I first received Windows 7 at Microsoft PDC this year, but I waited until a little further down the release path (beta 1) to do my first install. After reading several reviews (all mostly positive) online that don't hesitate mentioning Windows 7's superior performance over both VIsta and XP, I decided to take the plunge and install the new O/S on my home laptop. On the whole, I've really liked using Windows 7, despite several glitches getting things running on my Dell Inspiron 6400. On the up side, there's an marked improvement in performance, boot times, memory footprint and overall responsiveness from Windows -- not to mention a host of new helpful features. As you might expect with any beta product, there were some glitches along the way. Here's a re-cap of some things to watch for if you're installing Windows 7 on the wildly popular Dell Inspiron 6400/E1505 series laptop. No 64-bit drivers exist for ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 It won't take you long after installing the 64-bit edition of Windows 7 to realize that you can't change your video resolution to the factory recommended 1680x1050. You'll also be relegated to a Windows Vista Basic type experience, with no Aero support. There's no 64-bit drivers available for the ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 that's inside the Dell Inspiron 6400/E1505 series laptop. Unsupported, unsigned drivers won't work. AMD's web site asks that you contact Dell for drivers (won't be buying another ATI video card again as the support is non-existent). In addition, Dell has nothing to say about 64-bit support for the ATI Mobility Radeon series. The only way to resolve this issue is to install the 32-bit version of Windows 7, where the 32-bit Vista drivers are supported. About that Microsoft Bluetooth Mouse...If you're anything like me, you don't use the included Trackpad on your laptop (and have probably disabled it). The Windows 7 installer automatically paired with my Bluetooth mouse (nice) during installation, but then after installation was complete Windows lost all knowledge of my mouse on first boot. I went to the new Device Center and added a new device (which it detected fine). Unfortunately, it didn't pair, citing some unspecified error and prompting me to troubleshoot. The troubleshooting did nothing. Since I'm persistent, I tried it again, and again, and again, and the 4th time it worked. Not quite sure what's happened here but I haven't had any trouble with the mouse since. No matter what Windows 7 tells you, don't install AVG Anti VirusOne of the first things that Windows will bring to your attention (through the new Action Center) is the need to install some anti-virus software. Since Windows Live OneCare isn't supported, Windows provides 3 recommendations for compatible software. I chose AVG Anti-Virus, and soon after installation started experiencing random BSOD crashes. The crash talks about tdx.sys being the unfortunate victim of a stop error. After some research, I was able to ascertain that this crash is due to some legacy network drivers not playing well with Vista (and assumedly Windows 7). I wasn't sure what this had to do with security software until I remembered all the fancy stuff AVG was going to install on my system to prevent the mitigation of spyware. Sure enough, uninstalling AVG stopped the BSDO crashes. There's 100s of great new features in Windows 7, but the bottom line is that this is the release that Vista probably should have been. The base O/S without extra software installed on my Dell Inspiron runs at about 450mb RAM utilization and 2% CPU usage. In contrast, Vista on the same box ran at about 1100 Mb RAM utilization and 5% CPU usage when idle. This improvement is badly needed and by itself seems to be enough to get 2.5 million beta testers to rush for an upgrade. Technorati Tags: Windows 7
I'm not usually the bandwagon type, but I'm seriously considering getting a Netbook for my everyday note-taking, Internet-browsing and email writing tasks. You can find these UMPC's (Ultra-mobile PC's) in a variety of form factors, battery sizes, screen resolutions, storage capacity and features. I've narrowed my list down to about 3 contenders, the serious of which is the Gigabyte M912. While doing my research, I found this video on YouTube narrated by a complete idiot: Before I get into what I like about the M912, I'd like to pick on this video clip and it's reviewer. It's 23 seconds of intro and advertising before you actually see the netbook. That's worse than the folks over at CNet, and they're actually in the hardware review business. At 59 seconds in, he says "artsy-fartsy". Never use the words "artsy-fartsy" in a hardware review unless you're picking on the reviewer. At 1 minute, 7 seconds, the reviewer says "What is really worrying me is that it's running Microsoft Windows Vista". What's really worrying me is that I'm actually watching the video with the sound on. The reviewer continues to make assumptions about how the small form factor of the M912 makes Vista a poor choice. The irony is that the very few times when the reviewer actually does something with the M912 in Vista it appears to be extremely responsive. A real review would benchmark the performance of the unit instead of speculating. At 1 minute, 37 seconds the reviewer says "it's not looking that slow" when the unit isn't running sluggish at all. What's up with this guy's Vista-phobia? At 1 minute, 45 seconds the reviewer says he'll do a restart. Then, he can't find the power button. He actually stops the video so he can look for the thing. When he finally finds it, he realizes that pressing the power button functions like every laptop manufactured in the past 10 years does -- puts the unit in sleep mode. This one's the whopper. The reviewer bitches about Vista's slow boot time, citing that it takes well over a minute, when you can clearly see from the time index on this video that the actual boot from BIOS to start menu is 36 seconds. (Time index 3:14 to 3:51) OK, that's probably enough ranting for one day. Here's what's got me really jazzed about this netbook: It's intended use is simple. Browse the Internet. Buy stuff. Read email. Play Bejwelled 2. Take notes with OneNote. Basically, do all those things that people swear they'll do on their handheld but don't. I love the tablet capabilities of this unit -- really lets it stand out amongst the zillions of other Netbooks. The extras (such as the 1.3MP webcam, built in WiFi, and Bluetooth) make this a great choice for casual Internet browsing and chatting, even blogging. Integrated EVDO capabilities would have been nice. Like most Netbooks, it's extremely lightweight. This makes it ideal for short business trips. There were a few areas of concern, too: 4-cell battery only has 3 hours of rated battery life. A 6-cell battery would have added a bit more weight but would be an option I would want. The 1024x600 resolution screen is nice, but some newer 10" Netbooks are now featuring 1280x800 resolution screens. Such a resolution might make working in Visual Studio a reality as well. This netbook is priced a bit higher than some of it's competitors. I imagine the tablet and webcam capabilities are of some concern when mentioning price. So far, I haven't actually seen one available for purchase, so there's still some time to talk me out of it. Technorati Tags: Netbook,Windows Vista,Gigabyte