7GB in size. Would this contain the O/S and allow me to restore to vista if I did a clean install of Win7 ?

yes, just boot off the DVD you create and it'll re-install to factory settings

usually with Acer's there's a hidden HD recovery partition that can be accessed by pressing Alt-F10 during bootup. But definately make the recovery DVD too, in case you do something accidentally to the partition in the future

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ben_LRS

as when it is repaired, a system restore is often required

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Dont forget, the sole reason for that is lack of actual skill on the behalf of those repairing.

If you take something in to be repaired and its a hardware fault, and isnt the HDD, the OS shouldnt need reinstalling.

Its just them trying to cover themselves if you bring in your laptop with something they dont know and they then cant verify that it works correctly, ie its not on their check list.

Oh right. Thank you all for the information. I'll make a couple of back up DVD's to safe guard myself and make iso's out of them and store them on my backup drive just incase. I look forward to getting rid of vista. Hopefully it will improve the laptop's speed aswell. If not I'll be taking it to PC world for a look, as its stupidly slow for the specification.

Just need to wait for someone to help with my other question regarding Win 7 and I'm ready to go and change my O/S =D

If you can help, would be much appreciated. Link : Click Here

Regards,
Luke

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BobF64

Dont forget, the sole reason for that is lack of actual skill on the behalf of those repairing.

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Sorry, gotta pull you up on that. have you ever thought it might not be the lack of skill of the technician, but how they are told they must do the job? For example, if you have a problem with the Windows installation, you or I could do a Windows Repair, but for speed, they may be told to do a restore, it's certainly quicker.

Don't blame the technicians, blame the company.