I just wanted to do a follow up about my father's purchase of a new Dell notebook. I had tried to talk him into a Lenovo Ideapad but instead he bought the Dell due to the price difference. He was having some difficulty with his new Dell so he asked me to do some troubleshooting. His wireless connection was running slow and he couldn't get his printer to install. Both problems were due to Vista and IE issues and were easily fixed. He did explain that he called Dell for assistance and was turned away because he bought the system at Best Buy and would need to contact the Geek Squad. Geek Squad was very nice and offered to come over to fix his issues for a small fee of $149 or would do it remotely for $79. Dad was smart enough to turn the offer down and wait for me but who knows how much money people have wasted with them?
Since I was there I decided to poke around the Dell and compare it to the IdeaPad. The Dell is very thin and only had a slight heat issue to the left of the touch pad. The heat was not a major issue and was about equal to the Lenovo. The Windows Experience score was 3.1 which caught my attention since the IdeaPad scored 3.4. The WPrime score was 53 seconds compared to 43 seconds on the Lenovo. Poking around I found that the Dell had an Intel T2390 1.83 Ghz processor 2GB of RAM and the Intel R965 chip set. All in all the reason for the Dell being cheaper was attributed to the system using older and lesser equipment. I'm not so sure he is as happy with Dell knowing the extra $100 would have gotten him a much better system.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Dell Precision M6400 has been released
Dell now offers the Precision M6400 17 inch mobile workstation for sale on its website. The starting price is $2599 but is on sale for $2299 after an instant rebate. A product being offered with a rebate as soon as it is released screams desperation but the specs you get for the price shows that Dell plans to pump up your cost with upgrades. Here are the specs for the base model.
First off they are practically forcing you to spend more money as nobody willing to spend $2299 on a system is willing to settle on 1GB of RAM, 80 GB 5400RPM hard drive and a dual core processor. Dell has hyped this system to be a true powerhouse, quad core monster system with RAID but offers little in the base system. So what will it cost you to upgrade? Lets start with $900 to move up to quad core. The system comes with Vista Business and the XP downgrade which Dell usually charges more for but if you don't want the downgrade you don't get a reduction in price. Dell advertises up to 16GB of RAM but doesn't offer Vista 64bit OS or anything bigger than a $210 upgrade to 2 DIMM 4GB of RAM. Then they nickle and dime you with upgrades for hard drive, camera, wireless N and other small upgrades most people would want. The M6400 is still cheaper than a Lenovo W700 but I wish Dell would stop using the bait and switch by simply offering a decent system at a reasonable price to begin with. Let the customer decide if they want to upgrade or downgrade from there.
| | | |||
| Module | Description | Show Details | ||
| Mobile Precision M6400 | Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8400 (2.26GHz, 3M L2 Cache, 1067MHZ) Dual Core | |||
| Operating System | Genuine Windows Vista Business Bonus-Windows XP Professional downgrade | |||
| Memory | 1.0GB, DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM, 1 DIMM | |||
| Internal Keyboard | Internal English Backlit Keyboard | |||
| Graphics | NVIDIA Quadro FX 2700M, 512MB Discrete | |||
| Primary Hard Drives | 80GB Hard Drive, 5400RPM | |||
| Fingerprint Reader Options | No Fingerprint Reader | |||
| LCDs | 17" UltraSharp™ Wide Screen WXGA+ (1440x900) LCD Display | |||
| Modem | No Modem | |||
| AC Adapter | 210W 3P, A/C Adapter | |||
| Media Bay Devices | 8X DVD with Cyberlink Power DVD™ | |||
| Camera / Microphone | No Camera, with dual digital array microphone | |||
| Wireless LAN (802.11) | Dell Wireless™ 1397 802.11b/g Mini Card | |||
| System Documentation | Resource DVD - Contains Diagnostics and Drivers | |||
| RAID Configuration | All Hard Drives, Non-RAID, 1 or 2 drive total configuration | |||
| Primary Battery | 9 Cell Battery | |||
| Hardware Support Services | 3 Year Basic Limited Warranty and 3 Year NBD On-Site Service | |||
| Complete Care | No Onsite System Setup | |||
| Processor Branding | Intel Core 2 Duo Processor | |||
