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.
Congrats on the new laptop! Don’t you have how much extra stuff they install? 😉
I’ve just started using Flyakite OS X. It’s been pretty nice, actually. Also, xplorer2 is a Windows Explorer alternative I’ve grown to love.
I’m not brave enough to try Flyakite OS X yet, but xplorer2 looks interesting – perhaps not quite polished yet though. I wish it had a drop stack and favorites pane like PathFinder – or maybe it does and I haven’t found it yet. Off to look again.
re: UltraEdit — i was a big UltraEdit fan for years; i used Dana before that.
now i switch between Textpad (functional, not exceptional) and JEdit (lots of plugins & schemes, performs decently).
— jm3
I’ve tried TextPad a half dozen times because I know a lot of people who like it – but I just can’t use it. I’ll give JEdit a shot.
Personally, I use AVG Free Antivirus. Can be set to self-update, no ads, doesn’t seem to hog computer resources, and free!
WinMerge is a poor man’s (ie free) version of Araxis.
Not quite as full functional as Araxis, but you can’t argue with the price.
Sure, but I prefer BBEdit’s merge utility to WinMerge, and I can use it on my Mac. 🙂 Araxis is just a better mousetrap.
Maybe ZoneAlarm for a little extra security? And Ad-aware or the new Microsoft tool to check for spyware?
I find it handy to have VNC (UltraVNC) running to remote access my machines remotely. Then again, your office is at home, right?
I’d already installed Ad-aware, always a good idea. I just installed the M$ Anti-Spyware thingy, figured it couldn’t hurt.
I kinda like the little McAfee feature where it prompts you whenever an app tries to access the network. I had no idea that SQL Server phoned home during the installation.
My own experience with Norton AntiVirus (on my wife’s PC) is that it corrupted her Thunderbird Inbox a number of times. Had to do with a particular setting, automatically moving infected messages to quarantine or something like that, and hasn’t done it since I turned that off. But now it pops up a lot of annoying dialogs when infected messages come in.
I don’t recommend it, and plan to switch to something else when the updates subscription runs out.
I ran across the same thing with Norton and Thunderbird on my sister’s computer. I’m not a big fan of Norton.
My favourite text editor is Crimson Editor. It’s freeware and does everything I need from a text editor: syntax highlighting, search & replace with regex, editing via ftp etc.
I’ve tried JEdit but found it too slow and absolutely enormous, although to be fair it does have plugins for everything under the sun.
I currently use Crimson Editor, as well. I’ve also used HTML-Kit and NoteTab. But I haven’t really found an editor that I’m really attached to. Back in the day, I used QEdit under DOS. I got used to the WordStar-style keyboard controls, and so my unix editor of choice is still JOE, which uses similar controls.
For firewall and anti-virus, I’m currently using CA’s EZ Firewall LE and EZ Antivirus. In addition, I’ve got Spybot Search & Destroy installed.
For my Windows PHP stuff, I use the XAMPP installer, which bundles Apache, MySQL, PHP, along with FTP and SMTP servers, PHPMyAdmin, and some other goodies.
If you haven’t seen it before, check out the thread on AnandTech about Freeware replacements for commonly warez’ed progams. It’s got pointers to lots of good stuff.
And yes, those little USB jumpdrives are quite handy 🙂 We got my father-in-law one for his birthday, and he’s been using it to carry files back and forth between his business and home computers, rather than carrying his laptop back and forth all the time.
I’ve got a 256MB MP3 player that I can use for that function when I need to. So, yeah, an iPod shuffle would probably work out well for you. It would be a business expense, right? 😉
BTW, why doesn’t your site remember my name and such in a cookie for comments? I’ve got cookies for my style choice and last visit, but not for wp comment info.
Good to know about Norton – so far McAfee is going the job and I’m not hating it.
I guess I’ll have to try Crimson Editor, but it sure won’t win any beauty contests. I’d already downloaded HTML-Kit actually, I used a few year ago before switching back to UltraEdit. I haven’t given the new version (at least I hope it’s a new version) a real workout yet.
iPod shuffle most certainly equals business expense – ain’t it great?
The comment cookies were working on the big comments page, but not in the pop-up – now fixed (thanks for the kick in the arse. 🙂
My comments:
As far as text editing goes, TopStyle Pro does the trick for me. I’m using it more and more to do xhtml/php and recently mapped it to open .txt files.
If you want to make that awful default windows theme go away then grab the theme patcher for windows here:
http://www.neowin.ne[...]topic=140707
That’ll allow you to use non-signed themes with XP, here’s what my current desktop looks like:
http://www.soini.com[...]/desktop.jpg
SmartFTP is a great ftp program for windows. In a similar vane, WebDrive is a great ftp program that maps an ftp site to a drive letter if you’re doing development on a remote server.
I’ve had good luck with Norton and not-so-good luck with McAfee, YMMV.
I tried TopStyle when it was bundled with HomeSite a while back – never cared for it then but perhaps it has evolved into a better product by now.
That is a nice theme look. I normally just kick the UI back to the Win2k option due to the huge top border in XP, but perhaps I should try more theming options.
