ArtisticallyChill

SO, after wrestling with the pros and cons (mostly about my sanity), I pulled the trigger on getting a laptop 3 weeks ago. This past Thursday, my new Dell Studio 15 finally arrived! Those kids in China sure took their sweet time building my laptop! Anyway, here’s the spec rundown:

Dell Studio 1535
• Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 (2.00GHz/667Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
• Color – Jet Black
• 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2
• Built-in Keyboard Options
• Back-lit Keyboard
• LCD Panel – Glossy, widescreen 15.4 inch display (1280×800)
• Video Card – 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450
• Hard Drive – Size: 320GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
• Operating System – Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium Edition SP1
• Adobe Acrobat Reader 8.1
• 8X Slot Load CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
• Sound Card – High Definition Audio 2.0
• Dell 1397 Wireless-G Card
• Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam
• Integrated Finger Print Reader
• Office Productivity Software (Pre-Installed) – Microsoft Works
• Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) – McAfee SecurityCenter with anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, 30-Days
• 56 Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell)
• 1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis
• BONUS: $150 Promo Gift Card
• BONUS: Staples Coupon Book

Normally this setup would have cost me $1070, but with the e-coupon I got, I saved $270! The bonus $150 gift card made this deal even sweeter!

Anyway, for the past two days, I’ve been optimizing my very first laptop to my liking. The past 3 weeks I’ve been prepping for the optimization. Like a doctor, I was looking up procedures and gathering the right surgical tools. Several Google searches is all it took and I found an excellent tutorial to optimize my laptop. And by optimize, I mean UPGRADING my operating system from pre-installed Vista Home Premium to XP Pro. I gave Vista a year to impress me on my PC, but it was an EPIC FAIL. I wasn’t gonna take that chance with my new laptop. After downloading collected drivers from the tutorial, I downloaded both XP service packs and burned them all, with a few essential appz to DVD.

So after the unboxing, I began my operation. Following the first couple of steps in the tutorial, I was successful in doing a clean install of Windows XP with SP1. Before proceeding on to the drivers, I popped in the DVD I had burned, and installed both SP2 and SP3. After success with both Service Packs, I moved onto the display drivers. Chipset drivers installed without a hiccup. There was a bit of a snag running the ATI Catalyst installer I downloaded because .NET Framework 2.0 had to be installed first. Thank the gods I had my 4GB GigaBank by I/O Magic, an impulse clearance buy from Staples a few months ago.

After that it was pretty much a smooth driver install. Towards the end I realized that the drivers I downloaded from the tutorial did not contain drivers for the Fingerprint Sensor cause the article’s writer did not have that installed on his laptop. Google saved the day, twice. Once for finding a forum that supplied a link to a Chinese driver website that had all XP drivers for the Studio 1535, and then translating it English.

Seeing no ‘!’ in the device manager was a sure sign of success! A few minor apps later, the major apps the next day, and my laptop is fully optimized for mobile blogging, office work, and, the most important of all, Guild Wars! ;p

~ LoneWolf

A few days late because I’ve been busy playing with my new toy. More on that later. This week was a big Marvel week. Again we picked up more than we should have but it’s all for the greater good, the bigger picture etc. Here we go:

• ASPEN SHOWCASE: BENOIST
• CAPTAIN AMERICA # 42
• DRAW! # 16
• HULK # 6
• DEADPOOL # 2
• NEW WARRIORS # 16
• RUNAWAYS # 2
• NEW WARRIORS # 16
• PROJECT SUPERPOWERS # 6
• RUNAWAYS # 2
• SAMURAI: LEGEND # 1
• TEEN TITANS # 63
• TRINITY # 17
• WOLVERINE ANNUAL # 2
• WOLVERINE: FIRST CLASS # 7
• WOLVERINE: ORIGINS # 28
• X-FORCE # 7
• X-MEN: LEGACY # 216

CAUGHT SERENA’S EYE: SAMURAI: LEGEND # 1

The Story: The European best-seller – now finally presented in English! Writer Jean-Francois Di Giorgio and artist Frédéric Genêt tap into the rich mythology of the noble Samurai, creating a nuanced look at the fabled Japanese warriors. Having become a samurai, Takeo feels strong enough to confront his past. On the borders of Japan, a terrible plan is being plotted: General Akuma, one of the Empire’s most influential figures, seems to be dead set on betraying the Emperor to his own advantage. However, a grave secret links the two men: the 13th prophet. Meanwhile, Takeo hopes to discover who he is. Why did he grow up in a monastery? And why was he abandoned by his brother ten years earlier? His quest will put him in deep torment, placing him in the middle of the dark destiny of the Empire and the 13th prophet!

Serena loved SKY DOLL and was looking into some of the other Soleil miniseries presented by Marvel. SAMURAI LEGEND definitely got her attention when she saw the cover art. After flipping though the pages to see more of the art style, she was sold. Let’s hope the story is great enough to make it an American best-seller!

• blogPost: Hell Hath No Fury Like David Letterman http://tinyurl.com/3jpms8 #
• Fine tuned FireFox on my laptop with my usual add-ons. Imported all my bookmarks from my PC via Foxmarks! Loading up Office and then Adobe. #
• @MakeJackDullBoy http://www.leatherrepairkits.com/ #
• @MakeJackDullBoy Oof, that sucks man. Sorry to hear that. #
• I am tired of customers who do not know their goddamn alphabet. Tired. Ate a late dinner, now in a coma. Damn I missed the debate too. #
• Laptop is fully loaded with Adobe CS3′s Design package since it contains only the programs I used the most. GW is now loaded as well, FTW. #
• @feliciaday Thanks for the link. I’ve been debating about changing the look of my blog by using another theme or creating my own again. #