| OS Labels | Vista Basic Label | |||
First off they are practically forcing you to spend more money as nobody willing to spend $2299 on a system is willing to settle on 1GB of RAM, 80 GB 5400RPM hard drive and a dual core processor. Dell has hyped this system to be a true powerhouse, quad core monster system with RAID but offers little in the base system. So what will it cost you to upgrade? Lets start with $900 to move up to quad core. The system comes with Vista Business and the XP downgrade which Dell usually charges more for but if you don't want the downgrade you don't get a reduction in price. Dell advertises up to 16GB of RAM but doesn't offer Vista 64bit OS or anything bigger than a $210 upgrade to 2 DIMM 4GB of RAM. Then they nickle and dime you with upgrades for hard drive, camera, wireless N and other small upgrades most people would want. The M6400 is still cheaper than a Lenovo W700 but I wish Dell would stop using the bait and switch by simply offering a decent system at a reasonable price to begin with. Let the customer decide if they want to upgrade or downgrade from there.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Price wins again.
My father's Toshiba notebook died so he sent it off for repairs against my best advice that it would cost him as much to fix it as to replace it. The system was over 3 years old and needed a new screen and hard drive at the minimum. When he was given the estimate he decided that maybe I was correct and we started shopping. He looked over my son's new Lenovo Ideapad and really liked it but felt that it was too expensive even though it was on sale for less than I had paid.
I checked Dell's website and found a system for $499 but it had a Celeron processor and windows basic so I talked him out of it. I then checked a few of the local stores for systems and found a Dell on sale at Best Buy for $499 with a Dual core processor and Vista Premium. Even though the Lenovo was only $100 more and came with better sound and features he decided he would run out and get the Dell based on price and instant availability. I wasn't available to go out with him today so I printed out a copy of the Best buy system and made sure my cell phone was charged because I knew he would be calling me.
Sure enough at about 10:10 my cell phone rang and my dad said he couldn't find the system but they had a Gateway in stock for $499. I explained the specifications were not as good as the Dell and stayed on the phone as he looked around the store reading off the information of each system. After I convinced him to ask a sales person to help him, they were able to locate the advertised Dell system. Unfortunately they did not have one set up so he bought it sight unseen and took it home. A few hours later came the next call I was expecting, "so, whatcha doin right now?". I was still busy and asked what the problem was, seems dad can't get the wireless working so I'll have to go over this weekend and set it up for him. I wonder if I can bill Dell for the referral and service call?
I checked Dell's website and found a system for $499 but it had a Celeron processor and windows basic so I talked him out of it. I then checked a few of the local stores for systems and found a Dell on sale at Best Buy for $499 with a Dual core processor and Vista Premium. Even though the Lenovo was only $100 more and came with better sound and features he decided he would run out and get the Dell based on price and instant availability. I wasn't available to go out with him today so I printed out a copy of the Best buy system and made sure my cell phone was charged because I knew he would be calling me.
Sure enough at about 10:10 my cell phone rang and my dad said he couldn't find the system but they had a Gateway in stock for $499. I explained the specifications were not as good as the Dell and stayed on the phone as he looked around the store reading off the information of each system. After I convinced him to ask a sales person to help him, they were able to locate the advertised Dell system. Unfortunately they did not have one set up so he bought it sight unseen and took it home. A few hours later came the next call I was expecting, "so, whatcha doin right now?". I was still busy and asked what the problem was, seems dad can't get the wireless working so I'll have to go over this weekend and set it up for him. I wonder if I can bill Dell for the referral and service call?
