Dell 700m First Impressions

Notes as I unpack the Dell 700m and get it set up:

  • Both Dell and Crucial ship via UPS, so both packages arrived at the same time – serendipty.
  • Why don’t PC companies use nice pretty packaging like Apple? It can’t cost that much more and it sure adds to the initial experience.
  • Klear Screen wipes included – nice!
  • No RAM upgrade instructions in the Product Information Guide or the little poster… I’ll guess it’s behind the little door marked ‘M’.
  • Strange, there is only one slot visible here and it has the 256MB chip in it. I’ll replace that with the 1GB chip and figure out where to put the 256MB chip later.
  • The power adapter brock has the Dell logo on one side and the label w/ tech information on the other. Why would they choose to cover the logo with the cord rather than the label?
  • Power outlet… I guess I don’t really use this lamp much.
  • Screen is the same glassine type as the Sony XBRITE.
  • Wow, the keyboard is smaller. Why couldn’t they have bumped it out to the edges? There is 3/4″ wasted on either side.
  • I really despise the little Intel and M$ decals they have on new computers.
  • Keyboard control during the initial set-up, very nice.
  • Mmm, pizza.
  • In AirPort Admin Utility, under the BaseStation menu is an ‘Equivelent Password’ item… I think the main security here is having to type in the password string.
  • Windows updates, I guess I need to install all of these…
  • Geesh, AOL already installed and running in the system tray – that’s worse than the usual 15 “Get AOL” bookmarks.
  • Anyone have a preference for McAfee vs. Norton for antivirus software?
  • Launch IE to download Firefox and Thunderbird… gotta get that QuickFile extension too.
  • Ok, lets get rid of some of this installed junk… AOL, MusicMatch, man, what are all these paint shop/graphics/media programs?
  • McAfee says they sent me a confirmation e-mail, but I’m sure not seeing it… now I need to install some plugin to download updates? Why is this so complicated?
  • Buh-bye ugly XP window chrome and Dell background image… maybe I should check out some skinning options. Suggestions?
  • The fan hasn’t even come on yet – very nice.
  • Removed IE from the desktop – that sure is easier now.
  • Is there a Windows Explorer alternative (like PathFinder) that I should be using?
  • I’ve used UltraEdit on Windows for a very long time, is there anything better out there (please no Emacs suggestions).
  • I’m tempted to buy Araxis Merge and make this my merging computer. BBEdit’s utility is nice, but doesn’t touch Araxis.
  • I always download both the Windows installer and zip versions of PHP. I use the PHP installer to set everything up, then copy over any modules I need from the zip download.
  • I guess I’ll install Apache since IIS doesn’t seem to be installed already, though I guess it would be good to have an IIS test environment too.
  • Why is it so difficult to find the downloads on mysql.com? Hmm, Firefox wanted to display the HTTP download version and wouldn’t save it with a proper name. FTP worked fine.
  • Why isn’t Outlook Express in the Add/Remove Programs list? Ahh, “Add/Remove Windows Components”.
  • I’m not sure what MyWay had installed, but it looks like a decent aggregated service.
  • Firefox has a nice Flash install set-up.
  • 21+MB for the iTunes download – whoa!
  • Ok, I’ve been at this for 2 and a half hours now and I don’t even have Thunderbird set up yet. I wonder if I can export my Mac Thunderbird settings and import them here? Looks like copying over everything in the Profile directory did the trick.
  • One of those little USB drives sure would be handy right now – maybe I should get an iPod shuffle. 🙂
  • Another hour and a half later, most of my essentials are installed – time to reboot.
  • “Windows Black” mouse scheme, much better.

Ok, that’s enough for now. Have some great Windows skins/tips/software/goodies to share with me? Please leave a comment.