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(This week’s entry largely copy pasta from my DA)
… but I got my new computer on Monday!
Dell Latitude D830
Centrino Duo 2.0GHz
2GB DDR2 RAM
80GB 7200RPM HDD
And plenty of other stuff…
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Quite the ironic wallpaper if you ask me…
My first impression taking the thing out of the box was that the build quality was much nicer than that of my 500m. I believe the entire chassis exterior is some sort of metal alloy as opposed to the plastic casing of the 500m. Furthermore there’s no flex in the screen, palmrest, or anywhere. The keyboard has slightly superior feedback to the 500m, but it’s a bit bigger and might take a bit of getting used to. People say that the screen is a bit dim, but I haven’t had a problem with brightness.
Vista wasn’t as terrible as I envisioned. Not externally, at least. Yes, it’s very pretty to look at. No, there was no lag after I updated Dell’s default video driver nor were there as many security prompts as I had expected. Just as much as XP SP2. The folder structures are actually quite similar to those of XP so it’s not that hard to get used to. Regardless I’m still not too happy about all the supposed DRM stuff under that shiny cover and have subsequently upgraded to XP.
I bought the machine with Vista so I could get a Vista OEM disk XD
As it stands, XP was a hassle to install. Either that or Murphy’s Law was particularly strong with me that day. All I can say is that it took me a full morning to get it running correctly, though I can probably do it in less now that I know what I’m doing. Hopefully I’ll remember when reformatting time comes around.
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Among other computer related stuff, I reorganized the workspace in my room which involves reorganizing the wires and stuff surrounding my custom box and subsequently creating the oddity in picture five. Basically I’ll need to be able to work in my room since my parents are kicking me out of my upstairs workspace when I leave for college. Previously the switch in picture five was meant to have a monitor sit ontop of it, but a newer flatscreen eliminated that monitor. Subsequently the switch had to move to less obtrusive position: under the desk.
Finally, I took apart that 500m and cleaned out 3 years worth of dropped food; until I get some protective covering for my D830, it will still be my main computer. Besides the physical wear of some of the keys and palmrest it almost looks like new.
