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There's a very good idea on Dell's website that I haven't seen on other laptop sites: All Dell laptops have a sticker with a "service tag" (a 6-character code t

There's a very good idea on Dell's website that I haven't seen on other laptop sites: All Dell laptops have a sticker with a "service tag" (a 6-character code that looks like, say, HYBVGX). You enter that code in the Dell website, specify the OS (say, Windows/XP), and you can download all the drivers specific to your laptop configuration. The idea is wonderful. For Lenovo laptops, by contrast, you have to somehow know exactly what components are used in your laptop and then go hunt for those drivers. (And no, I don't want to use Lenovo's mysterious automatic update tools.) I said that Dell's idea is wonderful, but the implementation is horrible unfortunately: you have to download the drivers one-by-one (unless you're willing to use their download manager), the order in which drivers are installed matters and Dell doesn't tell you the order, the documentation on what each driver does is very poor, they are inconsistently packaged (zip files, exe's, installers), and sometimes you get offered, say, 3 wifi drivers because apparently Dell doesn't know which wifi chipset was put into your configuration. Like I said, the idea is great.

Samuel_Michon 13y ago
> All Dell laptops have a sticker with a "service tag" That seems very old-fashioned to me. Why should I have to type in anything at all for the computer to know what its components are? Shouldn't it already know? Apple’s Software Update/Mac App Store knows what computer I use. Even with the BTO Mac’s, the OS knows what components those computers have. The Mac App Store never presents me with software that's not suitable for my computer. I know x86 + Windows has way more possible configurations, but even there, it should be possible to create a report of all the components and send it to Windows Update (AFAIK, it already does that — why are you downloading drivers from DELL’s site?)
- Amadou 13y ago
  Sure, the computer knows the PCI-ID's of everything on the PCI-family of buses. Same for usb. But you presume that the person downloading the drivers is doing it from the same computer. If it needs a driver for its network interface, then that is going to be a problem.
  - christoph 13y ago
    This. The hours I've spent tracking down random network drivers for OEM PC's....
  - Samuel_Michon 13y ago
    > driver for its network interface To me, that sounds like a Windows problem, not a DELL problem. No matter what components your computer consists of, a basic Windows install should have a suitable driver for your network card, at least to get online to get better and more up-to-date drivers. In my experience, it always does. Maybe I've just been lucky? As for downloading drivers from a different computer, I think that's mostly done by IT departments to manage numerous computers. Of them, it can be expected they know what they’re doing, and making the process easier could obviate their job, so I suspect they like the way it is now.
    - daemin 13y ago
      Perhaps the person is about to reinstall the OS on the Dell computer and hence wants to download all the drivers onto another disk...
    - Amadou 13y ago
      Maybe I've just been lucky? That about sums it up. making the process easier could obviate their job, so I suspect they like the way it is now. Wow.
      - enraged_camel 13y ago
        >>Wow. Wow what? You realize this mindset is extremely common, and that some people will in fact actively sabotage improvement efforts to keep their jobs, right?
        Amadou 13y ago
        To attribute that mindset to every IT department rather than some group of individuals is beyond cynical. Would you say the same thing about all developers? All engineers? A statement like that speaks volumes about the writer and nothing about the subject.
- stock_toaster 13y ago
  Maybe on the off chance you need to download from another machine (no net connectivity, network drivers, clowns)?
  - Samuel_Michon 13y ago
    Clowns are way scary, I grant you. As for the Internet connection, I think that’s kind of expected of a computing device nowadays.
    - timdiggerm 13y ago
      After having seen several of your comments: You assume a lot.
    - donalmacc 13y ago
      network connectivity, sure. I spend most of my time on a university campus, which has pretty much every port (bar 80) blocked, so if an updater decides to use another port, I can't access it. Sure, with a VPN I can fix it, but it's not an ideal solution.
- cantrevealname 13y ago
  Online software update in general (not just Apple's, but anybody's) makes it difficult to create offline installers or make a standalone backup of everything you need. Also, you might need a specific version of a driver, not the latest version. Online software update always get the latest. (Not to get off topic, but creating a standalone install of Mac OS X Lion is real challenge. Installing it assumes that you'll always have a fast and reliable Internet connection.)
  - Samuel_Michon 13y ago
