Morning all,

To follow up (and as a discussion point, future reminder for me, and maybe a help to others) this is what I did, end to end.

The context is UK buyer, so no quibble returns in 14 days, and I’d just had a bad experience with another laptop that this one replaced so was cautious about build quality and specs.

1. Check packaging; damage, is it the right item, etc.

2. Open, check item is correct, check for physical defects, paint / finishes, damage etc., hinge, case, stiffness / robustness etc.

*(at this stage I also prepped for start up, reminded myself of the OOBE process and so on)*​

3. Start up, go through OOBE (or clean install if that’s what you prefer)

*(I followed the OOBE stages of @Brink’s Win 11 Clean Install here, including the steps necessary to set up local rather than Microsoft account. I deselected all the ‘give Microsoft all your data and your first born children’ options during OOBE. I found one problem I couldn’t work round, which was that I only had US English as a language option, and that caused problems later)*​

​

4. Check hardware and OS functionality and correct operation

*(Display (operation, brightness, colour, contrast, sharpness, dead pixels), keyboard, trackpad, ports / connections, sound, ... )*​

​

5. Check for and understand factory recovery partition and method

6. Create disk / system image using your preferred imaging option

*(I tend to use both the Windows internal methods (Backup and Restore (Windows 7)) and a third party app (Macrium) - not sure why both!)*​

7. Create system restore point

8. Create recovery media (if there isn’t a factory recovery option)

9. Check any specific concerns with device and operation, basic use for a few days to check you’re happy

*(I had a few concerns here. I hadn’t quite been able to confirm some specs; for example, various figures were quoted for battery life, display brightness and colour gamut, whether the display used PWM, whether the display was sharp, so I wanted to check these in operation, as well as just generally checking I got on with the laptop and it met my requirements, the keyboard was OK for me, I had no robustness or physical design worries, etc.)*​

​

10. Windows Update

*(The exact point I do this can vary! I tend to run update several times, perhaps across the whole process to make sure I’ve got everything. I don’t tend to do optional updates or ‘bells and whistles’ and tend to wait until feature updates are established and settled before installing)*​

11. Remove unwanted apps and bloat

*(For me this is unwanted trials e.g. 365, antivirus and things like manufacturer’s ‘system centres’ that just repeat standard Windows functionality but tend to hog start up and memory. I’ll keep manufacturer’s system centres and apps that align with my needs or promise useful functionality, and I don’t remove Windows components, turning them off or setting the options I want in ‘Settings’ instead.)*​

12. Download (or load from backup) and install personal / core apps, activate if needed, check app functionality

*(For me this is my preferred image editing app and preferred (or already licenced) version of Office, preferred browser and email client, plus a few utilities such as Notepad ++. I don’t tend to install lots of things I ‘might’ need - I’ll keep it clean and wait to see what I actually need. I had problems with Office installation here partly due to 365 uninstall issues and partly due to worrying too much)*​

13. Windows and apps updates (Office particularly)

14. Create system restore point

15. Create standard user accounts as needed

*(I think the account created during OOBE is an admin account by default, and I tend to leave an admin account for device and software set up etc. and have standard user accounts for me and partner for day to day use)*​

16. Set personal settings for each user

*(Preferred settings and options under ‘Settings’, particularly System, Personalisation, Apps, Accounts, Time and Language, Privacy & Security; taskbar and desktop settings, display settings, app settings and preferences, browser settings and preferences, etc. There are loads of these and there’s plenty of info about them out there so I won’t go into detail. This is the bit that always seems most involved and time consuming)*​

17. Restore user app profiles and settings as needed for each user

*(e.g. email client or browser profiles and data)*​

18. Disk cleanup and optimise

19. Create disk / system image

20. Create system restore point

21. Load user files and folders from backup as needed

22. Set up user logins, site preferences etc.

23. Set up backup scheme / schedule

24. Use and enjoy!

I’d be interested to know what others think, things you do differently, ...