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Old 23rd October 2014, 16:11   #4246
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re: THE Laptop Thread: Configs, deals and questions

Guys need help with intalling OS on laptop using oem product key.

I have a Dell Studio 1558 which came with a Windows 7 ultimate edition purchased in 2010. I was not given a recovery or os DVD along with it. Yesterday, I upgraded my drive to 2TB, and reinstalled windows 7 from a media, which I purchased for a different system. For the product key, I extracted the same from registry using 3rparty tools. It all installed fine, but would not allow me to activate it. Spoke to Microsoft, and they mentioned that the key is blocked, and I need to contact Dell. Talking to Dell they said the product is no longer under warranty/supported and hence they would not be able to help. In fact they requested me to contact "local technical support" (any guy who assembles PCs).

Any help on what can be done to use the OEM OS on a new HDD.

Also shouldnt Dell support in getting the reinstall done, since the media was specifically denied when requested, and there is no way that a hard disk is "immortal". It would invariably fail at some point.

Last edited by raghu.t.k : 23rd October 2014 at 16:15.
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Old 23rd October 2014, 17:32   #4247
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re: THE Laptop Thread: Configs, deals and questions

Quote:
Originally Posted by h@r$h@l View Post
I was about to buy it last weekend but then came across on the Dell site that I comes in 2 processor configurations.

1. Intel Celeron Dual Core @ $579
2. 4th Generation Intel Core i3 @ $699

Now, what I want to understand is is it really worth to spend that extra $120 (₹6500) for i3?
For office work the Celeron will more than suffice. I'm using a laptop with a processor that is 7 years old and it is great for office work (read: document editing, creating pdfs, printing, browsing, playign movies, music, burning DVDs and even playing some pre-2005 games).

If you must spend that money, buy an SSD drive or some more RAM instead.
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Old 23rd October 2014, 19:42   #4248
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re: THE Laptop Thread: Configs, deals and questions

This is what I use -

Asus X550CC-XO112H
- Intel Corei7-3537M(3rd Gen)
- 4 GB DDR3 RAM (added another 4GB)
- 750 GB HDD
- 15.6" HD Non Glare Display
- DVD RW
- 2 GB Graphics
- Windows 8 (upgraded to 8.1)

Its a performance machine designed for gaming. Haven't explored games yet.
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Old 27th October 2014, 01:54   #4249
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re: THE Laptop Thread: Configs, deals and questions

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Originally Posted by Accent Martin View Post
This is what I use -

Asus X550CC-XO112H
- Intel Corei7-3537M(3rd Gen)
- 4 GB DDR3 RAM (added another 4GB)
- 750 GB HDD
- 15.6" HD Non Glare Display
- DVD RW
- 2 GB Graphics
- Windows 8 (upgraded to 8.1)

Its a performance machine designed for gaming. Haven't explored games yet.
Could you please share price of the same.
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Old 27th October 2014, 01:56   #4250
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re: THE Laptop Thread: Configs, deals and questions

I am in the market for a new laptop.
I am confused between Macbook pro and LenovoZ50.
Is using macbook real different from Windows based laptops?
Couple of points in favour of mac are that the macs are fairly uncommon and that windows 10 is around the corner which might make 8.1 the "old " version.
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Old 27th October 2014, 07:57   #4251
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re: THE Laptop Thread: Configs, deals and questions

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Originally Posted by ishlinea7260 View Post
Could you please share price of the same.
I paid INR 51,000 . purchased 1 year and 2 months back.
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Old 27th October 2014, 09:17   #4252
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re: THE Laptop Thread: Configs, deals and questions

Got a new Dell Latitude E5540 (15.6") laptop recently. It has a numeric keyboard as well towards the right end of the keyboard.
Now, can I get a decent keypad protector/skin that exactly fits to this keypad layout to protect it from dust entering from tiny gaps.
For info, it is a backlit keypad. Any suggestions are welcome on this. Thanks.
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Old 27th October 2014, 13:29   #4253
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re: THE Laptop Thread: Configs, deals and questions

Quote:
Originally Posted by raghu.t.k View Post
Guys need help with intalling OS on laptop using oem product key.
Not sure if below will help you.
http://superuser.com/questions/69725...8-from-oem-key

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...ndows-7-a.html

Last edited by ottocycle : 27th October 2014 at 13:41.
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Old 27th October 2014, 14:44   #4254
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re: THE Laptop Thread: Configs, deals and questions

My Toshiba Qosmio X505 is good, but the 4GB ram is not so nice.
It has PC-8500F samsung 2GB*2

I am thinking I should get 1*8GB laptop DDR3.
Most market stuff has 1333MHz DDR3.

