Well, it's been three years since I got the Motion M1400 and it still works fine. Actually, I was looking to replace the more beaten up and less aged Compaq desktop. I mean, who'd have thought my tablet would be pristine, and my newer desktop PC would be full of dents and have the plastic doors broken off?
Anyway, obviously I'm more careful with my mobile computers than my non-mobile (hence shipped once, where the bulk of nasty damage was done) computers. The tablet? It's nice to draw on, but it's not so great as a development machine. I went through two bluetooth keyboards on it (very expensive, and they both just mysteriously quit working after their warranties expired) and ended up just sticking with one of those roll-up rubber membrane keyboards. Works fine once I get used to pounding on it with my fingers.
So, I initially started looking at Clevo 900 clones. There are a lot of people selling them. I don't know what I didn't like about them. Probably the fact that their battery is little more than a UPS option between having it plugged in or plugged in.
WUXGA (1920x1200) is a definite necessity, but that's available in lots of packages. Dual hard disks (non-RAID) is also pretty important. I program, and I need to see lots of text, and I'm too impatient to wait for compile times on one drive (one drive has tools/libs/includes, the other has the code, data and targets, so it's not just one drive seeking all over the place for files).
I looked at building a nice desktop around the Asus Striker Extreme motherboard. JNCS.com looked like the best option for that, but I veered back torward the notebooks. My power requirements are such that I want to be able to run it off solar, and I determined there's just no way to guarantee inverter power for that beast and my ancient 24" LCD monitor on a reasonable budget.
So I got back onto the notebook track and looked at the Sony VAIO AR590E. Gosh it's pretty. $3000+ just to begin, though. Too bad the non-blue-ray one doesn't have WUXGA. The TV tuner? Yeah, whatever. If I'm going to plug a 75 OHM cable into the computer, I may as well have a USB2 frob on the end of it, so it can plug into the hub with everything else. A little steep for my budget.
As it turns out there are lots of VAIOs with WUXGA monitors. Unfortunately, I learned long ago to be wary of notebooks with pictures that don't show off the keyboard. Sure enough, the 'shy one' had a 'screwed up' keyboard layout. I really hate it when a keyboard has a HUGE enter key and misplaced pipe/backslash key. Not quite as bad as Logitech/Microsoft massively re-arranging all of their keyboard layouts every couple of years.
Why is it laptop manufacturers can claim they have a 'full size keyboard', when it clearly isn't? Just delete the numeric pad and make the rest a completely NORMAL layout! Is that too much to ask? Apparently so.
Anyway, I digress from the main theme of my rant.
I went and visited the Dell site and then the Gateway site, then went back to the Dell site. Looking at the XPS notebooks, all I could do was yawn. That M2010 looked awesome the last time I was shopping at computers... a year ago. Now it's just big, junky and over-priced. I did look at their 'scratch & dents', and if they'd updated the monitor to 1920x1200, I might still have bit... but nope.
But then I wandered over to the 'business' section and noticed something that apparently everyone else has...
The Vostro 1700 is exactly the same as the Inspiron 1720.
Of course, Dell doesn't let you configure them the same. Oh, no. These are different Dell
brands.
As it turns out, making a severely over-specced Vostro cost hundreds less than the Inspiron. Especially the RAM. It's the same RAM, but it costs $1000 to go 4GB on the Inspiron, and $450 to do the same with the Vostro. I'm still getting shafted with a phone pole for the price, but at least they cut the hardware off and lubed it before they rammed it up....
Anyway, yes, I'm perfectly aware that like XP, the 32 bit Vista can't use 4GB. Linux can. That'll be a little side project for later.
Another configurator oddity: The Inspiron 1720 has 7200 RPM drives and only ONE 512GB dual disk configuration. The Vostro has 5400 RPM drives and several smaller (up to 320GB) configurations, but no 500GB configuration.
The Vostro only comes with 'Business' Vista. BFD. A few extra whistles over the Vista Basic provided with the Inspiron, but nothing missing. They had a $536 'big deal' on the Vostro with the comprehensive 'breakage' warranty that consumed a big hunk off of my hesitation, and I had already lost enough hours that could have been billable to this quest that I decided to throw in the towel and settle for this...
Code:
[b]Estimated Ship Date: 08/14/2007[/b]
Item Number Quantity Item Description
222-9589 1 Vostro 1700, Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, 2.0GHz, 800Mhz FSB 4M L2 Cache
320-5553 1 17.0 inch Wide Screen UXGA TL LCD, Vostro 1700
311-7277 1 4GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 DIMM
320-5557 1 256MB NVIDIA GEFORCE 8600M GT
341-4894 1 DUAL HARD DRIVES, 320G (2x 160) 5400RPM SATA hard drive
420-7041 1 Genuine Windows Vista Business
412-1032 1 Dell Exclusive MediaDirect Instant Play Software Application
430-0493 1 Integrated 10/100 Network Cardand Modem, for Inspiron
313-5530 1 8X DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+R write capability, w/o Roxio Creator
313-4783 1 Integrated High Definition Audio 2.0
430-2430 1 Dell Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini Card
320-5554 1 Integrated 2.0 mega pixel webcam 1700
410-1067 1 No Anti-Virus/ Security Software requested
312-0551 1 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery, Vostro 1700
412-0379 1 No software package
412-0359 1 Soft Contracts - Qualxserve
983-3920 1 Warranty Support,Initial Year
960-7621 1 Warranty Support,1 Year Extended
983-3940 1 Type 3 Contract - Next Business Day Parts and Labor On-Site Response, Initial Year
987-6857 1 Dell Hardware Warranty PlusOnsite Service, Initial Year
960-7641 1 Type 3 Contract - Next Business Day Parts and Labor On-Site Response, 1YR Extended
987-6858 1 Dell Hardware Warranty PlusOnsite Service, Extended Year
900-9987 1 Standard On-Site Installation Declined
960-7591 1 CompleteCare Accidental DamageService, Inspiron Desktop, 2 Year
412-0357 1 Soft Contracts - Business Complete Care
466-8755 1 Thank you for choosing Dell
430-2432 1 Dell Wirless 355 Bluetooth Module (2.0+EDR)
430-2433 1 Dell Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Bundle
462-4506 1 Purchase is NOT intended for resell
420-7185 1 Dell Support 3.4, No Install
310-8319 1 Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
310-8628 1 You have chosen a Windows Vista Premium System
420-7179 1 Dell DataSafe 2.0 Online, No Install
600-0002 1 State Environmental Fee for display 15 inches, less than 35 inches
Add to your 2-year limited warranty* term. - $0.00
Save $536 on Select Vostro 1700 through Dell Small Business Division - $536.00
Product Subtotal: $2,243.00
Shipping and Handling: $0.00
Environmental Disposal Fee: $8.00
Tax: $173.87
Product Total: $2,424.87
Order Subtotal: $2,319.49
Shipping and Handling Total: $24.98
Shipping Discount: -$24.98
Environmental Disposal Fee: $8.00
Tax Total: $179.79
[b]Total Charges: $2,507.28[/b]
Holy crap! August 14th? I suspect that's
before they take a week to ship it. A whole lunar cycle! It'll be a crusty relic by the time I get it!
Yeah, if you look, I sneaked in another bluetooth keyboard/mouse for the Tablet. Honestly, it still rocks for browsing in bed, drawing, etc. It still had enough 'oomph' left to fully install Adobe Production Premium CS3 and run it passably, at least on AC power, anyway.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
