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

Wow. That was quick. Dell outlet took my order Monday morning and my new monitor arrived earlier this afternoon. I quickly unboxed it and set it up. I can has no dead pixels and experience 1680 x 1050 resolution nirvana! Oh and it’s bright too! It’s currently at 75/100 on brightness and contrast. I might have to take it down a notch.

After taking the above picture, I noticed how I still have some ample space on my desk. I said out loud, “Hey I could possibly fit another one of these bad boys on here!” My girlfriend was quick to reply, “Ok, calm down. You don’t need another one.” I laughed, sinisterly, “Muwahahahahaaha!” Maybe if I say that I’ll get one just in case her CRT blows out but keep it primed on my desk, she’ll approve.

Ok, maybe not.

However, I do need something to plug the Xbox 360 on my desk into.

~ LoneWolf

Hopefully the new monitor will arrive by the end of the week.

*sighs*

C’est la vie.

~ LoneWolf