Hey everyone! I'm considering purchasing a laptop from China, and as many of you might know, these typically come with the Chinese edition of Windows 11. I'm planning to erase it and install the global version, but I have some concerns:
1. Will components like the fingerprint sensor and RGB lighting still function correctly?
2. Are the necessary drivers available online, or are some specific to the original OS?
3. Will I lose any useful preinstalled apps that I can't reinstall later?
4. Most importantly, if I decide I don't like the global version or miss any features, can I revert to the original setup?
Any insights from those who have gone through this process or know what to expect would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
3 Answers
What brand is the laptop you’re looking at?
It's a MECHREVO, so I’m really curious if anyone here has experience with it.
First off, keep in mind the physical keyboard layout—do you want Chinese characters on there? The fingerprint reader will likely not work without the right drivers. Usually, you can find all the necessary drivers on the manufacturer’s website or through Windows Update, but sometimes there are parts exclusive to the Chinese market, so those drivers might only be available locally. If you wipe the system, you will lose all the pre-installed junk, but that might not be a bad thing. Also, RGB lighting? Not sure how important that is, but Windows has a built-in RGB control panel, which might serve you better than any questionable Chinese software. To go back to the original setup, having recovery media or a backup can help you revert it to how it was out of the box.
Thanks for the response! I think the keyboard layout is pretty similar to the English one, so I’m not too worried. I found the specific drivers on the manufacturer's site, so that’s a relief. I mentioned the software because I thought some preinstalled apps might be useful, like those for managing the CPU and GPU, not just junk. RGB isn’t a big deal for me, but I wanted to reference it. When you say recovery media or backup, do you mean creating a copy of the original system on a USB or as an ISO file?