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Lenovo IdeaPad Y510
Well, my son's Ideapad has been in the house a few days now so I figure its about time I put out an opinion on it. I'm not a professional reviewer so this is more of a usability review than a technical one.
System:
Lenovo Ideapad Y510
Intel core 2 Duo T5750 @2.00 GHz, 3GB Ram, 32bit Vista Premium 160GB hard drive and Intel graphics.
Initial thoughts:
The notebook comes in a nice compact black and orange box with minimal waste. Everything was easy to find and well protected. Upon removing the unit from the box I was impressed with the weight which feels like it is less than my old Inspiron 6000. The second thing that impressed me was the looks of the unit, fabric pattern lid combined with a glossy black finish looks very nice. Lenovo even included a wiping cloth to keep the unit clean and trust me it collects dust. The battery went in very easily and fits securely. I also liked the color coated ports which make it easier to pick them out. The power adapter plugs into the left side of the system which should alleviate accidentally pulling out the cord but I would have appreciated at least one USB on the rear to plug in a mouse. USB port aside, the unit is very well laid out.
After plugging the unit in I powered it up and completed the obligatory Windows settings and created my account as well as one for my son. I then removed the Microsoft Office trial, Norton trial and Earthlink offers. Having a clean system I went into parental controls and locked down my son's access to offensive sites and made sure that his favorites were allowed. I noticed that the keyboard was not a firm as my Dell. Hard to explain really as it didn't have any give to the board just seems that the keys are more springy. I'm not a huge fan of the touch pad because my finger kept slipping off due to it being nearly the same level as the case. The touch pad buttons were also level and flat, its hard to tell the touch pad from the case because they both have the same texture as well.
The next thing I did was install iTunes and import my son's music to the system and installed a couple of games he likes to play. After that it was time to really play around with the system. It has Internet Explorer but that is what he is used to so I didn't install FireFox. I did notice that the Internet was much faster on his system than my current one which made me a bit jealous. I quickly bookmarked the favorites and did a few tests of the parental controls which worked well. I then decided to listen to some music to test out the Dolby Home Theater sound of the system. WOW!! What a difference between the Lenovo and my Dell. It was far from a true home theater experience but much better than any notebook I've ever owned.
Movies looked nice on the system except for the glossy screen glare but sounded great with the Dolby system. Games also sounded much better. My only complaint about the Dolby sound isn't with Dolby but Lenovo for the wonky control buttons. The buttons are touch sensitive and only half show at a time which means you have to use a toggle button to go from set to set. Its not really that bad as one set controls play, stop, pause, etc. while the other set is to use different sound settings.
The other thing I was looking fore ward to was Lenovo's face recognition software. The system took a few pictures of me and then associated it with all my passwords. Every time you use a password on the computer an option pops up to save it in the password locker. I logged in and out of the system a few times to test it out and the scanning software worked perfectly. The password locker worked nicely as well. I then moved to another room and suddenly the system didn't recognise me. After adjusting my posture and making sure the lighting wasn't too bright the system was able to determine it was me again. Overall I would give the face scan a so-so rating and would most likely take it out if it were my system. My son still likes it and loves having the Lenovo to play around with. I had heard good things about Lenovo and I would say the praise is well deserved. If Lenovo would add the Dolby sound to the Thinkpads I would buy one in a heartbeat. Oh heck I'll most likely buy one even without it.
Scores:
Vista performance scores
Processor 4.9
Memory 4.5
Graphics 3.4
Gaming 3.5
Hard disk 5.1
Overall 3.4
W Prime 32m speed 43.8
System:
Lenovo Ideapad Y510
Intel core 2 Duo T5750 @2.00 GHz, 3GB Ram, 32bit Vista Premium 160GB hard drive and Intel graphics.
