My New Laptop Has Been Released
Not long back Karen said something to the effect of:
If you let me call the new baby Casper you can buy yourself anything you like up to five thousand pounds! You could get yourself a new laptop!!
Karen really wants the name Casper. I'm not so sure, so I told her I didn't really need a new laptop and she dropped the case (for the time being anyway). Either way, I don't know where she thinks all the spare money was going to come from. Women!
Although I don't really need a new laptop - the one I have works - it did get me thinking. I've always liked to future-proof myself and remain at least on the cutting-edge, if not only slightly trailing it. Right now I feel like the cutting edge is somewhat out of view.
Turns out it's four years since I bought my last laptop, which, in dog years, makes it positively middle-aged. Although I did buy a "new" one off eBay a year ago after dropping it, but that doesn't count as it was like-for-like.
The laptop is starting to show signs of age. The measly 38GB HDD ran out of space the other week and it can often crawl to a halt, despite the 2GB of RAM.
So, I've caved in and ordered a new Lenovo T400. In order to future-proof myself I went for 8GB of RAM and 64bit Windows. By the time it arrives I hope to be able to upgrade straight to Windows 7 (64bit) and add Notes 8.5(.1 by then?).
Not having Notes 8.5 on anything other than a virtual machine I rarely boot isn't helping me learn XPages!
When it will arrive is anybody's guess. Lenovo seem to have taken leaves straight out of IBM's book and their Order Status page is reassuringly unhelpful. Right now the status is "Released", which sounds a lot more promising that it probably is... will keep you updated.
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I hope the display is better than the W500 - it's a powerhouse machine, nothing wrong with the performance, but the screen is awful. Someone suggested it may be that the graphics adapter is more suited to Vista or Windows 7 (I'm running XP). It's supposed to be a sh*t-hot graphics board, but the screen re-draw is woeful and the dithering on gradients looks decidedly 16-bit (yes, it is 32-bit). The display on my daughter's £400 Compaq is far better.
Hi Darren. I hope so! Perhaps you're right and yours is "optmised" for Vista or something. I went for one with WXGA+ so it has a higher resolution than most. Only time will tell. My T42 has always been fine though.
If you want to be cutting-edge... http://www.babynamespedia.com/a/s/1/Casper.png
Darren, I also use a W500, and I don't have any issues with the screen at all. Although the one thing you really need to get it ticking along nicely is the correct and updated video drivers.
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-70443.html
Maybe we're on the cutting edge of the next wave of popularity for that name Bart? As my mum was with my name by the looks of it, when I was born in the mid-seventies: http://www.babynamespedia.com/a/s/1/Jake.png
LOL, maybe. Looks like my mom was serious lagging (end sixties). Anyway, succes with branding the new release.
Does Notes and Designer etc even run on 64 bit? I didn't think it did, though I haven't tried it. Maybe it does and it's just not supported? I'm pretty sure it's supported on 64 bit Citrix though so it probably should work. You just might want to double check.
That did cross my mind David, but it was put to rest by a big of googling: http://ask-leo.com/should_i_consider_the_64_bit_version_of_windows_7.html
As I understand it, most 32bit software will run without issue on 64bit. Only time will tell though. Unless somebody else knows?
Ring Lenovo and ask them. Then say about dropping the order (buyers remorse works great to get it moving).
With kids name, a good test of a name is to google it. The most pictures that show up that aren't related to an average person will potentially be an insult towards them growing up.
I did ring them later on Simon. "Released" means the funds have cleared and it's "gone to manufacturing". I asked for an estimated shipping date and after a pause she said she'd ring back. To my surprise she did, but went on to say it would ship on the 29th, which sounds a lot like they've got no idea so just said now plus 14 days to me. We'll see.
My preferred child name test is the "supermarket test" where you have to imagine shouting their name full blast down a packet supermarket alley. If you can't bring yourself to then it's not the name for you.
Notes 8.5 runs on Windows 7 X64 without any issues - I've been running it for about 3 months now. In fact I've not come across anything that doesn't - even CACI, which is a bit tentative worked fine with some compatability options ticked.
I don't have any issues with most software (including games) on win7 64bit RTM. The issues you have are things that integrate with the core windows services, like explorer. So the Quickr Connectors - which add to explorer - have install issues.
The only app that has given me trouble is FeedDemon. I just run with in the forced 32 bit compatibility mode.
Now, we just need a true 64bit office and VS.NET and things will be gravy.
@Dragon Cotterill - I heard that there was two versions of the W500 with different video boards. Mine contains an ATI FireGL V5700... maybe you have the other one which fate deems is bound to be better than mine.
So, maybe I'm not paying attention but you spun the argument around and ended up with a new laptop. Does that mean you've given in to Casper?
I think the Lenovo order status page is designed to lower expectations. I ordered my ThinkPad last year and checked the status page repeatedly. For two days it said something ambiguous like "released" or "processed" and then on the morning of the third day it arrived at my apartment--all the way from China.
Now, I may be a woman with little understanding of money ( :-P ) but I see a *lot* of opportunities in this bargaining process Karen has introduced. Have you thought about dividing up the 5000 pounds between the six letters? You can still get nearly a couple thou and settle on a name that includes the letters "C" and "R" (or some other combination).
Congrats on number three....
When you do finally get the new toy, don't spend too much time setting it up as upgrading Windows is never a good thing. It'll be best to install 7 from scratch - especially if you believe the numbers being bandied around (21 hours for a super-user on mid-end hardware)
if Karen is going to continue producing children
at the present rate it might be better to give them
all numbers
as for the money, save up for a mini bus.
have you considered Felix is a cat
Minnie is a mouse
and I'm told Casper is a ghost ? ~(:#)
OMFG did my dad just use a smiley face! What's he been up to now...
We're still bargaining Michael. The name is still up for discussion. Not told Karen yet though.
Jennifer, Perhaps I'd go for Chistopher, but that's too boring for Karen she's probably go for Crispin or something. One of her options for a girl (we won't know till the day) is Peta. There's is no way I'm calling a girl "peter"!
Jake,
I too can confirm that almost any software can run on Windows 7 64-bit, even software that would not even run on Vista. The only thing you need to be careful with is programs that deeply nest within the OS such as old virus scanners, virtual drive managers and things like that.