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Forums - General - Sony charging $50 for not installing crapwares?

Galaki on 21 March 2008

Source Engadget

Sony hates you, offers $50 "Fresh Start" option to build your laptop crapware-free

Posted Mar 21st 2008 2:16AM by Paul Miller


Sony has quite the history of crippling excellent, beautiful hardware with horrible, useless software. The company's UX UMPC bluescreened on us the first time we turned it on, and crashed the first time we tried to shut it down thanks to all the bloatware on it, while a Laptop Mag review says their Vaio TZ ran "as if it were broken" before they managed to wipe it clean. Lucky for us, it appears Sony is finally seeing the error of its ways, but instead of removing the crapware altogether, Sony has the nerve to offer a $50 "Fresh Start" option, which "scrubs" the machine clean before shipping it your way. At the moment you can only configure the TZ2000 crapware-free, but hopefully Sony will be rolling out the choice to the rest of its laptops soon. Or here's an idea, Sony: stop trying to milk profits and start giving consumers laptops that actually work out of the box.

Is this true? I never bought a Vaio and did indeed considered it at one point or another.

I think I'll stick with IBM... (they got crapwares, too. Good thing I can remove the crapwares myself) 



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Lafiel on 21 March 2008

edit:

I was wrong - just got up and still am sleepy, that's why I seem to have mixed the two options up *yawn* , sorry



Username2324 on 21 March 2008

Thats part of the way big computer companies can offer low prices on computers, people pay them to put trial versions of their software onto Sony/Dell/Hp's hardware, so naturally if they aren't getting paid for putting software on it, they will charge you that loss of profit, so it work's either way for them.



Galaki on 21 March 2008
Username2324 said:
Thats part of the way big computer companies can offer low prices on computers, people pay them to put trial versions of their software onto Sony/Dell/Hp's hardware, so naturally if they aren't getting paid for putting software on it, they will charge you that loss of profit, so it work's either way for them.

We'll sell you this top of the line laptop with uber tera flops computing.

But we will also make it bugged and slow.

However, we'll unslow it for you with a low low price of only $50.



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Sqrl on 21 March 2008
Username2324 said:
Thats part of the way big computer companies can offer low prices on computers, people pay them to put trial versions of their software onto Sony/Dell/Hp's hardware, so naturally if they aren't getting paid for putting software on it, they will charge you that loss of profit, so it work's either way for them.

Those companies still don't offer a savings compared to what you can do with newegg and parts, even a cheapy PC at $350 after tax and shipping on newegg runs about $600 before tax and shipping on these sites.  You're basically paying an arm and a leg for tech support. 

Some people need it though =P

 
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Username2324 on 21 March 2008
Sqrl said:
Username2324 said:
Thats part of the way big computer companies can offer low prices on computers, people pay them to put trial versions of their software onto Sony/Dell/Hp's hardware, so naturally if they aren't getting paid for putting software on it, they will charge you that loss of profit, so it work's either way for them.

Those companies still don't offer a savings compared to what you can do with newegg and parts, even a cheapy PC at $350 after tax and shipping on newegg runs about $600 before tax and shipping on these sites. You're basically paying an arm and a leg for tech support.

Some people need it though =P

 

Not necessarily, the designing in my Dell case requires only 1 fan that runs at low speed, to get cases of equality would cost alot of money, when you factor it all in, the costs aren't too different. The difference comes from High Cost PC's then building it yourself is better, but for the sub $500 range you're better off with a manufacturer.

 



Sqrl on 21 March 2008
Username2324 said:
Sqrl said:
Username2324 said:
Thats part of the way big computer companies can offer low prices on computers, people pay them to put trial versions of their software onto Sony/Dell/Hp's hardware, so naturally if they aren't getting paid for putting software on it, they will charge you that loss of profit, so it work's either way for them.

Those companies still don't offer a savings compared to what you can do with newegg and parts, even a cheapy PC at $350 after tax and shipping on newegg runs about $600 before tax and shipping on these sites. You're basically paying an arm and a leg for tech support.

Some people need it though =P

 

Not necessarily, the designing in my Dell case requires only 1 fan that runs at low speed, to get cases of equality would cost alot of money, when you factor it all in, the costs aren't too different. The difference comes from High Cost PC's then building it yourself is better, but for the sub $500 range you're better off with a manufacturer.

 


Dell PC and cases are nothing special, even at sub-$500 they are more expensive for equal quality and performance.  The simple fact is that with sub-$500 components you don't need a lot of cooling and only having one case fan is not even remotely a big deal.  Plain and simple the ONLY reason they are even worthwhile for anyone is the tech support they offer.  If you don't need the tech support then its a ripoff..even at sub-$500.



To Each Man, Responsibility
Username2324 on 21 March 2008

Well it's nice to know there's someone there if something happens, but I'd prefer company cases over custom anyday. Not to mention there's only one shipping cost, usually free, and for some countries custom parts and what not are very expensive.

But OT, to fix the whole junk software problem, all you have to do is pay $5 for a Windows restore disc (Mine atleast only cost $5 for a full version of Windows Media Center on DVD) and reinstall windows, and only windows since the back-up discs don't have the junk on them.



Sqrl on 21 March 2008
Username2324 said:
Well it's nice to know there's someone there if something happens, but I'd prefer company cases over custom anyday. Not to mention there's only one shipping cost, usually free, and for some countries custom parts and what not are very expensive.

 Thats part of what people pay me for when I build PCs. Someone who knows what brands, and what parts are needed to meet their computing needs.  I just don't have the patience to offer 24/7 tech support (can you imagine how much hassle that would be for one person or even a small company? ).

Anyways, I personally loath the "custom" cases pre-built outfits have, and I've seen a lot of them along the way with helping people with their PCs.  I greatly prefer the highly engineered cases made for high-end systems...but those aren't always an option if you're on a budget.  The big thing is the pre-built systems usually are cramped and don't offer a lot of space to work in the case and don't take to upgrades as well. Still though you can get something that looks sharp, high quality and offers decent features at sub-$50 and often times you can even get a solid brand-name PSU with it.

With that said it sounds like we're are just debating personal case preferences, so really there is no right answer in that regard.  



To Each Man, Responsibility
Mistershine on 21 March 2008
Username2324 said:
Sqrl said:
Username2324 said:
Thats part of the way big computer companies can offer low prices on computers, people pay them to put trial versions of their software onto Sony/Dell/Hp's hardware, so naturally if they aren't getting paid for putting software on it, they will charge you that loss of profit, so it work's either way for them.

Those companies still don't offer a savings compared to what you can do with newegg and parts, even a cheapy PC at $350 after tax and shipping on newegg runs about $600 before tax and shipping on these sites. You're basically paying an arm and a leg for tech support.

Some people need it though =P

 

Not necessarily, the designing in my Dell case requires only 1 fan that runs at low speed, to get cases of equality would cost alot of money, when you factor it all in, the costs aren't too different. The difference comes from High Cost PC's then building it yourself is better, but for the sub $500 range you're better off with a manufacturer.

 


The main problem with Dell is they use bespoke parts inside the PC. If something inside breaks its generally a complete ball ache to get a spare without paying Dells earth shattering costs(£150 for a mobo, £250+ VAT for a server PSU).

EDIT: OT, it's not just Sony that do this, Acer fill there PCs up with so much shit, it takes about an hour to clean it off.