Initial thoughts:
The notebook comes in a nice compact black and orange box with minimal waste. Everything was easy to find and well protected. Upon removing the unit from the box I was impressed with the weight which feels like it is less than my old Inspiron 6000. The second thing that impressed me was the looks of the unit, fabric pattern lid combined with a glossy black finish looks very nice. Lenovo even included a wiping cloth to keep the unit clean and trust me it collects dust. The battery went in very easily and fits securely. I also liked the color coated ports which make it easier to pick them out. The power adapter plugs into the left side of the system which should alleviate accidentally pulling out the cord but I would have appreciated at least one USB on the rear to plug in a mouse. USB port aside, the unit is very well laid out.
After plugging the unit in I powered it up and completed the obligatory Windows settings and created my account as well as one for my son. I then removed the Microsoft Office trial, Norton trial and Earthlink offers. Having a clean system I went into parental controls and locked down my son's access to offensive sites and made sure that his favorites were allowed. I noticed that the keyboard was not a firm as my Dell. Hard to explain really as it didn't have any give to the board just seems that the keys are more springy. I'm not a huge fan of the touch pad because my finger kept slipping off due to it being nearly the same level as the case. The touch pad buttons were also level and flat, its hard to tell the touch pad from the case because they both have the same texture as well.
The next thing I did was install iTunes and import my son's music to the system and installed a couple of games he likes to play. After that it was time to really play around with the system. It has Internet Explorer but that is what he is used to so I didn't install FireFox. I did notice that the Internet was much faster on his system than my current one which made me a bit jealous. I quickly bookmarked the favorites and did a few tests of the parental controls which worked well. I then decided to listen to some music to test out the Dolby Home Theater sound of the system. WOW!! What a difference between the Lenovo and my Dell. It was far from a true home theater experience but much better than any notebook I've ever owned.
Movies looked nice on the system except for the glossy screen glare but sounded great with the Dolby system. Games also sounded much better. My only complaint about the Dolby sound isn't with Dolby but Lenovo for the wonky control buttons. The buttons are touch sensitive and only half show at a time which means you have to use a toggle button to go from set to set. Its not really that bad as one set controls play, stop, pause, etc. while the other set is to use different sound settings.
The other thing I was looking fore ward to was Lenovo's face recognition software. The system took a few pictures of me and then associated it with all my passwords. Every time you use a password on the computer an option pops up to save it in the password locker. I logged in and out of the system a few times to test it out and the scanning software worked perfectly. The password locker worked nicely as well. I then moved to another room and suddenly the system didn't recognise me. After adjusting my posture and making sure the lighting wasn't too bright the system was able to determine it was me again. Overall I would give the face scan a so-so rating and would most likely take it out if it were my system. My son still likes it and loves having the Lenovo to play around with. I had heard good things about Lenovo and I would say the praise is well deserved. If Lenovo would add the Dolby sound to the Thinkpads I would buy one in a heartbeat. Oh heck I'll most likely buy one even without it.
Scores:
Vista performance scores
Processor 4.9
Memory 4.5
Graphics 3.4
Gaming 3.5
Hard disk 5.1
Overall 3.4
W Prime 32m speed 43.8
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Goodbye Dell?
After a year and a half of trying to push Dell to change on the Ideastorm site I have done the unthinkable... I bought a Lenovo notebook. I have been looking to buy a new system for myself but my son came first this time. My daughter races four wheelers and has been getting a lot of new toys lately so I had to even things out. He has wanted a notebook for years and since his desktop is a hand me down that is almost as old as he is I figured it would be the way to go. I started looking for a cheap entry level 15 inch notebook that would be good enough for him to play casual games on as well as school work.
I checked out the Dell site and looked at the Inspirons since they advertised a low price of $499. I then discovered that the system was powered by a Celeron processor and decided I couldn't give him a totally crippled system. The next step up was priced at $599 with the following specs.
High Definition Audio 2.0
I figured that I would look around and see how Dell compared to other manufacturer's products. I don't like HP or Toshiba so I decided to check out Lenovo. I ran across a sale on Best Buy's website of a Lenovo Idea Pad for $674 with the following specs.
