I'm not sure if that's true for most laptops, but speaking from my past experiences, laptops usually come with additional software already installed. And some of them won't let you change your OS, you have to use "recovery disc", which again installs the same additional software - toshiba is a great example. You have to blame your laptop company, not microsoft when it comes to this, desktop PC users don't get Windows Live Essentials or any other additional software installed with their OS, because they install clean version of OS without anything added.
Live Essentials is package of a few programs based on communication... mail, IM, blogging, video maker... You can download installer (wle setup) from their website and choose which features you want to have. The installer then downloads only chosen programs. It's not bad idea in my opinion, but I find only Messenger useful.
I also use Windows Mail, but it doesn't have enough features.