Dell's Vista Basic is different than the Retail Version?

[Shawn]

My granddad just got a new Dell and the first thing I did was do a clean format. It came with the Vista Home Basic cd which I used to reinstall everything and didn't ask once for the key. It also says that it's already activated and shows the Dell logo in the system information instead of the Windows logo. Pretty cool.

Another thing I noticed though is that even though Vista Basic doesn't come with Aero the Dell version came with a theme that looks exactly identical to Aero except it isn't transparent. It even has the same Window Color and Appearance menu that Vista Home Premium has where you can change the colors.

The retail version of Vista Home Basic that I installed on my dad's computer doesn't have any of this. This is the only option besides Windows Classic. What gives?

 

[juktar]

Even with XP a Dell computer never had to activate as long as you use the Dell media.

 

[MrChad]

Although I'm not sure about the theme stuff, large OEMs like Dell typically used customized installation CDs that pre-activate the OS installation and add OEM support information to the System property pages. This was true with Windows XP, and it appears to be true with Vista as well.

 

[mageslayer]

this aero like interface you describe may just be a preinstalled skin or some factory default setting only available on dell

the dell oem discs are awesome because they activate automatically and u can use it on any dells, this isnt new

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Vista Basic comes with an Aero theme, it just isn't Areo Glass(transparent)

 

[spyordie007]

As others mentioned *most* OEM media comes with the SLP pre-activated key added to the un-attend. So long as you use their media/hardware you wont have to enter a product key or activate.

 

[pcgeek11]

The new Large OEMs that use SLP activation with Vista will not necessarily install on any of that OEMs systems. The BIOS must have the correct SLIP Table defined in the BIOS.

I have a Dell ( Pre Vista ) Notebook that will NOT preactivate with a Dell Vista DVD as it doesn't have the SLIP Table defined in the BIOS. The same model notebook post Vista will accept the preactivated installation as it does have the SLIP Table defined in the BIOS.

There are ways around this, but they will not be discussed here.

pcgeek11

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski
Vista Basic comes with an Aero theme, it just isn't Areo Glass(transparent)

nope.

 

[aka1nas]

It looks like the naming convention for the theme has changed slightly. Non-glass Aero is now just called Vista Basic and is included with Vista Home Basic. During Vista's development, the vista UI in general was referred to as Aero and Aero Glass is the 3d composited version.

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: aka1nas
It looks like the naming convention for the theme has changed slightly. Non-glass Aero is now just called Vista Basic and is included with Vista Home Basic. During Vista's development, the vista UI in general was referred to as Aero and Aero Glass is the 3d composited version.

Vista Basic looks different than Aero. In the Dell version of Vista Home Basic there is the "Areo" color scheme and the "Vista Basic" color scheme. The Aero scheme obviously looks a lot nicer. I'll take a screenshot next time I get over there. Probably in Aug.