I’m a big FileZilla fan because it works and sucks less than all the others I’ve tried, but SmartFTP looks nice. If I was going to be doing much FTP on the Windows box I might look at upgrading.
StyleXP is great (http://www.tgtsoft.com/). Unlocks the built-in Windows theme engine, so no resources are consumed while using a different skin. Defaults to a Mac look.
So now I feel good while I use my pretty little interface. best of both worlds, for me. 🙂
The link I gave for the theme patcher does the same as Style XP but it’s free (just so you know). Style XP DOES run a service which I found leaks memory, hundreds of megs after a day or so, and you have to pay $ for it.
And the topstyle that was bundled with Dreamweaver/Homesite is the lite version, night and day difference between that and Pro 🙂
For some damn good windows visual styles checkout StudioTwentyEight:
http://www.studiotwe[...]m/index2.htm
The one I use comes from that site.
interesting. i haven’t noticed significant memory leaks, and my machine stays on for weeks at a time. but i’ll look into it…
Text Editor: SciTE
(I like the Bruce Dodson installer version)
My must-download utils on any pc:
getfirefox.com (downloading it and windows update are the only things i use IE for)
7-zip.org
scite (see above)
irfanview.com
coreftp.com (lite)
putty (google)
trillian.cc and itunes.com if it’s “that sort” of machine.
Not sure if this was mentioned already, but you should check out StyleXP. I personally used it quite bit a bit when I ran windows. I run windows on my laptop right now, but I use the straight up windows 2000 look. Good luck with the styling 🙂
For my anti-virus solution, I use Panda Platinum. It comes packaged with a firewall that’ll alert you of any programs trying to access the Internet. It can feel like a resource hog sometimes, but it’s able to detect more viruses/trojans than Norton or McAfee. I also have a problem with Panda AV preventing my IBM X31 from retrieving an IP address from my wireless router on initial bootup. Enabling and re-enabling my wireless connection after startup seems to resolve the issue, albeit a really annoying solution.
Panda also has a “lighter” AV solution called Titanium. I switched over to it briefly to get around my wireless IP problem. Be careful when using it with Firefox though. You’ll get a bunch of a “document contains no data” errors. Many others are having this same problem in the Mozilla Support Forums.
Crimson Editor looks decent…
Ed, are you recommending I use Panda or avoid it? McAfee asks you when something wants to access the network too.
More Dell 700m Notes
The screen is very nice – maybe not quite Sony XBRITE good (I’ll be able to compare direcly in a month or so) but still very good. Hoever, after using it all day yesterday, my eyes were tired and my shoulders and hands felt a bit hunched and uncomfo…
On using themes for Windows XP SP2 you can always download UXTheme Patch For Windows XP SP2 Final. This allows you to use StyleXP themes without downloading and paying for StyleXP. I have been using it happily for awhile now and it is fine. Also, Iam a big fan of Cygwin for all my command line needs and linux style things. I have to use it everyday.
EditPlus is a really nice text editor.
I’d recommend Panda Platinum. It’s a little annoying having to deal with the wireless IP thing, but I’m willing to settle with the minor inconvenience for the better virus detection rate.
Titanium’s issues with Firefox was unbearable. I use Firefox way too much to deal with those problems.
I don’t know how much the wireless IP problem will bug you, or if you’ll even have that problem with your new laptop. You can always sample trial version of Platinum (limited to one update), or sign up as an IT professional and get a full 1-year subscription from the link in Dougal’s comment above.
I use vi 😉
I would rather use VIM.
That second memory slot that you’re not seeing is on top of the MoBo, it’s underneath the keyboard. Yes, that seems like a pain, but I believe it’s a space saving placement; the plus side to this is that they apparently have given you free reign to take it apart (because installing memory is an O.K.’ed end-user procedure) without voiding the warranty. Noticing the date of your post, I’m guessing you’ve since found the second one, but here’s the info if not.
Yep
hi – been wanting to buy dell 700 myself and wanted to know – is it true that the microphone quality sucks? cant use it for skyping or google talk – is that true?
it’s not true that the mic quality sucks…it’s true that THERE IS NO MIC! haha, so that’s kind of a turnoff. i’m an owner of a 700m as well, but i have very little complaints (besides the non-mic problem).
[…] Of course, I do have a smaller laptop as well (chosen largely based on size in fact), so my decision to take the PowerBook with me to camp rather than the Dell was one I had to think about. […]
> 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.
Another slot for RAM is under the keyboard. It’s just four screws and one plastic part. I can provide you wit few pictures how to get there.
KuchateK,
Pictures how to access second memory slot will be useful.
I’ve been using AVG free edition for quite some time now. Has anyone tried the paid, professional edition yet? I would really love some feedback from a real user, and not some company reviews as they tend to be biased.
Thanks.
-Janet
This laptop is great – as long as you are never going to record anything, or use any audio conferencing programs. This unit has a design flaw in the mic input jack that makes a popping buzzing ground noise in all recordings. The background noise is horrible and well outside the specs of the laptop. Just do a google search for “700m audio” or “recall 700m” and you’ll see there’s a growing number of dissatisfied 700m owners. Reserach this out first!