    > Installing [OS X] assumes that you'll always have a fast and reliable Internet connection. Oh, I know all about that, it can be quite an ordeal. Earlier this summer, I spent a month in rural France for a film shoot. A few days after I arrived, my MacBook Air started acting up, all apps would crash immediately after launch. Ran Apple Hardware Test: bad RAM. I called Apple, they wouldn't send someone out to fix it, I had to bring it to an Apple reseller for repair. Which I did, and it was fixed in three days. However, even in that larger city (Poitiers), their Internet connection was bad. They wouldn't install the OS for me because they knew their Internet connection was unreliable. Afterwards, I tried installing the OS via a WiFi network at a local bar, it took 4 hours and then it failed. I tried a different bar, same story. Eventually, I went to a cyber cafe in an even larger city, where it took 1,5 hours and went through. OS X’s web downloader should allow for partial downloads, download suspension, and redownloading of specific corrupted blocks. It's great that you don't need a disk or USB drive to install OS X from scratch, but the process still needs work.
    - brisance 13y ago
      I don't understand. What does bad RAM have to do with re-installing OS X? Also, even if the RAM somehow corrupted the OS, weren't you able to boot into the recovery partition? Or even install it on a USB drive beforehand? https://www.apple.com/osx/recovery/ https://www.apple.com/osx/recovery/
      - Samuel_Michon 13y ago
        I always format the internal disk when I send in a computer for hardware repairs. I don’t expect to get the same computer back and I don’t want my data to be out there.
- ohWhatever 13y ago
  What if, like, the battery's dead, man?
- notatoad 13y ago
  my usual process is to download a network driver from a network connected computer and then let windows update deal with the rest. its hard for the dell site to determine your hardware from another computer.
- mikeburrelljr 13y ago
  They also provide an option to automatically detect the service tag of your PC on the service page as well (with the installation of a plugin in IE).
AmVess 13y ago
My Thinkpads all have an app that's readily available from their website that automatically updates all drivers and Lenovo apps. Not only that, but one updater works on all my different Thinkpads. It's been this way for years. I do a fresh install of each new laptop I get, and all I do is install the system updater, wait for it to d/l the files, wait through a few reboots, and done.
- btgeekboy 13y ago
  Dell also has a "scan my system" function too. But it's nice to be able to download the drivers you need on a different machine. One that has a working ethernet driver, for example.
  - harrytuttle 13y ago
    You can do that on their web site. Just enter the bit on the bottom such as 7661-12G and it'll give you a list per os.
- dobbsbob 13y ago
  Bonus with Lenovo is it's pre-backdoored by the Chinese government, so you don't have to worry about NSA collecting your info passively :P http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/29/lenovo_accused_backdoors_intel_ban/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/29/lenovo_accused_backd...
maxerickson 13y ago
I haven't looked in a long time, but it used to be that if you knew the exact model number of a Lenovo laptop the website would show you just the drivers you needed. Not the nameplate model, the model number specific to the screen and components and so on.
yakk0 13y ago
It's not just their laptops. It's all Dell computers. When I started working in IT as a college student they were 5 digits, but I think they're all 7 digits now. I believe the service tag also brings up warranty information and the specs of the machine as ordered if you are logged in as an account with permissions (i.e. the one that ordered it).
voltagex_ 13y ago
There is an equivalent on the Lenovo laptops - my X1 is a "3443CTO". Same issue with the horrible downloader implementation though.
0x45696e6172 13y ago
> For Lenovo laptops, by contrast, you have to somehow know exactly what components are used in your laptop and then go hunt for those drivers. (And no, I don't want to use Lenovo's mysterious automatic update tools.) Biased IBM supporter here. All IBM/Lenovo Think systems have a MachineType-Model (eg: 2537-25A). It's written on the button of Thinkpads, or you can find it by: Windows: GUI: msinfo32, CLI: systeminfo Linux: dmidecode -t 1 The only possible exception, I can think of, is if you order a custom configuration - then the model part will say 'CTO'. Source: http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/Product-number-or-machine-type-and-model-identification/ta-p/453835 http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/Pro...
- noinsight 13y ago
  For ThinkPads Lenovo has "Thinkvantage System Update", a program that you can download that allows you to automatically install all the drivers (& bloatware, if wanted) for your system. Fujitsu has Fujitsu DeskUpdate that's similar. They're pretty sweet, much better than downloading everything separately, but of course not as good as Linux with its package managers.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

