Sony offers bloatware-free laptops for $50 extra
Sony, Dell and HP among others have a habit of installing useless bloatware or trial software on the systems that most users don’t want/need or could do without.
But, Sony is by far the worst offender; some of its computers are so bad that they will not function properly until some of the software is removed. It may have seen that it can do better and it’s trying something new.
Engadget reports it is now possible to configure a Sony TZ2000 laptop without the extra bloat that the company likes to install for an extra $50.
I would have thought PC manufacturers would have gotten the message by now; people do not like having a brand new PC refusing to function correctly because of useless software.
This may explain Apple’s 14% market share share of computer sales in February. It’s a nice try on Sony’s part but it’s not good enough. How about making them bloat free from the factory and simply allowing users to configure systems with only the software they need.
I guess $50 isn’t too much to ask for such a service but in all reality PCs should ship bloatware-free in the first place. For now, we’ll just have to live with paying a “premium” for bloat-free laptops.
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March 21st, 2008
Jonathan,
Apple had 14% of retail computer sales in February. That is not the same as a 14% marketshare, because direct sales aren’t part of the figures. Still pretty impressive.
I’m going to take a wild guess that the Sony clean machines will be a fraction of the crapified one. PC makers get money from the companies and pass the lower cost along. $50 is 10% of low end computers.
If I buy from Dell’s business division, the computers are crap free.
July 31st, 2008
note when you get a new PC just download A new vista cd and use your vista license that came with your computer, that is what I do when I get paid for installing a new os on a new computer, or I just install linux for the two hr labor charge