Dell XPS 1710 with Vista Ultimate
And so the journey begins...
After 3 years developing primarily on a desktop, I've decided to reverse course and see if I can be happy with a laptop as my primary computer. I am also making the jump to Vista now too. After analyzing what's available and considering my needs, and um, wants :) I decided to go with a Dell XPS 1710. Unlike the Acer review laptop, I'm parting ways with my own cash for this. Speaking of the Acer - we're indeed giving it away - register for it here.
OK, back to the Dell. It arrived Monday and holy friggin' cow; it is HUGE! The 1920 x 1200 resolution is sweet. Unfortunately, my older flat-panels only do 1280 x 1024. I've got one connected to the laptop because I've gotten so used to working with dual-monitors. However, it's a bit of a buzz kill to drag a window from a super high resolution to a lower resolution. 1920 x 1200 is wide enough to have two fairly large windows open side by side at the same time. You don't realize how big those windows really are until you drag them back into a "normal" resolution and it takes up the whole screen. I'm ditching my old monitors for another wide screen monitor to use with this. I'm feeling the same way now that I did when I first tried dual monitors - why didn't I do this before?
For the first time I really understand Word's full-screen reading view. Well, I understood it before, but I hated using it. Now, it truly looks like a book is open in front of me. I can see two huge pages at a time with crisp, clear fonts in all of their glory. I might actually save some trees now...
So why did I choose the XPS 1710? Fast processor, huge screen, fast video card, up to 4 GB RAM, fast hard drive, and it doesn't look like a (large) boring black book. My only hesitation on this model is the relatively modest amount of disk space. The largest capacity 7200 RPM drive that Dell has on this model is only 100 GB (they do offer a 160 GB 5400 model). Considering the size of this thing, you'd think they could squeeze another drive in there. Anyway, for more space I'm planning on going the eSATA route for an external hard drive.
I also decided to hold off on moving right to 4 GB right off the bat. Dell's price to go from 2 to 4 GB is insane at $1,700. Crucial has 4 GB kit for this model at $710. My plan is to see how long 2 GB will serve my needs and then upgrade to 4 GB if/when needed. The litmus test for me will be how well it handles running a MOSS VPC image.
So far I'm very happy with my choice. It runs way faster than the desktop it is replacing (an older dual proc Xeon system). I enjoy the fresh look of Vista and, as noted above, the real estate afforded by a higher resolution.
That said, I've run into a few minor glitches: poor file copy performance, HP doesn't have a Vista driver for my color LaserJet 3500 yet, occasionally when I log on something causes disk activity and interferes with the usability of the system (whatever it is, it is definately not running on a low priority thread), and finally it doesn't wake up from hibernation properly. The display comes back briefly and then it disappears. It seems to try and repeatedly recover. After giving it time to recover I get impatient and end up doing a hard reboot to get going again. I've done some research on several of these issues but haven't had much time yet to pin them down. When I get more of a breather from my project work I'll dig into these issues further.