Samuel_Michon 13y ago

> All Dell laptops have a sticker with a "service tag" That seems very old-fashioned to me. Why should I have to type in anything at all for the computer to know what its components are? Shouldn't it already know? Apple’s Software Update/Mac App Store knows what computer I use. Even with the BTO Mac’s, the OS knows what components those computers have. The Mac App Store never presents me with software that's not suitable for my computer. I know x86 + Windows has way more possible configurations, but even there, it should be possible to create a report of all the components and send it to Windows Update (AFAIK, it already does that — why are you downloading drivers from DELL’s site?)

Amadou 13y ago
Sure, the computer knows the PCI-ID's of everything on the PCI-family of buses. Same for usb. But you presume that the person downloading the drivers is doing it from the same computer. If it needs a driver for its network interface, then that is going to be a problem.
- christoph 13y ago
  This. The hours I've spent tracking down random network drivers for OEM PC's....
- Samuel_Michon 13y ago
  > driver for its network interface To me, that sounds like a Windows problem, not a DELL problem. No matter what components your computer consists of, a basic Windows install should have a suitable driver for your network card, at least to get online to get better and more up-to-date drivers. In my experience, it always does. Maybe I've just been lucky? As for downloading drivers from a different computer, I think that's mostly done by IT departments to manage numerous computers. Of them, it can be expected they know what they’re doing, and making the process easier could obviate their job, so I suspect they like the way it is now.
  - daemin 13y ago
    Perhaps the person is about to reinstall the OS on the Dell computer and hence wants to download all the drivers onto another disk...
  - Amadou 13y ago
    Maybe I've just been lucky? That about sums it up. making the process easier could obviate their job, so I suspect they like the way it is now. Wow.
    - enraged_camel 13y ago
      >>Wow. Wow what? You realize this mindset is extremely common, and that some people will in fact actively sabotage improvement efforts to keep their jobs, right?
      - Amadou 13y ago
        To attribute that mindset to every IT department rather than some group of individuals is beyond cynical. Would you say the same thing about all developers? All engineers? A statement like that speaks volumes about the writer and nothing about the subject.
stock_toaster 13y ago
Maybe on the off chance you need to download from another machine (no net connectivity, network drivers, clowns)?
- Samuel_Michon 13y ago
  Clowns are way scary, I grant you. As for the Internet connection, I think that’s kind of expected of a computing device nowadays.
  - timdiggerm 13y ago
    After having seen several of your comments: You assume a lot.
  - donalmacc 13y ago
    network connectivity, sure. I spend most of my time on a university campus, which has pretty much every port (bar 80) blocked, so if an updater decides to use another port, I can't access it. Sure, with a VPN I can fix it, but it's not an ideal solution.
cantrevealname 13y ago
Online software update in general (not just Apple's, but anybody's) makes it difficult to create offline installers or make a standalone backup of everything you need. Also, you might need a specific version of a driver, not the latest version. Online software update always get the latest. (Not to get off topic, but creating a standalone install of Mac OS X Lion is real challenge. Installing it assumes that you'll always have a fast and reliable Internet connection.)
- Samuel_Michon 13y ago
  > Installing [OS X] assumes that you'll always have a fast and reliable Internet connection. Oh, I know all about that, it can be quite an ordeal. Earlier this summer, I spent a month in rural France for a film shoot. A few days after I arrived, my MacBook Air started acting up, all apps would crash immediately after launch. Ran Apple Hardware Test: bad RAM. I called Apple, they wouldn't send someone out to fix it, I had to bring it to an Apple reseller for repair. Which I did, and it was fixed in three days. However, even in that larger city (Poitiers), their Internet connection was bad. They wouldn't install the OS for me because they knew their Internet connection was unreliable. Afterwards, I tried installing the OS via a WiFi network at a local bar, it took 4 hours and then it failed. I tried a different bar, same story. Eventually, I went to a cyber cafe in an even larger city, where it took 1,5 hours and went through. OS X’s web downloader should allow for partial downloads, download suspension, and redownloading of specific corrupted blocks. It's great that you don't need a disk or USB drive to install OS X from scratch, but the process still needs work.
  - brisance 13y ago
    I don't understand. What does bad RAM have to do with re-installing OS X? Also, even if the RAM somehow corrupted the OS, weren't you able to boot into the recovery partition? Or even install it on a USB drive beforehand? https://www.apple.com/osx/recovery/ https://www.apple.com/osx/recovery/
    - Samuel_Michon 13y ago
      I always format the internal disk when I send in a computer for hardware repairs. I don’t expect to get the same computer back and I don’t want my data to be out there.
ohWhatever 13y ago
What if, like, the battery's dead, man?
notatoad 13y ago
my usual process is to download a network driver from a network connected computer and then let windows update deal with the rest. its hard for the dell site to determine your hardware from another computer.
mikeburrelljr 13y ago
They also provide an option to automatically detect the service tag of your PC on the service page as well (with the installation of a plugin in IE).

