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Comment by riquito | Hacker News Reader

About thinking before buying Lenovo...

I've bought a Lenovo notebook, wanted to download a copy of Windows from them (it's OEM), and searched on their forums for clues, since I didn't find anything on the site. This is what a moderator wrote

> If what you wish to achieve is an OEM imaged system, the only way is to obtain official recovery media through official channels. There are no legal downloads available, therefore discussion of it is not allowed. You may contact Service (info and hours below) to discuss your options.

https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-B-and-G-Series-Notebooks...

You must buy DVDs from them. You can't even _talk_ about alternatives.

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Better response than I got. This was just a couple months ago, the laptop shipped with Superfish installed on it in spite of assurances that it wouldn't, so I called them to ask where I could get driver installers for after I wipe / reinstall windows. I was told that I could under no circumstances reinstall Windows (even if I went and bought a brand new Windows license), that it would void my warranty and break everything and there were no drivers because: "it's not Microsoft Windows on these machines, it's Lenovo Windows".

I am never buying from them again, and at this point there is literally nothing they can do to regain my trust as a consumer.

I think after superfish and now this anyone would be mad to buy Lenovo - I work for large companies - and I would never ever recommend them (luckily I havent worked somewhere recently that uses them).

We (the US) allows IBM to sell its PC Division to China which becomes Lenovo, and you are now somehow surprised something like this happens? Failure to retain a comparative advantage in global free trade policy has many downsides. I fear this is just the tip of the iceberg.

"Comparative advantage" has a precise meaning in economics, and this is not one of the situations where the precise meaning applies.

"Strategic advantage" would be a better fit for your comment.

The majority of the profit from the sale of Windows PCs goes to Microsoft because everything in the PC besides the operating system are "commodities", meaning they are available from multiple suppliers who must compete with each other. (Actually Intel might be taking a significant fraction of the profits, too; I'm not sure.) Lenovo wants to become more than a supplier of a commodity because in a mature, shrinking market, there is little profit in supplying a commodity, and it is being clumsy and ham-handed about it, which annoys their customers.

I don't see how this is a danger to the US. If Lenovo persists in being clumsy, customers will simply shift to other suppliers. This is not a social crisis; this is just a relative newcomer to the game who did pretty well when the market was expanding and is not responding well to the end of the expansion.

I can say with absolute certainty that (at least in America) reinstalling Windows does NOT void your warranty (despite what any rep may tell you), and selling you a device with a problem they assured you didn't exist is fraud.

I would return the laptop for a refund (regardless of how long you've had it), and if they refuse to take it back (which they likely will), file a small claims case in NC (I know, not necessarily an option depending on where you are). They may try to argue that you 'agreed' to arbitration, but because they misrepresented the quality of the device, you can argue that agreement was 'signed' under false pretenses, and isn't legally binding.

I'd also post recordings of your support calls online if you have them, or call back and record new ones if you don't. Posting those online does not run afoul of the broadcast laws which apply to phone recordings, and recording calls with only one party aware is legal in all but 11 states, and everywhere once they tell you they're recording the call.

I'm doing the same damn thing with the tech companies that screwed me over, so I made sure to do my homework.

I've worked in computer repair shops, and what you've described about OEM Windows is how it's worked for years. You have to either use the recovery partition that comes with the machine or order new recovery media from the manufacturer. This isn't unique to Lenovo.

Do manufacturers treat these DVDs as a way to make more profit?

I find a nice little program called Daz Loader works much more smoothly than Lenovo support. As long as you have the correct SLIC code in the BIOS you are golden.

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