Originally Posted by
Loose rivets
*OS backups. Given it's only on the drive anyway, it could be lost, and doing a total reinstall 'down the route' could be very problematical. The Windows key is no longer on the case, but embedded in the hardware and requires a dealer's MS disc to extract it. Or so they tell me. A 'Recover' disc would I hope obviate the need for this, but what if one had to download another copy and apply a key?
Welcome to the world of computer manufacturers dressing up cost savings as functionality improvements for the customer. You don't get a recovery CD because they cost money to master and distribute, hence you get a whopping 20Gb partition on your disk taken with a recovery image which they expect you to burn to CD the minute you start using it. It's win-win for the manufacturer, as they charge the uninitiated top dollar to 'fix' computers where the drive has gone and nobody thought* to take a backup
This is one of the few scenarios where i'd hate to be a 'user'
(*CBA)