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    Steps to take after receivingy M14x?

    Discussion in 'Alienware 14 and M14x' started by Knguyen204, Jun 14, 2011.

  1. Knguyen204

    Knguyen204 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I was just wondering what all I should do after I receive my M14x. Basically I mean, what do I need to upgrade/what should I upgrade in terms of drivers and what not?

    I just want my computer to be up to date, so any suggestions are appreciated.
     
  2. Bbishop93

    Bbishop93 Notebook Consultant

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    Dont update the bios i heard made a lot of people's battery settings and problems even worse. I would just remove some startup stuff like the windows 7 animation startup that way it runs alot faster, the startup that is. AW isnt too bloated with crapware so should be that much you would have to do.
     
  3. Mortinator

    Mortinator Notebook Consultant

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    how do you remove the windows 7 animation start up?
     
  4. takeabyte

    takeabyte Notebook Evangelist

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    There is a thread that has this exact question asked and answered already!

    EDIT: Ok so it's not exactly the same question..pretty close though!

    See here
     
  5. Tsukurimashou

    Tsukurimashou Notebook Evangelist

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    Start > Run > type "msconfig" > Ok > Boot > Check something like No GUI
     
  6. Knguyen204

    Knguyen204 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yeah I've heard that AW doesn't put too much unneccesary programs and what not on their machines. So I don't need to update anything really, what about the new NVIDIA drivers?
     
  7. Cutterschoice

    Cutterschoice Notebook Enthusiast

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    I got my new m14x today, first thing to do is make the recovery discs/USB which eevr you decide disc is cheaper though.

    Depending how soon you got your you'll already have the latest bios mine does, and really hasnt caused any issue.

    Either leave it as it is and just install your programs etc, or what i'm going to do is wipe everything with the windows 7 DVD included and start from fresh, but thats because i'm fussy and hate having the recovery partition sitting there doing nothing.
     
  8. CGSDR

    CGSDR Alien Master Race

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    How large is the recovery files take? Why dont you just format the drive and merge it with the existing one?


    --
    To OP, I would also at first burn discs of the Recovery files on that recovery disk just in case anything gone wrong. So then I wont have to be panic, just pop in the recovery disc and done worry.

    Second thing I do is the updating stuff on both hardware (Except for the BIOS) and software like Windows 7 updating.
     
  9. Cutterschoice

    Cutterschoice Notebook Enthusiast

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    If i remember it's around 8GB, takes 2 blank DVDs to complete, i remove the recovery partition just to free up a bit more space on harddrive, then if anything ever goes wrong or if i decide to sell the laptop later down the line i can use the restore disks to format it back the way it was when we first turned the laptop on.

    I personally just prefer a fresh install, so i know exactly what's going on the laptop and why, although the install from dellaware is fairly good with not much junkware.
     
  10. /Drakk_

    /Drakk_ Notebook Consultant

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    About the recovery image, can you do it with a portable HDD in an external usb enclosure?
     
  11. CGSDR

    CGSDR Alien Master Race

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    Yes, you can do it with the AlienRespawn, here is the link: AlienRespawn "How to"

    In that link, BatBoy explain that it can use to create the recovery disc, using DVD or USB drive, so I think it might be able to use the external hard drive, since it use USB to do so. But I recommend using a DVD because it is safer and will be individual.