I figured that I would look around and see how Dell compared to other manufacturer's products. I don't like HP or Toshiba so I decided to check out Lenovo. I ran across a sale on Best Buy's website of a Lenovo Idea Pad for $674 with the following specs.
- Processor Intel� Core(TM)2 Duo Mobile
- Processor Speed 2.0GHz
- Display Type WXGA widescreen with VibrantView technology (1280 x 800)
- System Bus 667MHz
- Hard Drive Type SATA (5400 rpm) 250GB
- Optical Drive Dual-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW
- Graphics Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
- Built-in Webcam
- Wireless NetworkingIntel® PRO Wireless network connection (802.11a/b/g)
- Security TechnologyFace recognition via webcam and included VeriFace software
- Windows Vista Home Premium with SP1
- Included SoftwareVeriFace 2.0; EasyCapture 2.5; OneKey Recovery 4.65; Energy Cut 2.1; Adobe Reader 8.0; Power2GO 5.5; Shuttle Center 2.0; Microsoft Windows Live portal
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Vacation photography tips
I'm a camera nut on vacation and often times only see the scenery through the lens of the camera. Over time I've found a few tricks to help me take better pictures to capture the memories. The most important thing is to be prepared for anything.
I usually carry a camera bag filled up with my Nikon D40x, a basic 55mm zoom, a 300mm zoom lens with vibration reduction, 200mm zoom lens, lens cleaner, extra battery and an extra HCSD card. With that many lenses I decided to get a backpack to carry it all without killing my shoulder. After much research I found a great bag from Lowepro which has a side load which makes it easy to access my camera within seconds without stopping to put it down. The bag came in handy in Europe because I could take pictures and change lenses without losing the rest of the group.
The next most important thing is lens selection. Excursions usually include some kind of travel in a vehicle which means the possibility of shooting through a window without much time to think about setting up a shot. I learned the hard way that a 55-200mm lens is a bad idea for these situations and recommend something a bit smaller to enable shots of the occasional statue or building. There is nothing worse than seeing a great potential shot and loosing it because you left the zoom lens on the camera the night before. I find that I use my smaller lenses much more than my zoom while out and about but my zoom more when I had plenty of time to set up a shot.
I tend to buy large memory cards so I don't have to worry about filling it up. I tend to take multiple photos of the same thing. While my wife finds this annoying I have saved myself a lot of grief over time when the first picture doesn't come out but the second shot is perfect. Remember that you can always delete extra shots but once the opportunity has passed you can't usually go back to take more pictures. Seeing how most of my shots are taken from a moving vehicle there is a high probability that a picture will have blur, improper framing or an object (person walking, tree or light pole) that ruins a shot. Taking multiple shots improves your chances of a great photo.
Another great tip is to follow your instincts. The best shots most times are not set up but taken on the spur of the moment. I'll be walking along and constantly looking around for a photo opportunity. While a photo of flowers can be pretty, it can also be boring so try to incorporate something else in for a bit of contrast. In some cases patience is a virtue as it will lead to a better shot. Good photo subjects usually draw a crowd which makes it hard to get a shot without a bunch of people blocking it. Sometimes simply waiting a minute is all it takes for a crowd to disperse and improve you chance of getting a better shot.
The last tip is to always check your battery charge and carry a spare. It doesn't matter how big and fancy your camera is when the battery dies.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
What's a guy got to do to get a decent notebook?
Three years ago I purchased an Inspiron 6000 notebook when Dell was offering 40% off deals. Since then I've put many miles on my notebook, upgraded to Vista, upgraded to 2GB or RAM and filled the 60GB hard drive I thought would last me forever. I actually used my warranty to replace the power cord, DVD drive and Keyboard. Unfortunately Dell doesn't cover the faded wrist wrest issue or my degraded battery which now only lasts 30 minutes. I've needed to upgrade to a new notebook for over a year now but have been holding out for the right system to fit my needs.
