Laptops, Consoles & TV

I seem to sound like a broken record (ask your parents kids) sometimes but I’ll say again I apologise for the slowness of updates again this week, I do have a very good reason for my tardiness, honestly.  But it’s not one I’m going to share with the world and its web.

Laptop
First item on the update list this weekend is the laptop, or notebook, or portable computer, or whatever you prefer to call it.  I still prefer laptop, as it sits (as it does right now) on the lap.  Fortunately its way cooler than the VAIO was, so my chestnuts aren’t roasting on an open fire.  If you get my meaning.

So the XPS M1530 then, it arrived on Monday as promised and I am absolutely thrilled with it!  The first bonus was that the Blu-ray drive was a writer as well as a reader.  I have yet to discover whether it can burn dual layer BD media, but I haven’t looked that hard to find out.

Battery life is a haughty five hours when the screen is turned down from full brightness which is just what I wanted.  They keyboard is straight from the Latitude range (coloured aluminium) which is fine.  The keyboard is responsive and comfortable, and the built-in trackpad is fine.  The styling is obviously tipping a ten gallon hat to the Macbook Pro with the brushed aluminium case, but then isn’t everyone in the PC laptop market?

The Vista Experience score is 0.1 below my desktop machine, so it runs Source powered games and The Sims 2 (the only PC games I play) just fine, and my desktop PC is gradually becoming obsolete.  I’ve been wanting to do that for quite some time, get everything in one place rather than chopping and changing.  Just iTunes to transfer and the job is complete.

As the XPS is Dell’s premium hardware range, the extras are also rather nice.  A sturdy slip case for the machine itself as well as a folder containing the user manual, space for the restore discs as well as a set of Creative noise cancelling headphones (in their own special pouch) and a screen cleaning cloth.  Having been used to business laptops for the last few years, these are a nice addition.

Summing up then, very pleased with the XPS, and full marks to the tech support folks who helped me out with a wireless network problem.

Netgear DG834N
As the XPS is fitted with a wireless N card I decided it was time to replace my ageing Netgear with the latest all singing and/or dancing N model.  Usually I buy my hardware straight from the PC Pro A-List, but their N router didn’t contain an ADSL model.  So after having a rather disasterous experience with the previous Netgear MIMO model I took a chance with the new unit and am very happy with it.

Setting these things up nowadays is childs play, just answer a few questions in the wizard and you’re good to go.  It even detects your line type, asks you for your broadband username and password and then it’s off to the races time.

The single most important thing about this router for me was making sure it worked in my bedroom.  Even though we live in a bungalow (or “Single Story Dwelling” for my friends across the pond), the walls are incredibly thick.  This meant that the G wireless signal would work in other rooms if you were lucky.  Very lucky.

Fortunately after setting it up I had a perfect signal in each room of the house.  Mission accomplished.  Perhaps the most important aspect I haven’t touched on yet is the “Spousal Acceptance Factor”, and as it is way, way bigger than the older model it wouldn’t have been aesthetically pleasing in our lounge.  But the wireless signal is strong enough that it can be hidden away behind the sideboard and still work perfectly.   Hurrah.

Xbox 360 Elite
After my 360 gave up the ghost last weekend with a fault that would have meant paying money to Microsoft (I think with my various affiliations and all the exams I have recently taken they have enough of it already) for a repair I ordered an Elite from Play.com (with the obligatory voucher code to save a few extra pounds)
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Fortunately a group of gamers on my forum of choice (rllmuk) have been operating a Pay It Forward style scheme for a while for Elite purchasers who need to transfer data from their existing hard drives.  So someone very kindly sent me the data transfer kit, and within half an hour I had the data streamed from the old drive onto the new 120Gb and I was back online.

Despite still being noisier than a domestic dispute on the local council estate, the Elite is a fine machine and through the HDMI connection everything looks much crisper and the colours really pop.  I haven’t dared try the Anchorman HD DVD back in it again yet in case it bricks another console.

Torchwood
We have been watching large amount of TV stuff back to back this week (I’m currently going through season two of Heroes) and the second series of Torchwood finished last night with one heck of a bang.
WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD
I’ve really enjoyed this second series of Torchwood (which I saw described as a cross between CSI and Doctor Who earlier this week).  Who knew that making your characters less hateful would make for a better televisual experience?  That said, I was really sad that they killed off both Owen (whose number was up mid-season anyway) and Tosh in the final episode.  I found their storylines far more touching the domestic bickering of Gwen (for the love of God woman, get that gap in your teeth fixed, you’re scaring the wife) and Rhys.

Jack’s brother was a rubbish villain though.  I kept thinking of Harry Enfield’s Kevin character whenever he opened his mouth

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Category: General, Sci-Fi, Tech Stuff, Videogames