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Laptop manafacturer sells on stats they don't support

  • 23-12-2009 02:16PM
    #1
    Hydrosylator
    Closed Accounts Posts: 275 ✭✭


    Just thought I'd share my bad experience and maybe inform someone else before they get disappointed like I did.

    I bought a laptop which was advertsied as having Windows 7, and it came with 4gb ram. I read up on Windows 7 and found out that it comes with two discs, 32-bit and 64-bit, and it's up to you what to install (mine can handle 64-bit).
    Without the 64-bit, any more than 3and a bit gb of ram is wasted because Windows 32-bit can't use it, so with that in mind I ordered the laptop.

    Note how it makes no reference to anything about an OEM license in the spec

    Anyway got my laptop, opened the box, looked for the disc, no disc, so I turned it on. I was guided through a really easy installation process and had my new pc up and running. On 32-bit Windows 7, with no choice being offered.

    A bunch of phone calls later, I found out this:
    OEM (Original Equipment Manafacturer) Licensed OS's, are not looked after by Microsoft but by the OEM (Samsung in my case).
    Samsung only do Windows 7 32-bit and don't support 64-bit.
    Samsung sell laptops with 4gb+ of ram, which can't actually make use of all the ram available.
    If I want 64-bit I have to buy a new licensed OS, just under €100.

    In a nutshell:
    If you're evaluating a Windows 7 laptop with 4gb+, add €100 to the price, becuase that's what it'll cost to actully have the machine you're looking at running on the spec it's sold on.

    I asked the lad in Samsung why they were selling pc's with more ram than they could actually use, he responded,
    "That's a very good question". That solves my problem.

    It's not the end of the world, I just think that it's not a kick in the arse off false advertising. I'm pissed off, my laptop's not as good as they said it was, unless I spend an extra hundred quid.


Comments

  • #2
    Overheal
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 86,729 ✭✭✭✭Overheal


    4GB (3.2GB useable)
    (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800MHz

    Thats what it says in the Spec.

    That should have been your clue.

    Im not sure they did anything to hoodwink you here. The lack of saying Home Premium-32 bit is a somewhat unfair ommission but hardly criminal and not False Advertising.
    And No Manufacturer really lists OEM - thats just how the Industry has worked for many, many years. If you want Retail Windows you go to the shop and Buy the Retail Windows. You would be hard pressed to find a computer for sale with a Retail OS on it.


  • #3
    Alanstrainor
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,157 ✭✭✭✭Alanstrainor


    No manufacturer will include a retail copy of Win7 with a machine unless you pay for it. And what you heard about windows 7 coming with both copies of 32 and 64 bit is true for retail copies, but not OEM.
    They are selling it with more RAM because RAM is cheap, and when people see 4GB they immediately think the machine is better than one with 3GB of RAM. And the system could be configured with a different OS by the end user which could be 64bit.
    Unless you are using your laptop for very heavy use, like huge files in photoshop while running a virtual machine or something mad like that you're just not going to notice the difference between 3.2 and 4GB.


  • #4
    AlmightyCushion
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 35,165 Mod ✭✭✭✭AlmightyCushion


    As far as I know the product key for your 32-bit windows 7 will work for the 64-bit version as well. You'll have to get your hands on a disk with the 64-bit version of the os you are using and do a re-install.

    The reason some manufacturers don't support the 64-bit version is because it can cause some problems with certain software and some hardware won't have 64-bit drivers. These issues are fairly minimal though so Samsung really should be putting 64-bit version on their computers.


  • #5
    zenno
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,377 ✭✭✭zenno


    AlmightyCushion wrote: »
    As far as I know the product key for your 32-bit windows 7 will work for the 64-bit version as well. You'll have to get your hands on a disk with the 64-bit version of the os you are using and do a re-install.

    The reason some manufacturers don't support the 64-bit version is because it can cause some problems with certain software and some hardware won't have 64-bit drivers. These issues are fairly minimal though so Samsung really should be putting 64-bit version on their computers.

    quote: As far as I know the product key for your 32-bit windows 7 will work for the 64-bit version as well.

    i'm not sure about that i think the algorithms in the serial keys are different. i could be wrong though but thats just what i heard.


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