Dude, You’re Gettin a Dell!

Okay first things first. I couldn’t resist changing the title to “Dude, you’re getting a Dell!”. I saw those commercials one too many times as a kid and it was time for a return of the quote. What I didn’t know was that the actor, Ben Curtis, stopped doing the commercials after becoming a fan of Gateway …. (of which, I am not, but then again I am no fan of unconstitutional federal drug wars, either).

In any case, I wrote about some pretty serious stuff yesterday, and while I woke up with the intention to finish the post, I quickly realized I need a break for at least one day to write about something less dramatic.

So, you guys get to hear about my new laptop today, including why I bought it, what’s under the hood, and some of the benefits of this laptop over my previous HP.

For starters, my previous laptop was a 2007, HP DV 6700. I got it new in the spring of 08 for about $90 (no, not discussing how today).

It served me well over its’ ~2.5 year lifespan, especially considering the digital abuse I put it through (physically it was 99% as mint as the day it was bought, as, you guessed it, I’m pretty anal about taking care of things like this).

That said, over the past few months the video card began crashing at random intervals (crashing Windows in the process), and as time went on, ever more frequently. Over the past few weeks it had been at least once daily, without lapse.

While I am no tech whiz, I suspected this was the hardware failing itself due to the onslaught of video editing I put the poor thing through in years gone by – editing it simply wasn’t made to handle.

In combination with aging technology, and a battery that could barely sustain the laptop for more than 20 minutes, I decided it was time to grab a new computer.

Boy was this a good idea.

My new laptop – pictured above – does everything I need it to, and then some.

It’s funny, computers haven’t been on my mind for years – until the above problems arose. In this sense, I cared less and less about the speed and power of my laptop as time went on, as long as it could “get by” with what I needed it to do.

Until recently at The 21 Convention 2010, when my former computer was on its death bed. Dj Fuji commented to me on the internet speed at the hotel, and how for a small fee per day, you could upgrade to a ridiculously high speed.

The free internet was already pretty fast, so this was puzzling.

Well, simple as this is, man having fast internet – or a fast computer in my case – really increases how productive you can be.

Yeah no kidding right?

Well, it’s a surprise to me because it’s been so long since I’ve bothered to have either, and I have to say, this is absolutely true.

The added risk is getting sucked into direct multi-tasking. I’ve found that if I can avoid this though, I’m golden.

I’m actually pretty stoked to play around with some old convention footage, since I can have it converting/rendering in the background of my new laptop, and all it does it laugh while I continue to do whatever I need to do at that particular time.

On my old laptop, anything heavy like messing with footage would immediately lock the whole thing down. Meaning if I wanted to use my laptop on a particular day and get something power intensive like that done, my only option would be to set it overnight and guesstimate how much it could get done (and hope it wouldn’t freeze or crash in the process).

Of course, I’d have the added pleasure of waking up to a lava-hot laptop that sounded like a space shuttle launch.

Again, this is no brainer stuff for most, but it’s all a huge refresh for me since it’s been so long since I’ve messed with anything technical =).

And, in case you’re wondering, here are the (relevant) specs for my new Dell Studio 1458.

• Intel Core i7-740QM (1.73-2.93Ghz, 6M/8 threads)
• 6GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz
• 14.0 inch High Definition (720p) LED Display  (1366×768 resolution)
• ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5450 1GB
• 500GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Disk Drive
• Intel WiFi Link 6200
• Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth Module (2.1)

Compared to the old HP…

• 1.67 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5450 (2mb L2 cache)
• 3 GB DDR2 Ram
• 15.4 inch (1280×800 resolution)
• NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS 256mb
• 250 GB (5400 rpm) Hard Drive
• Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection
• No built in bluetooth

For anyone who’s not a tech geek, the Dell does circles around the old HP in every way possible. Even the Wifi card is better (I’ve been able to pick up networks where I wasn’t previously at all). The Bluetooth is pretty bad ass too, half a decade late as I am with the technology.

Is the Dell the ultimate laptop? No, there are a few things that would be awesome to upgrade even further, but considering that I spent next to nothing on it (no, I’m not telling how today), I can’t even contemplate complaining.

…

Favorite feature(s)?

Ironically, the simple things: size, and I swear to god, the charger.

15.4 to 14 inches doesn’t sound like a big drop, but it is. My old laptop weighed about 6 and a half pounds, whereas the Dell weighs right at 5 and a quarter.  Both the weight and size seem like small improvements for my current and foreseeable future, but they are indeed pretty dramatic. This thing literally feels like a feather compared to the HP, and the screen size is just right (I don’t feel like I’m on an Ipad that’s for sure).

The charger is sick too. Sounds dumb, but it’s a LOT thinner than the old clunky one for the HP (easy for packing), it’s lighter, and it has a nifty rubber strap for the cord, which can otherwise be a pain in the ass to wrap up.

My only real bitch is that it comes with 2 USB ports and 1 ESATA port (which I may use someday, but it’s not super likely), and no media card reader (despite the advertising saying it would, which I will be contacting Dell about).

Boo-hoo, I ordered a $6 usb hub from Belkin, and I can live without a media card reader.

Other than that, very happy I was able to nab this laptop, and I look forward to putting it through hell with videos and such over the coming months and years.

Last thing I’ll mention are a few programs I have installed. Nothing out of the ordinary, but it always amazes me when people are completely in the dark about some of these (and of course, I am open to suggestion for better programs).

• AVG Anti-Virus
• Open Office
• Quick Books 2010
• VLC Media Player
• Mozilla Thunderbird (best decision I ever made regarding e-mail)
• Google Chrome (Not a fan of IE or FireFox)
• FileZilla FTP Client
• CC Cleaner
• Utorrent
• WinRar
• Speccy
• Steam (I’m new to this)
• Starcraft II (yes I am human, I own video games)
• Left 4 Dead 2 (haven’t played it yet but I loved it on Xbox before I sold the console)
• F.lux

Comments, thoughts, suggestions? I’d love to hear em, laptop, new blog design, or otherwise.

-Anthony/Dream

ps- Tynan got a pretty sick laptop recently as well. Read his thoughts here.

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Edit: It does have a media card reader. Woops.