Any ideas where can I find PC-8500F 8GB. I do not mind using DDR3 1333MHz, if there is a way of using it at 533MHz
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Old 27th October 2014, 15:19   #4255
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re: THE Laptop Thread: Configs, deals and questions

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Originally Posted by ottocycle View Post
Missing the thanks button.
Thanks for the links. The second one was useful. The problem was with the key retreived from registry. Was not aware of the prod key stuck under the battery, and had downloaded a tool to retreive the key from the registry, which also extracted an OEM key, but for some reason, it did not capture the correct key listed. Used the right key and the rest was simple. Need to safekeep the Product keys of various products purchased!

With that my Dell studio 1558 has got a fresh lease of life with 8 GB RAM and 2 TB of HDD. If only they had a second slot for HDD, I could have installed 2TB exclusive for data (did not want to remove the optical drive as suggested in another thread for a HDD caddy).
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Old 27th October 2014, 17:42   #4256
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re: THE Laptop Thread: Configs, deals and questions

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Originally Posted by raghu.t.k View Post
:The second one was useful.
Great. I would also this tutorial to clean my 3 years old lenovo laptop to give it a new life.
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Old 27th October 2014, 18:24   #4257
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re: THE Laptop Thread: Configs, deals and questions

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Originally Posted by ottocycle View Post
Great. I would also this tutorial to clean my 3 years old lenovo laptop to give it a new life.
Just ensure you do not depend on any tool to extract the product keys from the registry. Also ensure the s/w or drivers required is on the support web page or media for specific licensed s/w(like Fast Access for facial recognistion) is available before you format/install a new drive. If you have a recovery partition, you might lose it. I did not bother to check how to create one on the new disc, since my OS is seperate from Data, and can be rebuilt at any time without affecting the data drive(unless the device crashes, in which case the recovery partition would have also been affected). I have few of my friends who use products from 2000, 2005, etc. Infact my test rig is an inspiron which was purchased in 2006, and still going good.

Normally I would have switched to a retail custom install, but was really annoyed with Dell's response stating that since the product is no longer supported they cannot help me (get the install media) even at a cost for a laptop purchased in 2010. Imagine the case of people who use laptops as an end-user with no knowledge to re-build. Their only choice would be to depend on the store which assembles PC (not sure how many of them use geniune s/w) or their friends with required knowledge.

I have given up on the Fast Access Facial recognition, which is not listed on their support page, and only available on the media sent by them. Anyway it was more a novelty item, than a serious authentication mechanism. Even tried the retail version, but was not impressed. I would have preferred the finger print scanner seen on some of the HP machines.

Last edited by raghu.t.k : 27th October 2014 at 18:26.
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Old 1st November 2014, 19:33   #4258
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re: THE Laptop Thread: Configs, deals and questions

Got a new Dell Latitude E5540 laptop recently. Also planning for MS Office. If I opt for Office Home & Student 2013 version for Rs 5499/-, I'll get Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and NOT Outlook. Since, the laptop has Win 8.1 Pro OS, it has a Mail app built in.

Now, the question is, Can I use this inbuilt Mail app and just take the above mentioned version of Office? If I include outlook in MS office (Office Home & Business 2013), the cost of the package is increasing many folds (Rs 17499/-). How will the inbuilt Mail app perform against outlook. Can it perform 70-80% of tasks that outlook can perform? Another option instead of this is to go for a subscription version of Office 365 personal which has outlook inbuilt with subscription charges of Rs 3299/- per year. Now between these two, which is a better option. Need suggestions. Thanks.

Last edited by vvrchandra : 1st November 2014 at 19:37.
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Old 2nd November 2014, 17:14   #4259
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re: THE Laptop Thread: Configs, deals and questions

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Got a new Dell Latitude E5540 laptop recently..Now between these two, which is a better option. Need suggestions. Thanks.
Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks.
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Old 3rd November 2014, 12:41   #4260
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re: THE Laptop Thread: Configs, deals and questions

Quote:
Originally Posted by vvrchandra View Post
Got a new Dell Latitude E5540 laptop recently. Also planning for MS Office. If I opt for Office Home & Student 2013 version for Rs 5499/-, I'll get Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and NOT Outlook. Since, the laptop has Win 8.1 Pro OS, it has a Mail app built in.

Now, the question is, Can I use this inbuilt Mail app and just take the above mentioned version of Office? If I include outlook in MS office (Office Home & Business 2013), the cost of the package is increasing many folds (Rs 17499/-). How will the inbuilt Mail app perform against outlook. Can it perform 70-80% of tasks that outlook can perform? Another option instead of this is to go for a subscription version of Office 365 personal which has outlook inbuilt with subscription charges of Rs 3299/- per year. Now between these two, which is a better option. Need suggestions. Thanks.
Umm, why not configure the mail app and give it a test drive to see if it matches your 70-80% outlook performance benchmark. And then take a final call on Outlook.
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