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[โ€“] 38 points 1 year ago (16 children)

There's something so pleasing about buying a Windows 11 laptop, and immediately replacing Windows with LMDE.

No need for dual boot, just wholesale replacement.

The only downside is not having my OS spying on me and forcing me to use AI.

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    I dual-boot Arch and Win11 (mainly for HDR), and I have no idea what you're talking about. I haven't had any AI forced upon me.

    But to be fair, I made the Windows ISO in Rufus (to disable the Microsoft account requirement), and I also use O&O Shut Up 10 and StartAllBack. They've obviously been doing an excellent job of shielding me from Microsoft's bullshit, cause I literally never have any of the problems with Windows that everyone is always complaining about here on Lemmy. There are no ads, no AI bullshit, no Start Menu BS. It's mostly the same Windows I've known since 7, with some modern creature comforts added in over the years.

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  • [+] 13 points 1 year ago (8 children)
  • [โ€“] 4 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Microshit still got a payment... Stop feedingg the parasite.

    Microsoft cut a deal with the manufacturer of my laptop, to have Windows pre-installed. They did so as a loss leader, with the expectation of future earnings based on my usage of Windows 11.

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  • [+] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)
  • [โ€“] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    They do, but the OEM rates are significantly lower than what you or I would pay, and they get cheaper by volume so the big OEMs are paying very, very little per unit.

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  • [+] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)
  • [โ€“] 2 points 1 year ago

    Unless things have changed, that was true even if you buy one of their official Linux or No OS/Other OS laptops based on the price. You probably have to go with a smaller company like System76 or Framework that explicitly offers Linux as a first class option and isn't big enough to get roped into some extremely lucrative evil contract.

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  • [โ€“] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I believe some manufacturers allow end users to claim the license cost back.

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  • [โ€“] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    Did that myself 6ish months ago. I didn't even allow windows to boot, I went straight to the Mint install USB. I spent some time doing mint live just to check that there weren't any hardware/warranty issues, and then I let the cleansing commence.

    So.
    Fucking.
    Gratifying.

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  • [โ€“] 3 points 1 year ago

    pleasing about buying a Windows 11 laptop, and immediately replacing Windows

    there really is! I just got a new laptop, and it really wanted me to go through the Lose-dows setup wizard crap. That wasn't so much an MS thing, rather the laptop's idiot-proofing. For instance, I had to hold the power button for a full 10 seconds to get it to hard power-off, and getting a boot menu so I could boot from USB was not as easy as it could've been.

    But those initial frustrations were replaced by sheer glee once I did finally get to a linux prompt, and using fdisk was able to nuke all those horrible Win partitions from orbit.

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  • [โ€“] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Do check the manufacturer's T's & C's - you might need Windows if returning for hardware issues.

    I take a full disk image of a new computer before powering it up, so that I can restore it exactly as it was when purchased.

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  • [โ€“] 10 points 1 year ago

    Do check the manufacturer's T's & C's - you might need Windows if returning for hardware issues.I take a full disk image of a new computer before powering it up, so that I can restore it exactly as it was when purchased.

    Or do what I did, and just overwrite the hard drive without looking back.

    Not even vague regrets.

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