AmVess 13y ago

My Thinkpads all have an app that's readily available from their website that automatically updates all drivers and Lenovo apps. Not only that, but one updater works on all my different Thinkpads. It's been this way for years. I do a fresh install of each new laptop I get, and all I do is install the system updater, wait for it to d/l the files, wait through a few reboots, and done.

btgeekboy 13y ago
Dell also has a "scan my system" function too. But it's nice to be able to download the drivers you need on a different machine. One that has a working ethernet driver, for example.
- harrytuttle 13y ago
  You can do that on their web site. Just enter the bit on the bottom such as 7661-12G and it'll give you a list per os.
dobbsbob 13y ago
Bonus with Lenovo is it's pre-backdoored by the Chinese government, so you don't have to worry about NSA collecting your info passively :P http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/29/lenovo_accused_backdoors_intel_ban/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/29/lenovo_accused_backd...

maxerickson 13y ago

I haven't looked in a long time, but it used to be that if you knew the exact model number of a Lenovo laptop the website would show you just the drivers you needed. Not the nameplate model, the model number specific to the screen and components and so on.

yakk0 13y ago

It's not just their laptops. It's all Dell computers. When I started working in IT as a college student they were 5 digits, but I think they're all 7 digits now. I believe the service tag also brings up warranty information and the specs of the machine as ordered if you are logged in as an account with permissions (i.e. the one that ordered it).

voltagex_ 13y ago

There is an equivalent on the Lenovo laptops - my X1 is a "3443CTO". Same issue with the horrible downloader implementation though.

0x45696e6172 13y ago

> For Lenovo laptops, by contrast, you have to somehow know exactly what components are used in your laptop and then go hunt for those drivers. (And no, I don't want to use Lenovo's mysterious automatic update tools.) Biased IBM supporter here. All IBM/Lenovo Think systems have a MachineType-Model (eg: 2537-25A). It's written on the button of Thinkpads, or you can find it by: Windows: GUI: msinfo32, CLI: systeminfo Linux: dmidecode -t 1 The only possible exception, I can think of, is if you order a custom configuration - then the model part will say 'CTO'. Source: http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/Product-number-or-machine-type-and-model-identification/ta-p/453835 http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/Pro...

noinsight 13y ago
For ThinkPads Lenovo has "Thinkvantage System Update", a program that you can download that allows you to automatically install all the drivers (& bloatware, if wanted) for your system. Fujitsu has Fujitsu DeskUpdate that's similar. They're pretty sweet, much better than downloading everything separately, but of course not as good as Linux with its package managers.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]