Three years ago my needs were simple: internet, movies, email, finance, word processing and casual gaming were my main needs. I figured that a 1.83 Ghz Intel Processor combines with an ATI X300 video card with 128mb of RAM and a 60Gb hard drive would be a perfect fit. My needs have changed though after I purchased a digital camera and later a digital camcorder. Suddenly I find myself filling up my hard drive and grumbling over how long it takes to burn a DVD. I've also started viewing more video content online and downloading movies on my Xbox 360. I don't bother taking the notebook on vacation anymore because it is too bulky to carry around and I choose to just bring the camera and a large memory card instead.
I started watching the trends in processors and video cards, waiting for the right time to buy. I watched AMD buy out ATI, Intel go to the tic toc upgrades, AMD/ATI fall behind and NVIDIA take the lead in video cards. I decided to wait a bit since there were rumors of new technology coming soon that would better fit my needs and I wanted to see what AMD would do to make a comeback. Now the tide is changing again and I see AMD/ATI making a comeback. Intel has hit a few delays and NVIDIA has a huge fiasco with faulty video cards. I was going to keep waiting but with my daughter starting middle school she needs a better computer than her Inspiron 1100 which has been dying a slow death. I figure now would be the time to upgrade my notebook and pass along my old one that will be more than enough to meet her needs for now. My problem now is finding a system I can be happy with.
I want something lighter than my current notebook but powerful enough to edit video, music and photos easily. I know I do NOT want an NVIDIA video card but I'm up in the air over Intel or AMD processors. Intel is the leader but I like AMD's paring of CPU and GPU. Funny thing is that the only computers I can find with ATI video cards are either grossly underpowered or a brand I can't stand. It almost seems like Dell and Lenovo have something against AMD. Sure HP and Toshiba offer them but I can't stand them. I've looked at Sager but they are another NVIDIA supplier and Asus' site is too hard to use to bother trying to find out. So if anyone knows of a system that will meet my requirements let me know. Until then my search continues...
Three years ago my needs were simple: internet, movies, email, finance, word processing and casual gaming were my main needs. I figured that a 1.83 Ghz Intel Processor combines with an ATI X300 video card with 128mb of RAM and a 60Gb hard drive would be a perfect fit. My needs have changed though after I purchased a digital camera and later a digital camcorder. Suddenly I find myself filling up my hard drive and grumbling over how long it takes to burn a DVD. I've also started viewing more video content online and downloading movies on my Xbox 360. I don't bother taking the notebook on vacation anymore because it is too bulky to carry around and I choose to just bring the camera and a large memory card instead.
I started watching the trends in processors and video cards, waiting for the right time to buy. I watched AMD buy out ATI, Intel go to the tic toc upgrades, AMD/ATI fall behind and NVIDIA take the lead in video cards. I decided to wait a bit since there were rumors of new technology coming soon that would better fit my needs and I wanted to see what AMD would do to make a comeback. Now the tide is changing again and I see AMD/ATI making a comeback. Intel has hit a few delays and NVIDIA has a huge fiasco with faulty video cards. I was going to keep waiting but with my daughter starting middle school she needs a better computer than her Inspiron 1100 which has been dying a slow death. I figure now would be the time to upgrade my notebook and pass along my old one that will be more than enough to meet her needs for now. My problem now is finding a system I can be happy with.
I want something lighter than my current notebook but powerful enough to edit video, music and photos easily. I know I do NOT want an NVIDIA video card but I'm up in the air over Intel or AMD processors. Intel is the leader but I like AMD's paring of CPU and GPU. Funny thing is that the only computers I can find with ATI video cards are either grossly underpowered or a brand I can't stand. It almost seems like Dell and Lenovo have something against AMD. Sure HP and Toshiba offer them but I can't stand them. I've looked at Sager but they are another NVIDIA supplier and Asus' site is too hard to use to bother trying to find out. So if anyone knows of a system that will meet my requirements let me know. Until then my search continues...
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